This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Learn more
#6573 - Feminist Legal Theory - Legal Theory
Notice: PDF Preview
The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF
sample above, taken from our
Legal Theory Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have
odd formatting.
FEMINIST LEGAL THEORY
* * Liberal feminists (sameness), cultural feminists (differences), and radical
feminists (subordination and dominance).
1st wave - liberal; 2nd wave - liberal, cultural and radical; 3rd wave -
postmodern. Key concepts of FLT
1. Sexism exists in society, by privileging men and disadvantaging or
subordinating women.
2. A belief that society is patriarchal; FLTs seek to analyse the contribution of
law in constructing, maintaining, reinforcing and perpetuating patriarchy.
3. Recognition that there is no unified FLT.
Liberal Feminism (sameness)
* Equality for women and men is to be measured by a 'sameness' standard;
the sameness standard considers liberalism's concerns with barriers to
female's progression, e.g. political voice, voting, employment, property and
education. * 'Equality' means an equality of opportunity. * Rights for women are to mirror the existing rights for men, e.g. there
should be equal employment rights (but not necessarily equal
employment in terms of numbers). * Legislative reform by itself can be an effective instrument. * Ideals: liberty, equality, rationality, autonomy, individuality, neutrality and
impartiality. * Liberal rights: civil and political rights with a base in a 'negative' freedom
from the state. * Assumptions: status quo is natural, un--coerced and good; that a universal
standard of humanity exists.
The Pornography Debate
* Liberal FLTs lean to a pro--pornography position, depending on the degree of
harm that they associate with pornography. * It exemplifies: free speech, constitutional protections' the free market, an
individual subject's rights to self--determination and freedom, and the erotic,
not the harmful. * Ronald Dworkin: an individual's right to distribute pornography trumps the
utilitarian goal of improving society in aggregate by banning it.
Since 2010, Oxbridge Notes has been a trusted education marketplace, supplying high-quality materials from top achievers at universities like Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Harvard, and Yale.
We offer free case summaries, sample notes, and award-winning content, all curated and approved by our editorial team. Our reputation for excellence has led to features in The Guardian, Wikipedia, and the National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law).
Every year, millions of students utilize our free and premium notes to aid their studies.