Intersectional Inequalities: Street Harassment, Prostitution et.al. – Race/Sex/Religion etc.
Monday, 20 June 2016, 9 – 13 h, Humboldt University of Berlin
I am delighted to host a Master Class with Professor MacKinnon in Berlin to discuss
challenges in sex equality law arising from cases of sexualized and racialized inequalities
and often affected by religious politics as well. Recent German debates around sexual
harassment (“Aufschrei”) and street harassment (“Silvester in Köln”) or new regulatory
schemes of prostitution (“Prostituiertenschutzgesetz”) are cases in point. The Masterclass
will serve to discuss these and topics brought in by participants in a workshop format on
the basis of a small selection of common reading.
C.A. MacKinnon is an internationally renowned legal scholar, lawyer and advisor on sex
equality law and human rights. She was the first to conceptualize sexual harassment as
discrimination, in 1979, discussing race and sex as well as class as specifically intersecting
inequalities. She drafted civil rights legislation against pornography, litigated many cases
of sexual harassment and sexual abuse, and represented Bosnian and Croatian women in
Kadic v. Karadzic to win a jury verdict of $745 million in the U.S. in 2000. She has served
as an advisor to the Swedish government to ban prostitution, and to the International
Criminal Court in 2008–2012 to implement her concept of “gender crimes.”
Her books: Sex Equality (2001/2007), Are Women Human? (2006), Women's Lives, Men's Laws
(2005), Only Words (1993), Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989), Feminism Unmodified
(1987), Sexual Harassment of Working Women (1979).
All those interested and willing to contribute actively and to discuss their own projects
are invited to apply. To secure a workshop atmosphere, the number of participants is
limited to 20. To apply, please send a letter of motivation including a short description of
the project you are working on (max. 2 pages) and your CV to sekretariat.baer@rewi.huberlin.
de. The application deadline is 15 April 2016.