About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

12 Colum. J. Gender & L. 222 (2003)
Protecting Sex: Sexual Disincentives and Sex-Based Discrimination in Nguyen v. INS

handle is hein.journals/coljgl12 and id is 232 raw text is: PROTECTING SEX- SEXUAL DISINCENTIVES AND SEX-BASED DISCRIMINATION IN NGUYEN V. INS LAURA WEINRIB Male and female are created through the eroticisation of dominance and submission. The man/woman difference and the dominance/submission dynamic define each other.... The feminist theory of knowledge is inextricable from the feminist critique ofpower because the male point of view forces itself upon the world as its way of apprehending it. ' - Catharine MacKinnon Catharine MacKinnon's famous formulation of the social and political struggle between men and women as a manifestation of men's sexual subordination of women has informed feminist debate for the past two decades. The fundamental project of radical feminism was to demonstrate that sex discrimination and sexual domination are one and the same. Against this backdrop, recent developments in feminist and queer theory have turned the equivalence of sex and sexuality inside out-a dissociation that has played out prominently in the context of legal scholarship, particularly with respect to rape, pornography, and sexual harassment. This effort to rehabilitate deviant sexuality entails rescuing the fight against sex discrimination from the vilification of sex. Whatever one's feelings on the relationship between sex and sex- based discrimination, they are likely to be reserved for academic debate. The successful application of equal protection doctrine to such sex-laden topics as birth status, contraception, and abortion has had the unfortunate side-effect of submerging judicial discussion of sexual subordination and sexual freedoms in favor of less contentious issues of biological equality and difference. The blanket omission of sexuality from sex discrimination decisions-despite the sustained theoretical frenzy surrounding the issue- is striking. This Article considers a recent United States Supreme Court decision to explore the tension between sexuality and equal protection doctrine and to explain the practical ramifications of the erasure of the * B.A., Harvard College, 2000; M.A., Harvard University, 2000; J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School, 2003. My sincere gratitude to Professor Janet Halley for her thoughtful comments and contributions over several drafts of this Article. Catharine MacKinnon, Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: Toward Feminist Jurisprudence. 8 Signs: J. Women in Culture and Society 635, 635-636 (1983).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most