Document Type
Article
Publication
Columbia Law Review Sidebar
Year
2010
Citation Information
Jennifer S. Hendricks, Converging Trajectories: Interest Convergence, Justice Kennedy, and Jeannie Suk's "The Trajectory of Trauma," 110 Colum. L. Rev. Sidebar 63 (2010), http://columbialawreview.org/content/converging-trajectories-interest-convergence-justice-kennedy-and-jeannie-suks-the-trajectory-of-trauma/, available at http://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/225/.
Abstract
This essay responds to Jeannie Suk's recent article in the Columbia Law Review, The Trajectory of Trauma: Bodies and Minds of Abortion Discourse. Suk argues that feminists are responsible for legitimizing a paternalistic attitude towards women that came home to roost in Gonzales v. Carhart. This essay argues that Suk's critique of feminist paternalism needs to be supplemented with a discussion of traditional paternalism and its influence on how feminist advocacy enters the law. In particular, it suggests that Derrick Bell's theory of interest convergence provides a useful framework for understanding the cultural, legal, and rhetorical evidence adduced by Suk. This broader framework highlights additional pieces of the puzzle that should be taken into account before we pass judgment on feminist paternalism.
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