Feminist legal theory is one of the most dynamic fields in the law, and it affects issues ranging from child custody to sexual harassment. Since its initial publication in 2006, Feminist Legal Theory: A Primer has received rave reviews. Now, in the completely updated second edition of this outstanding primer, Nancy Levit and Robert R.M. Verchick introduce the diverse strands of feminist legal theory and discuss an array of substantive legal topics, pulling in recent court decisions, new laws, and important shifts in culture and technology. The book centers on feminist legal theories, including equal treatment theory, cultural feminism, dominance theory, critical race feminism, lesbian feminism, postmodern feminism, and ecofeminism. Readers will find new material on women in politics, gender and globalization, and the promise and danger of expanding social media. Updated statistics and empirical analysis appear throughout. The authors, prominent experts in the field, also address feminist legal methods, such as consciousness-raising and storytelling. The primer offers an accessible and pragmatic approach to feminist legal theory. It demonstrates the ways feminist legal theory operates in real-life contexts, including domestic violence, reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, education, sports, pornography, and global issues of gender. The authors highlight a sweeping range of cutting-edge topics at the intersection of law and gender, such as single-sex schools, abortion, same-sex marriage, rape on college campuses, and international trafficking in women and girls. At its core, Feminist Legal Theory shows the importance of the roles of law and feminist legal theory in shaping contemporary gender issues.

Feminist legal theory is one of the most dynamic fields in the law, and it affects issues ranging from child custody to sexual harassment. Since its initial publication in 2006, Feminist Legal Theory: A Primer has received rave reviews. Now, in the completely updated second edition of this outstanding primer, Nancy Levit and Robert R.M. Verchick introduce the diverse strands of feminist legal theory and discuss an array of substantive legal topics, pulling in recent court decisions, new laws, and important shifts in culture and technology. The book centers on feminist legal theories, including equal treatment theory, cultural feminism, dominance theory, critical race feminism, lesbian feminism, postmodern feminism, and ecofeminism. Readers will find new material on women in politics, gender and globalization, and the promise and danger of expanding social media. Updated statistics and empirical analysis appear throughout. The authors, prominent experts in the field, also address feminist legal methods, such as consciousness-raising and storytelling. The primer offers an accessible and pragmatic approach to feminist legal theory. It demonstrates the ways feminist legal theory operates in real-life contexts, including domestic violence, reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, education, sports, pornography, and global issues of gender. The authors highlight a sweeping range of cutting-edge topics at the intersection of law and gender, such as single-sex schools, abortion, same-sex marriage, rape on college campuses, and international trafficking in women and girls. At its core, Feminist Legal Theory shows the importance of the roles of law and feminist legal theory in shaping contemporary gender issues.

"Drawing on a variety of disciplines, Levit contends that both society generally and some feminists in particular have exaggerated the evidence of difference between males and females and have overlooked the far more prevalent similarities. . . . A readable, thoughtful, and controversial volume."
"--Choice"

"Interesting and important. . . . It should be compulsory reading in preparation for law study to stimulate and inspire individuals aspiring to learn to construct a society more egalitarian than we now know."
"--Judge Norma L. Shapiro, Jurist"

"The Gender Line marks feminism's coming of age. Levit tackles the issue of gender not just as it affects women, but as it constrains everyone. Her book brings new insight into the meaning of masculinity and femininity and their role in society."
"--June Carbone, Santa Clara Law School"

Despite tremendous advances in civil rights, we live in a world where the sexes remain sharply segregated from birth to death: in names, clothing, social groupings, and possessions; in occupations, civic association, and domestic roles. Gender separatism, so pervasive as to be almost invisible, permeates the fabric of our daily social routines. Preferring a notion of gender that is fluid and contextual, and denying that separatism is inevitable, Nancy Levit dismantles the myths of gender essentialism Drawing on a wealth of interdisciplinary data regarding the biological and cultural origins of sex differences, Levit provides a fresh perspective on gendered behaviors and argues the need for careful cultivation of new relations between the sexes.

