The Imaginary Domain

by Drucilla Cornell

This book addresses the legal and political programme needed for the recognition of sexual difference. Cornell shows that by affirming feminine sexual difference we should rethink the traditional conception of a public/private divide. This book fundamentally alters the terrain of feminist legal and political philosophy, and does so in a prose style that is lucid and accessible. Cornell defends a feminist view of legal equality that synchronizes the distinct values of freedom and equality in the emotionally fraught sphere of life we call sex. Feminist legal theory has been plagued by the seemingly irreconcilable tension between these two values, particularly when it comes to issues like pornography and sexual harassment where they have been explicitly pitted against one another.

Genres: Feminism, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Law

Paperback

First published July 14, 1995

About the author

Drucilla Cornell is National Research Foundation Professor in Customary Law, Indigenous Ideals, and the Dignity Jurisprudence at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Professor of Political Science, Women & Gender Studies, and Comparative Literature at Rutgers University.

Reviews

[Pippi Bluestocking · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I preferred the Lacanian to the Rawlsian and Kantian foundations of Cornell's feminist legal theory, this book was nevertheless fantastic.