Critical Analysis of Law Workshop
presents
Aya Gruber
University of Colorado Boulder Law School
Neofeminism
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
12:30 - 2:00
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Today it is prosaic to say that “feminism is dead.” Far from being moribund, feminist legal theory is breaking from its somewhat dogmatic past and forging ahead with new vigor. Many modern feminist legal scholars seek innovative ways to better the legal, social, and economic status of women while simultaneously questioning some of the more troubling moves of second-wave feminism, such as the tendency to essentialize the woman’s experience, the turn to authoritarian state policies, and the characterization of women as pure objects or agents. These “neofeminists” prioritize women’s issues but maintain a strong commitment to distributive justice and recognize that subordination exists on multiple axes. In defining “neofeminism,” this Article examines how the troubling nature of certain second-wave feminist principles engendered new schools of feminist thought. It then illustrates this process in the domestic violence law reform context. The Article concludes that recognizing a new and vibrant progressive feminism can counter exaggerated claims of feminism’s demise, the belief that feminism has been devastated by postmodern critique, and the appropriation of the feminist label by conservative women’s groups.
Professor Gruber joined the University of Colorado Law School faculty as a professor of law in 2010 and was honored by the students with the Outstanding New Faculty Member award in 2012. Prior to her appointment at Colorado, she was a professor of law at the University of Iowa College of Law and a founding faculty member at Florida International University College of Law, South Florida's first public law school. Professor Gruber teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and other courses related to criminal justice and critical theory. Professor Gruber earned her undergraduate degree in Philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and with departmental honors. She then attended Harvard Law School, from which she graduated magna cum laude, and served as an editor on the Women’s Law Journal and International Law Journal. After law school, Professor Gruber clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and then served as a felony trial attorney with the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C. and Federal Public Defender in Miami. Professor Gruber writes in the areas of criminal law and procedure, critical race theory, and feminist legal theory, focusing particularly on criminal law reforms that strengthen the state's ability to punish those who offend against women and minorities. Her recent scholarship analyzes domestic violence law and policy in the context of feminist ideology, the racial objection to stand-you-ground laws, and the gender critique of the provocation defense to murder. Her latest article, A Provocative Defense, which responds to the trenchant feminist objection to the heat-of-passion doctrine, is forthcoming in the California Law Review (2015). Professor Gruber's current project is an empirical and analytical study of New York State's year-old Human Trafficking Intervention Court system. A frequent public speaker on criminal justice, Professor Gruber has appeared on Fox News, ABC, and PBS, and is quoted in various news outlets, including the Denver Post, Slate, and Wired Magazine.
For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.
