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Liberal Democracy and the Problem of Patriarchy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2013

David AJ Richards
David AJ Richards*
Affiliation:
Edwin D Webb Professor of Law, New York University. [email protected].
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Abstract

This article addresses how and why liberal democratic constitutions, such as the United States, have come to recognise the tension between liberal values of equal liberty and patriarchy in three areas – contraception, abortion, and gay/lesbian sex acts – and to resolve them in the way in which they have: by extending constitutional protection to these activities on the basis of a constitutional right to privacy. The article begins with some historical understanding of the background of the rise of patriarchy, and why the control of sexuality in general, and women's sexuality in particular, was so central to its aims. It then turns to how and why liberal constitutionalism has found these aims to be so problematic as a basis for law.

Keywords

liberal democracypatriarchyconstitutional privacyabortiongay/lesbian rightscontraception
Type
Articles
Information
Israel Law Review , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , July 2013 , pp. 169 - 191
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and The Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2013 

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