When Sex Counts: Making Babies and Making Law
A beautifully written and brilliant exploration of gender in American society. Professor Colb tackles all of the hard questions in a series of provocative and insightful essays about some of the most important and intimate aspects of our lives. A must read for all who care about issues of gender, sexuality, and reproduction. (Erwin Chemerinsky, Alston & Bird Professor of Law, Duke University Law School, and author ofConstitutional Law(2006))In her feisty and informative exploration of pregnancy, rape, and sex discrimination, Sherry Colb flips the familiar conclusion of 'no easy answers' to the more challenging premise of 'no easy questions.' Are pro-life feminists feminist? Is male circumcision gender violence? Should assisted reproduction be prohibited? In clear staccato chapters,When Sex Countsoffers readers thoughtful and thought-provoking analyses of the toughest issues now confronting women and men as their lives intersect with law. (Carol Sanger, Barbara Aronstein Black Professor of Law, Columbia University Law School)With deft writing, clear thinking, and deep knowledge, Sherry Colb illuminates the dark intersection of law and sex. She displays both journalistic verve and scholarly rigor. The result is a wonderful book that makes advanced thinking about complex controversies nicely accessible to the general reader. (Randall L. Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and author ofInterracial Intimacies)What sets Sherry Colb's book apart and renders it particularly valuable is its distinctly feminist methodology. Colb develops a theory of equality from the ground up. She analyzes how a society committed to equality should respond to actual cases that are literally ripped from the headlines, but, at the same time, her analysis is not limited to specifics. In the process of offering concrete answers to difficult cases, she also develops a broader theory of sex equality. While Colb's theory is necessarily messier, more contingent and more qualified than the theories promulgated from 'on high,' it is also more robust, satisfying, and socially useful. As such, it is an important and much needed contribution to both political and philosophical debates about sex equality. (Kimberly Yuracko, Northwestern University School of LawFindlaw's Writ)