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“O Wind, Remind Him That I Have No Child”: Infertility and Feminist Jurisprudence
Feminists have constructed a "grand theory" of infertility and new reproductive techniques that has little to do with reality. Much of the discussion of reproductive technology is written in highly abstract, philosophical terms, rather than in the more experiential, narrative style which characterizes much of feminist jurisprudence. The infertile woman is generally voiceless and invisible in the telling of this story; when she does appear she is dismissed or criticized. This Article is an attempt to begin dialogue which incorporates her perspective into the discussion.Affirmative Action Statements
The student editors of the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law adopted a brief statement for release with other student statements and voted to publish a statement in the Journal. This is their statement in response to the anti-affirmative action lawsuits. Several other Law School student organizations have also provided their statements to publish.Reproductive Liberty Under the Threat of Care: Deputizing Private Agents and Deconstructing State Action
This Article uncovers the unsettling parallels between feminism and the recent restrictions on reproductive liberty in order to reveal the threat posed by the feminist ethic of care. By critically reexamining feminism's foundation and direction, the need for greater emphasis on female individuality becomes apparent. Kelly’s contention is that such a perspective, aggressively supported by the state, will ensure feminism's progress and encourage the achievement of gender equality.A Feminist Approach to Social Scientific Evidence: Foundations
This Article addresses several aspects of a feminist approach to social scientific evidence, specifically, the interpretive nature of mental states, the feminist attitude toward juries, and the political nature of evidence law.DOMA: An Unconstitutional Establishment of Fundamentalist Christianity
According to the text of the Act, DOMA's purposes are "to define and protect the institution of marriage," where marriage is defined to exclude same-sex partners. To be constitutionally valid under the Establishment Clause, this notion that heterosexual marriages require "protection" from gay and lesbian persons must spring from a secular and not religious source. This Article posits that DOMA has crossed this forbidden line between the secular and the religious. DOMA, motivated and supported by fundamentalist Christian ideology, and lacking any genuine secular goals or justifications, betrays the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.Burnt Things and Cinderella Perpetua
Two poems.Fighting Anti-Gay Abuse in Schools: The Opening Appellate Brief of Plaintiff Jamie Nabozny in Nabozny V. Podlesny
In Nabozny v. Podlesny, 92 F.3d 446 (7th Cir. 1996), a case of first impression, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recognized the constitutional right of a gay male public school student to equal protection from anti-gay harassment and assaults. The court held that Jamie Nabozny had stated equal protection claims against his school district and three school principals for gender and sexual orientation discrimination based on allegations that, because he is gay and a boy, defendants had failed to afford him the same kinds of protection given to other harassed students. At trial on remand a jury found the three school principals liable for intentional discrimination.Legislative Approaches to Reducing the Hegemony of the Priestly Model of Medicine
This Article presents the case that the legal culture in many ways undergirds the priestly model's hegemony over the therapeutic relationship between a woman and her doctor. To the extent that law provides this fundamental support, it legitimizes the mistreatment of women, especially with respect to their reproductive health. The implications are that the movement toward a more just legal culture necessitates the extirpation of this support.Naming the Grotesque Body in the “Nascent Jurisprudence of Transsexualism”
After a description of an analytical framework constructed of theories drawn from the writings of Mikhail Bahktin, Roland Barthes, and Sigmund Freud, this Article discusses the discrepancies in courts' use of medical authority in cases considering the rights of transsexuals and then analyzes courts' ultimate refusal to recognize transsexuals' psychological sex. The thrust of this Article is an examination of the forces compelling such inconsistencies. The result is an analysis which interweaves medical, juridical, psychological and mythic perspectives to disclose the underpinnings of courts' antipathy toward transsexuals.Honesty, Privacy, And Shame: When Gay People Talk About Other Gay People to Nongay People
There is a longstanding convention among lesbians and gay men in the United States: Do not reveal the sexuality of a gay person to a heterosexual person; unless you are certain that the gay person does not regard his sexuality as a secret. Lie if necessary to protect her secret. Violating the convention by "outing" another person is widely considered a serious social sin.