Are women human? : and other international dialogues

More than half a century after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defined what a human being is and is entitled to, Catharine MacKinnon asks: Are women human yet? If women were regarded as human, would they be sold into sexual slavery worldwide; veiled, silenced, and imprisoned in homes; bred, and worked as menials for little or no pay; stoned for sex outside marriage or burned within it; mutilated genitally, impoverished economically, and mired in illiteracy--all as a matter of course and without effective recourse? The cutting edge is where law and culture hurts, which is where MacKinnon operates in these essays on the transnational status and treatment of women. Taking her gendered critique of the state to the international plane, ranging widely intellectually and concretely, she exposes the consequences and significance of the systematic maltreatment of women and its systemic condonation. And she points toward fresh ways--social, legal, and political--of targeting its toxic orthodoxies. MacKinnon takes us inside the workings of nation-states, where the oppression of women defines community life and distributes power in society and government. She takes us to Bosnia-Herzogovina for a harrowing look at how the wholesale rape and murder of women and girls there was an act of genocide, not a side effect of war. She takes us into the heart of the international law of conflict to ask--and reveal--why the international community can rally against terrorists' violence, but not against violence against women. A critique of the transnational status quo that also envisions the transforming possibilities of human rights, this bracing book makes us look as never before at an ongoing war too long undeclared. Exposing The Consequences And Significance Of The Systematic Maltreatment Of Women, And Its Systemic Condonation, This Book Takes Us Into The Heart Of The International Law Of Conflict To Ask - And Reveal - Why The International Community Can Rally Against Terrorists' Violence, But Not Against Violence Against Women. Introduction : Women's Status, Men's States -- 1. On Torture -- 2. Human Rights And Global Violence Against Women -- 3. Theory Is Not A Luxury -- 4. Are Women Human? -- 5. Postmodernism And Human Rights -- 6. The Promise Of Cedaw's Optional Protocol -- 7. Making Sex Equality Real - - 8. Nationbuilding In Canada -- 9. Misogyny's Cold Heart -- 10. On Sex And Violence : Introducing The Antipornography Civil Rights Law In Sweden -- 11. Equality Remade : Violence Against Women -- 12. Pornography's Empire -- 13. Sex Equality Under The Constitution Of India : Problems, Prospects, And Personal Laws -- 14. Crimes Of War, Crimes Of Peace -- 15. Turning Rape Into Pornography : Postmodern Genocide -- 16. Rape As Nationbuilding -- 17. From Auschwitz To Omarska, Nuremberg To The Hague -- 18. Rape, Genocide, And Women's Human Rights -- 19. Gender-based Crimes In Humanitarian Law -- 20. War Crimes Remedies At The National Level -- 21. Collective Harms Under The Alien Tort Statute : A Cautionary Note On Class Actions -- 22. Genocide's Sexuality -- 23. Defining Rape Internationally : A Comment On Akayesu --^ 24. Pornography As Trafficking -- 25. Women's September 11th : Rethinking The International Law Of Conflict. Catharine A. Mackinnon. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 281-405) And Index. More than half a century after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defined what a human being is and is entitled to, Catharine MacKinnon asks: Are women human yet? She exposes the consequences and significance of the systematic maltreatment of women and its systemic condonation as she points toward fresh ways of targeting its toxic orthodoxies. Exposing the consequences and significance of the systematic maltreatment of women, and its systemic condonation, this book takes us into the heart of the international law of conflict to ask - and reveal - why the international community can rally against terrorists' violence, but not against violence against women. A critique of the transnational status quo that also envisions the transforming possibilities of human rights, this bracing book makes us look as never before at an ongoing war too long undeclared."A sparkling book, perhaps her finest. Unsettling in the best sort of way, Are Women Human? shows [MacKinnon] to be not only a prodigiously creative feminist thinker who can see the world from a fresh angle like nobody else (and I mean the angle of reality, as opposed to the usual one of half-reality) but also one of our most creative thinkers about international law. As elsewhere in MacKinnon’s work, we find plenty of trenchant and eloquent writing; but we also find more systematic analysis and more extensive scholarship than we sometimes get, and the book is the richer for it." - Martha Nussbaum, The Nation Content: Introduction: Women's Status, Men's States I. THEORY VERSUS REALITY 1. On Torture 2. Human Rights and Global Violence against Women 3. Theory Is Not a Luxury 4. Are Women Human? 5. Postmodernism and Human Rights 6. The Promise of CEDAW's Optional Protocol II. STRUGGLES WITHIN STATES 7. Making Sex Equality Real 8. Misogyny's Cold Heart 9. On Sex and Violence: Introducing the Antipornography Ordinance in Sweden 10. Nationbuilding in Canada 11. Equality Remade: Violence against Women 12. Pornography's Empire 13. Sex Equality under the Constitution of India: Problems, Prospects, and "Personal Laws" III. THROUGH THE BOSNIAN LENS 14. Crimes of War, Crimes of Peace 15. Turning Rape into Pornography: Postmodern Genocide 16. Rape as Nationbuilding 17. From Auschwitz to Omarska, Nuremberg to the Hague 18. Rape, Genocide, and Women's Human Rights 19. Gender-Based Crimes in Humanitarian Law 20. War Crimes Remedies at the National Level 21. Collective Harms under the Alien Tort Statute: A Cautionary Note on Class Actions 22. Genocide's Sexuality IV. ON THE CUTTING EDGE 23. Defining Rape Internationally: A Commentary on Akayesu 24. Pornography as Trafficking 25. Women's September 11th: Rethinking the International Law of Conflict Notes Index