With its focus particularly on men, The Gender Line offers an insightful overview of theconstruction of gender and the damaging effects of its stereotypes. Levit analyzes the ways in which law legitimizes the social segregation of the sexes through legal decisions regarding custody, employment, education, sexual harassment, and criminal law. In so doing, she illustrates the ways in which men's and women's oppressions are intertwined and how law molds the very definition of masculinity.

Applying feminist methodology to the doctrine of feminism itself, Levit artfully demonstrates that gender separatism infects even our contemporary views of feminism. Levit asks questions that have been too long been unspoken--those that lie at the core of the feminist project, yet threaten its very foundations. Revealing masculinity as both a privileged and a victimized condition, she calls for a step forward, past the bounds of contemporary feminism and its conflicts, toward a more egalitarian and inclusive feminism. This brand of feminism would reshape traditional masculinity, invite men into feminist dialogue, and claim men as political allies.

Every lawyer wants to be a good lawyer. They want to do right by their clients, contribute to the professional community, become good colleagues, interact effectively with people of all persuasions, and choose the right cases. All of these skills and behaviors are important, but they spring from hard-to-identify foundational qualities necessary for good lawyering. After focusing for three years on getting high grades and sharpening analytical skills, far too many lawyers leave law school without a real sense of what it takes to be a good lawyer. In The Good Lawyer, a follow up to their book The Happy Lawyer, law professors Douglas O. Linder and Nancy Levit combine evidence from the latest social science research with numerous engaging accounts of able attorneys at work to explain just what makes a good lawyer. They organize the book around the qualities they see as crucial: courage, empathy, integrity, realism, a strong sense of justice, clarity of purpose, and an ability to transcend emotionalism. But as the authors point out, each one must be apportioned in the right measure, and achieving the right balance is difficult. Lawyers need to know when to empathize and also when to detach; courage without an appreciation of consequences becomes recklessness. And what do you do in tricky situations, where the urge to deceive is high? How can you maintain focus through a mind-taxing (or mind-numbing) project? Every lawyer faces these problems at some point - they're inherent in the nature of the work-but if properly recognized and approached, they can be overcome. It's not easy being good - quality is less something one grasps and hangs onto than a goal that requires constant striving and attention - but this engaging guide will serve as a handbook for any lawyer trying not only to figure out how to respond to difficult situations, but how to become a better - meaning both more competent and more virtuous - lawyer.

"Drawing on a variety of disciplines, Levit contends that both society generally and some feminists in particular have exaggerated the evidence of difference between males and females and have overlooked the far more prevalent similarities. . . . A readable, thoughtful, and controversial volume." --Choice "Interesting and important. . . . It should be compulsory reading in preparation for law study to stimulate and inspire individuals aspiring to learn to construct a society more egalitarian than we now know." --Judge Norma L. Shapiro, Jurist "The Gender Line marks feminism's coming of age. Levit tackles the issue of gender not just as it affects women, but as it constrains everyone. Her book brings new insight into the meaning of masculinity and femininity and their role in society." --June Carbone, Santa Clara Law School Despite tremendous advances in civil rights, we live in a world where the sexes remain sharply segregated from birth to death: in names, clothing, social groupings, and possessions; in occupations, civic association, and domestic roles. Gender separatism, so pervasive as to be almost invisible, permeates the fabric of our daily social routines. Preferring a notion of gender that is fluid and contextual, and denying that separatism is inevitable, Nancy Levit dismantles the myths of gender essentialism Drawing on a wealth of interdisciplinary data regarding the biological and cultural origins of sex differences, Levit provides a fresh perspective on gendered behaviors and argues the need for careful cultivation of new relations between the sexes. With its focus particularly on men, The Gender Line offers an insightful overview of the construction of gender and the damaging effects of its stereotypes. Levit analyzes the ways in which law legitimizes the social segregation of the sexes through legal decisions regarding custody, employment, education, sexual harassment, and criminal law. In so doing, she illustrates the ways in which men's and women's oppressions are intertwined and how law molds the very definition of masculinity. Applying feminist methodology to the doctrine of feminism itself, Levit artfully demonstrates that gender separatism infects even our contemporary views of feminism. Levit asks questions that have been too long been unspoken--those that lie at the core of the feminist project, yet threaten its very foundations. Revealing masculinity as both a privileged and a victimized condition, she calls for a step forward, past the bounds of contemporary feminism and its conflicts, toward a more egalitarian and inclusive feminism. This brand of feminism would reshape traditional masculinity, invite men into feminist dialogue, and claim men as political allies. NANCY LEVIT is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

