Fineman Martha A., Thomadsen Nancy. At the Boundaries of Law: Feminism and Legal Theory

Routledge, 1991. — 368 p.Feminists have recently begun to challenge the powerful influence of the law on the social and cultural construction of women s roles, identities, and rights. At the Boundaries of the Law is a timely and path-breaking work that provides a series of non-technical, interdisciplinary explorations into the nature and effects of legal regulation on women s lives. Together the essays examine the fertile and radically revisionary links between feminism and legal theory. But At the Boundaries of the Law rejects the abstract grand theorizing of traditional feminist legal theory, focusing instead on the concrete and material implications of the legal injustices endured by women. These essays emphasise the complex diversity of female experience, collectively arguing for legal theory and practice that both recognises and accommodates the concept of difference in gender, class, race and sexual orientation. At the Boundaries of the Law also raises provocative questions about the methodology and future of feminist legal theory itself. In its rich variety of issues and approaches, this volume will command the interest not only of legal theorists, but of those interested in women s studies, philosophy, politics, sociology and history. It is sure to set the future agenda for scholars, policymakers and anyone concerned with the role of law in society.