A Law of Her Own

The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man

Author: Caroline Forell
Secondary Author: Donna M. Matthews
ISBN: 0814726771

Despite the apparent progress in women's legal status, the law retains a profoundly male bias, and as such contributes to the pervasive violence and injustice against women. In A Law of Her Own, the authors propose to radically change law's fundamental paradigm by introducing a "reasonable woman standard" for measuring men's behavior. Advocating that courts apply this standard to the conduct of men-and women-in legal settings where women are overwhelmingly the injured parties, the authors seek to eliminate the victimization and objectification of women by dismantling part of the legal structure that supports their subordination. A woman-based legal standard-focusing on respect for bodily integrity, agency, and autonomy-would help rectify the imbalance in how society and its legal system view sexual and gender-based harassment, rape, stalking, battery, domestic imprisonment, violence, and death. Examining the bias of the existing "reasonable person" standard through analysis of vario

Publisher: NYU Press
Publish Date: 2001-05-01

Subjects: Law / Criminal Law / General, Law / Gender & the Law, Social Science / Criminology, Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory, Social Science / Women's Studies

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Law)