Reaction and Resistance: Feminism, Law, and Social Change (Law and Society)

In this timely volume, contributors from various disciplines analyze reaction and resistance to feminism in several areas of law and policy – child custody, child poverty, sexual harassment, and sexual assault – and in a number of institutional sites, such as courts, legislatures, families, the mainstream media, and the academy. Collectively, their studies paint a complicated, often contradictory, picture of feminism, law, and social change, offering feminists and activists empirically grounded knowledge to develop legal and political strategies for change. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 1 Feminism, Law, and Social Change: An Overview......Page 12 PART 1 Media Representations of Feminism, Anti-Racism, and Their Counter-Movements......Page 40 2 “Take It Easy Girls”: Feminism, Equality, and Social Change in the Media......Page 42 3 Virtual Backlash: Representations of Men’s “Rights” and Feminist “Wrongs” in Cyberspace......Page 76 4 Imperial Longings, Feminist Responses: Print Media and the Imagining of Nationhood after 9/11......Page 109 PART 2 Sexual Terrains: Criminal Law and the Campus......Page 136 5 The Discursive Disappearance of Sexualized Violence: Feminist Law Reform, Judicial Resistance, and Neo-Liberal Sexual Citizenship......Page 138 6 Backlash in the Academy: The Evolution of Campus Sexual Harassment Regimes......Page 175 PART 3 Familial Identities and Neo-Liberal Reform......Page 208 7 Feminism, Fathers’ Rights, and Family Catastrophes: Parliamentary Discourses on Post-Separation Parenting, 1966-2003......Page 209 8 Child-Centred Advocacy and the Invisibility of Women in Poverty Discourse and Social Policy......Page 240 9 Challenging Heteronormativity? Reaction and Resistance to the Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships......Page 273 Contributors......Page 302 B......Page 304 C......Page 305 F......Page 306 G......Page 307 L......Page 308 M......Page 309 N......Page 310 R......Page 311 S......Page 312 V......Page 313 Z......Page 314 The image of “backlash” is pervasive in contemporary debates about the impact of second-wave feminism on law and policy. But does it really explain the resistance to feminist initiatives for social change in contemporary culture? In this timely volume, contributors from various disciplines analyze reaction and resistance to feminism in several areas of law and policy – child custody, child poverty, sexual harassment, and sexual assault – and in a number of institutional sites, such as courts, legislatures, families, the mainstream media, and the academy. Collectively, their studies paint a more complicated, often contradictory, picture of feminism, law, and social change than the popular image of backlash suggests. Reaction and Resistance offers feminists and other activists empirically grounded knowledge that can be used to develop legal and political strategies for change. Edited By Dorothy E. Chunn, Susan B. Boyd, And Hester Lessard. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.