Pornography, Sex Work, and Hate Speech: (Gender and American Law: The Impact of the Law on the Lives of Women)

Multidisciplinary focus Surveying many disciplines, this anthology brings together an outstanding selection of scholarly articles that examine the profound impact of law on the lives of women in the United States. The themes addressed include the historical, political, and social contexts of legal issues that have affected women's struggles to obtain equal treatment under the law. The articles are drawn from journals in law, political science, history, women's studies, philosophy, and education and represent some of the most interesting writing on the subject. The law in theory andpractice Many of the articles bring race, social, and economic factors into their analyses, observing, for example, that black women, poor women, and single mothers are treated by the wielders of the power of the law differently than middle class white women. Other topics covered include the evolution of women's legal status, reproduction rights, sexuality and family issues, equal employment and educational opportunities, domestic violence, pornography and sexual exploitation, hate speech, and feminist legal thought. A valuable research and classroom aid, this series provides in-depth coverage of specific legal issues and takes into account the major legal changes and policies that have had an impact on the lives of American women.

Table of Contents:
Series Introduction, Volume Introduction, Nota Moral Issue (1983), The White Slave Traffic Act: Historical Impact of a Federal Crime Policy on Women, New York State's Prostitution Statute: Case Study of the Discriminatory Application of a Gender Neutral Law, Against the Male Flood: Censorship, Pornography, and Equality, Pandora's Box: An Essay Review of American Law and Literature on Prostitution, Brief Amici Curiae of Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce, et al., in American Booksellers Association v. Hudnut, The Feminist Debate Over Prostitution Reform: Prostitutes' Rights Groups, Radical Feminists, and the (lm)possibility of Consent, Pornography and the Traffic in Women: Brief on Behalf of Trudee Able-Peterson, et al., Amici Curiae in Support of Defendant and Intervenor-Defendants, Village Books v. City of Bellingham, Feminist Jurisprudence, Split at the Root: Prostitution and Feminist Discourses of Law Reform, Whores in Court: Judicial Processing of Prostitutes in the Boston Municipal Court in 1990, Hate Crime Statutes: A Promising Tool for Fighting Violence Against Women, Acknowledgments

About the Author :
about the editor Karen J. Maschke holds a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University. Her area of specialization in public law, with a concentration on women and the law. She is the author of Litigation,Courts, and Women Workers (Praeger, 1989) and has published articles concerning women's legal rights. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the national Endowment for the Humanities.