Feminist Legal Methods [1990]

Abstract

Feminists have developed extensive critiques of law and proposals for legal reform. Feminists have tended to focus on defending their various substantive positions or political agendas, even among themselves. Greater attention to issues of method may help to anchor these defenses, to explain why feminist agendas often appear so radical (or not radical enough), and even to establish some common ground among feminists. Some feminists have claimed that women approach the reasoning process differently than men do. The chapter explores the themes through a discussion of a feminist version of practical reasoning. As a form of legal reasoning, practical reasoning has many meanings invoked in many contexts for many different purposes. Practical reasoning approaches problems not as dichotomized conflicts, but as dilemmas with multiple perspectives, contradictions, and inconsistencies. As Leslie Bender writes, "Feminist consciousness-raising creates knowledge by exploring common experiences and patterns that emerge from shared tellings of life events.

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