This Wednesday: Catharine A. MacKinnon on Gender as a New Paradigm in Creating International Law
Last year in my First Amendment class, Noah Feldman said there were two people who were the most influential law professors of the twentieth-century. The guessing game went around the classroom about the second (Professor Feldman says it’s Richard Posner), but multiple hands went in the air almost immediately to guess the first: Catharine MacKinnon.
To say that she’s a legend is to sound like a gushing fan. But even those who disagree with her views recognize that without Catharine MacKinnon, sex equality law just wouldn’t be where it is today. Professor MacKinnon virtually created the legal framework to recognize behavior previously considered normal workplace antics as sexual harassment. She has forever changed how we think about pornography. And from Bosnia to India, she has devoted her energy to human rights work over the past decades.
As a student in her Sex Equality class this semester, I am continually struck by Professor MacKinnon’s passion for the subject and dedication to effecting equality through her scholarship and advocacy. Since she will not be at Harvard next fall, I strongly encourage everyone to come hear her speak this Wednesday, from 12:00-1:15 in Pound 204.
If you can’t make the event, please check out the Journal of Law & Gender‘s live blog throughout at our website: http://harvardjlg.com/. We will also post student reflections after.
Kristi Jobson, JD ’12, is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender.