DDRO 25A38 - Introduction to Feminist Legal Theory and Practical Approaches to Sex Equality

This course will centralize the use of feminist legal theory as a serious mode of inquiry into analyzing law, legal reasoning, and legal reform. We will study four dominant strands of contemporary feminist legal theory, including liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, critical race feminism, and postmodern feminism in queer theory. While this course will focus on common law-based perspectives of feminism, we will use these diverse terrains of feminist legal thought in order to analyze challenges and various areas in social and public discourse internationally. Thus, while the first part of the course will be dedicated to acquiring the useful knowledge and background of strands of feminism, the second part of the course will be creatively applying these tools in practical areas of sex equality issues in employment, consent, abortion, transgender rights, prostitution, and pornography.

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