eBook

Split decisions

Janet Halley

2006,2008

Overview

Is it time to take a break from feminism? In this pathbreaking book, Janet Halley reassesses the place of feminism in the law and politics of sexuality. She argues that sexuality involves deeply contested and clashing realities and interests, and that feminism helps us understand only some of them. To see crucial dimensions of sexuality that feminism does not reveal--the interests of gays and lesbians to be sure, but also those of men, and of constituencies and values beyond the realm of sex and gender--we might need to take a break from feminism. Halley also invites feminism to abandon its uncritical relationship to its own power. Feminists are, in many areas of social and political life, partners in governance. To govern responsibly, even on behalf of women, Halley urges, feminists should try taking a break from their own presuppositions. Halley offers a genealogy of various feminisms and of gay, queer, and trans theories as they split from each other in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. All these incommensurate theories, she argues, enrich thinking on the left not despite their break from each other but because of it. She concludes by examining legal cases to show how taking a break from feminism can change your very perceptions of what's at stake in a decision and liberate you to decide it anew.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: Altruism / Andrea Dworkin / Anti-racism / BDSM / Black feminism / Civil Rights / Compulsory heterosexuality / Controversy / Critical legal studies / Criticism / Cultural feminism / Dominance and submission / Epistemology of the Closet / Eroticism / Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick / Femininity / Feminism / Feminism & Feminist Theory / Feminism (international relations) / Feminist legal theory / Feminist sex wars / Feminist theory / Gayle Rubin / Gender role / Gender Trouble / Harassment / Hedonism / Heterosexism / Heterosexuality / Homophobia / Homosexuality / Human sexuality / Humiliation / Identity politics / Judith Butler / LAW / LAW / Civil Law / Lesbian / Liberal feminism / Male dominance (BDSM) / Masculinity / Michel Foucault / Misogyny / Morality / Nancy Fraser / Narrative / Oppression / Patriarchy / Perversion / Philosophy / Politics / Pornography / Postmodernism / Prostitution / Queer / Queer theory / Racism / Robin West / Sadomasochism / Sex / Sex -- Philosophy / Sex -- Social aspects / Sex role / Sex roles / Sex-positive feminism / Sex-positive movement / Sexism / Sexual harassment / Sexual orientation / Sexuality / Shame / Social aspects / SOCIAL SCIENCE / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General / Social theory / Sociology / Subaltern (postcolonialism) / Subjectivity / Suggestion / Symptom / The Erotic / The History of Sexuality / Thought / Uncertainty / Women's studies
• ISBN: 9780691127378, 0691136327, 1400827353, 0691127379, 9780691136325, 9781400827350