La teoria femminista in America e il diritto

Feminist Theory in America and Law

Abstract disponibile solo in lingua inglese

This paper intends to give something of the flavour of feminist legal scholarship, an American phenomenon little known in Italy. Albeit briefly, the author points to the major efforts made by American feminist scholars. Rape and pornography seem currently to be their major field of concern and action. To these, one should add pregnancy and abortion, labour and social security, together with ambitious and difficult attempts at re-writing traditional areas of the law, such as the law of torts, from a feminist perspective. Feminist opinion is by no means unanimous on the remedies to be applied. The rights debate is an example. Inevitably for such a young movement, there is a certain degree of dogmatism and confusion. There is a regrettable absence of clear methods and theoretical frameworks and a disregard for a variety of other disciplines (the author discusses at some length the problem of methodology and the much needed – and practically lacking – encounter of feminism and psychoanalysis). One should, however, acknowledge that feminist legal scholarship is a young school of thought that has not even begun to exhaust its potential. Feminism has an invaluable contribution to make, not only in the active field of changing the condition of women but, most importantly, in its critique of the alleged neutrality of law in general. It deserves, and indeed demands the utmost seriousness of study, and the most honest critique.