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Law 350 - Gender and the Law

(full unit)

Convenor

Dr Sarah Beresford

THE FOLLOWING IS SUBJECT TO UNIVERSITY APPROVAL. IN THE EVENT OF SENATE REFUSAL, LAW 250 (HALF UNIT) WILL RUN INSTEAD.

This course seeks to explain, analyse and evaluate the legal rules, concepts and values governing and regulating gender and the law. The module will take law as an object of study and seek to examine the relationship between gender and the law and will challenge the assumption that law is a social practice which is isolated from the rest of culture. It will explore the notion that law is a representation of a world that has very distinctive and idiosyncratic characteristics (such as bigotry and discrimination). The students will be introduced to some of the theoretical basis regarding the socio-legal construction of gender (as distinct from the socio-legal construction of sex). The students will be introduced to the notion of cultural and legal and constructs being associated with the biological facts of sexual identification. The module explores legal rules and practices that make classifications both on an individual's sex (whether one is a man or woman) and also on the social consequences of sex and gender.

The outline Syllabus is likely to include Introduction to Gender Studies; Feminist Jurisprudence (including masculinity and queer theory); Exploring the difference(s) between 'sex' and 'gender' Sterilizing the Gendered Body; Anorexia; Pornography; Discrimination in the work place. (The syllabus may very well change according to the guest lecturers on the course).

This course is only available to final year students.

Assessment

Coursework - 100%. The students will complete an assessed essay of 3,500 words. (If the student decides to Study Gender and the Law (II) in the Lent term, the assessment will be 'carried over' and the student will submit an essay of 6,000 words).

Recommended Reading

There is no one set text but reading may include:

J. Bridgeman & S. Millns Feminist Perspectives on Law Sweet & Maxwell: London.

Caplan, P. "Sex, Sexuality and Gender" The Cultural Construction of Sexuality.

Collier, R; (1995); Masculinity, Law and the Family; London: Routledge.

N.Naffine and R.J Owens (Eds); Sexing the Subject of Law; Sydney: Sweet and Maxwell.

S.Edwards; Sex, Gender & the Law; Kent: Croom Helm.

Foucault, M (1984) The History of Sexuality, vol.1

Weeks, J (1986) Sexuality

Smart, C. (1989) Feminism and the Power of Law.

Ngaire Naffine and Rosemary Owens, (eds) (1997) Sexing the Subject of Law. Sydney: Law Book Company.

Margaret Thornton, (ed) (2002) Romancing the Tomes: Popular Culture, Law and Feminism.

Edwards, Lilian and Charlotte Waelde. (eds.) (2000)(2nd ed) Law and the Internet: a framework for electronic commerce. Oxford: Hart.

Books may be published before the course starts in October 2008 so students may wish to wait until the Law 350 Course Handbook has been published, which will include the latest information on books, before purchasing a text.

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