aThis excellent primer traces the development of feminist theories in a legal system to which women and feminists are relatively new. The authors traverse various feminist legal theories, describing their inherent differences, as well as their crucial common ground; their influence on the legal world; their successes both perceived and real; and finally, their dynamic nature, which prime activists and academics for social and political change...The book also raises issues of goals unfulfilled and challenges to come by providing an insightfully provoking discussion of diverse issues. It explores more traditionally afeminista legal topics such as domestic violence and rape, current debates, such as single-sex schools and women in the US military, and larger issues regarding the applicability of feminist legal theories in the face of a shrinking, globalized world.a
--"Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice"

aThis excellent primer traces the development of feminist theories in a legal system to which women and feminists are relatively new. The authors traverse various feminist legal theories, describing their inherent differences, as well as their crucial common ground; their influence on the legal world; their successes, both perceived and real; and finally, their dynamic nature, which prime activists and academics for social and political change. . . . The book also raises issues of goals unfulfilled and challenges to come by providing an insightfully provoking discussion of diverse issues. It explores more traditionally afeminista legal topics such as domestic violence and rape, current debates, such as single-sex schoolsand women in the U.S. military, and larger issues regarding the applicability of feminist legal theories in the face of a shrinking, globalized world.a
--"Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice"

aThis book is perfectly designed as a text for undergraduates. The writing is lively and accessible; the topic coverage is broad, interesting, and up-to-date; and the subject of feminist legal theory is represented in many forms. Levit and Verchick invite readers to engage in the debate over lawas impact on gendered controversies, and to select solutions from among competing visions of equality.a
--"Choice" (highly recommended)

aFeminist Legal Theory brings together a comprehensive and lucid treatment of feminist theoretical approaches to the most pressing legal problems of our time. This book will serve as an essential desk reference for those who are new to feminist legal theory as well as for those of us who are veterans.a
--Katherine Franke, Columbia Law School

"An important new assessment, wisely crafted, controversial, provocative, unusual, not just another addition to a settled field."
--Susan Estrich, author of "Sex & Power "

"A must-read for those who are interested in how feminist legal thinking has influenced and continues to have an impact on the development of legal rules. I recommend it to all those who are interested in the complex problems that confront women throughout the world in the twenty-first century."
--Theresa Beiner, professor of law, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

"Using the multi-faceted lens of feminism, Levit and Verchick circumnavigate contemporary legal theory with an amazing confidence, acute insights, and impressiveenergy. Anyone interested in ways that the law impacts the lives of women (and men) will find this book essential reading."
--Keith Aoki, Philip H. Knight Professor of Law, University of Oregon School of Law

a[C]learly-worded and effective in the presentation of occasionally confusing or conflicting issues and perspectives.a
--"Women, Girls & Criminal Justice"

At long last, the complex field of feminist legal theory is presented in accessible, teachable form by two of its experts, Nancy Levit and Robert R. M. Verchick. In this outstanding primer, the authors introduce the diverse strands of feminist legal theory and the array of substantive legal issues relevant to women's and gender studies. The book centers on feminist legal theories--including equal treatment theory, cultural feminism, dominance theory, critical race feminism, lesbian feminism, postmodern feminism, and ecofeminism. The authors also address feminist legal methods, such as consciousness raising and storytelling.

The primer demonstrates the ways feminist legal theory operates in real-life contexts, including domestic violence, reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, education, sports, pornography, and global issues of gender. Levit and Verchick highlight a sweeping range of cutting edge topics at the intersection of law and gender, such as single sex schools, women in the military, abortion, same sex marriage, date rape, and the international trafficking in women and girls.

At its core, "Feminist Legal Theory" shows the importance of the role of law and feminist legal theory in shaping contemporary gender issues.