Volume
12 Number 1 2000
Editorial
/ Éditorial
This issue, entitled “Law, Feminism, and Systemic Inequality:
Complexity, Complicity, and Compensation,” explores the theoretical
and practical challenges posed by law’s contradictory role in
constructing and redressing systemic inequality.
A central theme
uniting all of the essays is that women’s relationship to law
and legal process is complex, whether encountered as lesbians (Pellatt),
as survivors of sexual abuse (Feldthusen, Hankivsky, and Greaves),
as survivors of sexual misconduct by doctors (Murdoch), or, historically,
as married women (Pearlston). The complexity of historically specific
processes involved in the construction of legal subjects (for example,
female juvenile delinquents (Sangster) is examined as is the relative
capacity of feminist, dominant, and critical paradigms to capture
and illuminate women’s complicated relationship to law.
A second theme pursued in this issue is law’s complicity in the
(re)production and perpetuation of systemic manifestations of inequality,
including male violence against women (Sheehy) and racism (Duffy).
A particular focus in this volume is on the ways that equality rights
discourse (Pellatt), self-defense doctrine (Sheehy), and anti-discrimination
and due process discourses (McIntyre) serve to frustrate transgressive
feminist and anti-racist intervention.
Finally, the structure and efficacy of compensation schemes and criminal
regimes designed to redress the harms flowing from sexual harassment
(Lippel and Demers), sexual abuse (Feldthusen, Hankivsky, and Greaves),
and sexual assault (Ginn) are analyzed by several authors who place
the direct experiences of women claimants at the centre of their investigations.
We would also like you, our readers, to know of a few changes that
have occurred on the Editorial Board of the Journal over the past
months. Hester Lessard completed a three-year stint as English Language
Co-Editor in August 1999. Hester had been both the backbone and connective
tissue of the Journal since its move to the west coast, working continuously
and tirelessly in the position while a series of UBC co-editors have
rotated through. Margot Young, from the University of Victoria, has
taken over from Hester as English Language Co-Editor. Josée
Bouchard, long-time Journal supporter, has returned as French Language
Co-Editor. Toni Williams has taken a hiatus from the Editorial Board
after involvement with the Journal for many years. Radha Jhappan,
who teaches in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University,
has recently joined the board, and Susan B. Boyd and Claire Young,
both at the University of British Columbia, have returned to the board
after brief leaves for sabbaticals. We extend much thanks to those
who have stepped down and welcome new and returning members.
Articles
/ Articles
Girls
in Conflict with the Law: Exploring the Construction of Female ‘Delinquency’
in Ontario, 1940-60
Joan Sangster
Le
harcèlement sexuel au travail: la rencontre du droit de la
santé au travail et des droits de la personne
Katherine Lippel and Diane Demers
Therapeutic
Consequences of Civil Actions for Damages and Compensation Claims
by Victims of Sexual Abuse
Bruce Feldthusen, Olena Hankivsky, and Lorraine Greaves
Equality
Rights Litigation and Social Transformation: A Consideration of the
Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund’s Intervention in
Vriend v. R.
Anna S. Pellatt
Studied
Ignorance and Privileged Innocence: Keeping Equity Academic
Sheila McIntyre
Commentaries
/ Commentaires
Review
of the Self-Defence Review
Elizabeth Sheehy
Case
Comments / Chroniques de jurisprudence
Can
Failure to Disclose HIV Positivity to Sexual Partners Vitiate Consent?
R. v. Cuerrier
Diana Ginn
Book
Reviews / Chroniques bibliographiques
Married
Women and Property Law in Victorian Ontario. By Lori Chambers
Karen Pearlston
Fireworks
and Folly: How We Killed Minnie Sutherland. By John Nihmey
Lila Norris Duffy
Stolen
Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman. By Rudy Wiebe and Yvonne Johnson
Sexual
Abuse by Health Professionals: A Personal Search for Meaning and Healing.
By P. Susan Penfold
Caroline Murdoch
