Sex, Preference, and Family Essays on Law and Nature

by Estlund, David M.; Nussbaum, Martha C.

• ISBN13: 9780195122879
• ISBN10: 0195122879
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-06-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The public furor over issues of same sex marriages, gay rights, pornography, and single-parent families has erupted with a passion not seen since the 1960s. This book gathers seventeen eminent philosophers and legal scholars who offer commentary on sexuality (including sexual behavior, sexual orientation, and the role of pornography in shaping sexuality), on the family (including both same-sex and single-parent families), and on the proper role of law in these areas. The essayists are all fiercely independent thinkers and offer the reader a range of bold and thought-provoking proposals. Susan Moller Okin argues, for instance, that gender ought to be done away with--that differences in biological sex ought to have "no more social relevance than one's eye color or the length of one's toes"--and she urges that we look to same-sex couples as a model for households and families in a gender-free society. And Cass Sunstein suggests that the Supreme Court case Loving vs. Virginia (which overthrew the ban on interracial marriages in Virginia) might be a precedent for overturning laws that bar same-sex marriage: just as Loving overturned miscegenation laws because they were at the service of white supremacy, Sunstein shows, the laws against same-sex marriages and homosexuality are at the service of male supremacy, and might also be overturned. Of vital importance to anyone interested in sexuality, homosexuality, gender, feminism, and the family. Sex, Preference, and the Family both clarifies the current debate and points the way toward a less divisive future.

Author Biography

David M. Estlund is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brown University. Martha Nussbaum is Ernest Freund Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Shaping Sex, Preference, and Family
The Social Construction and Reconstruction of Care	p. 3
Constructing Love, Desire, and Care	p. 17
Sexual Orientation and Gender: Dichotomizing Differences	p. 44
Sex
Democratic Sex: Reynolds v. U.S., Sexual Relations, and Community	p. 63
Sexuality and Liberty: Making Room for Nature and Tradition?	p. 86
Pornography Left and Right	p. 102
The Visit and The Video: Publication and the Line Between Sex and Speech	p. 126
Shaping and Sex: Commentary on Parts I and II	p. 148
Preference
The Economic Approach to Homosexuality	p. 173
The Sexual Economist and Legal Regulation of the Sexual Orientations	p. 192
Homosexuality and the Constitution	p. 208
Natural Law, Morality, and Sexual Complementarity	p. 227
Family
All in the Family and In All Families: Membership, Loving, and Owing	p. 249
Beyond Lesbian and Gay "Families We Choose"	p. 277
Causes of Declining Well-Being Among U.S. Children	p. 290
The Consequences of Single Motherhood	p. 306
Preference and Family: Commentary on Parts III and IV	p. 319
Index	p. 339
Contributors	p. 351
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