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    Catharine MacKinnon — Carmelics
    Thinkers/Catharine MacKinnon
    Catharine MacKinnon

    Catharine MacKinnon

    contemporaryRadical Feminism, Feminist Legal Theory

    b. 1946

    Catharine MacKinnon (born 1946) is an American feminist legal theorist, activist, and law professor best known for developing the legal framework that recognized sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination. Her work synthesizes feminist philosophy, legal theory, and social constructionism to argue that law and social institutions systematically reproduce male dominance, shaping her influential critique of liberalism and pornography.

    WWikipedia

    Notable Achievements

    1

    Pioneered the legal theory of sexual harassment as sex discrimination, foundational to U.S. Title IX and Title VII jurisprudence

    2

    Developed a social constructionist account of gender and sexuality as products of male dominance rather than biological difference

    3

    Co-authored (with Andrea Dworkin) model anti-pornography civil rights ordinances framing pornography as sex discrimination

    4

    Authored 'Toward a Feminist Theory of the State' (1989), a foundational text in feminist jurisprudence

    5

    Advanced feminist critiques of liberal neutrality, arguing law reflects and entrenches gendered power asymmetries

    Positions & Arguments(3)

    Justice & Punishment

    claim

    Gender inequality persists in access to elite positions in the economy and government.

    Rights & Liberty

    claim

    Gender inequality persists in access to elite positions in the economy and government.

    claim

    Philosophers speculating about women ought to take into account the obstacles to women's opportunities for subjecthood and choice created by those who constructed an oppressive situation for women.

    Moral Responsibility

    claim

    Each of us is socially constructed to a significant extent.

    claim

    Philosophers speculating about women ought to take into account the obstacles to women's opportunities for subjecthood and choice created by those who constructed an oppressive situation for women.

    Personal Identity

    claim

    Each of us is socially constructed to a significant extent.

    At a Glance

    Ideas

    3

    Topics

    4

    Era

    contemporary

    Tradition

    Radical Feminism, Feminist Legal Theory

    Topic Influence

    Rights & Liberty2
    Moral Responsibility2
    Personal Identity1
    Justice & Punishment1

    Related Thinkers

    John Stuart Mill3 sharedDavid Hume3 sharedImmanuel Kant3 sharedMartha Nussbaum3 sharedThomas Hobbes3 sharedAnn Cudd3 sharedGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

    Dive Deeper

    Explore Rights & Liberty→See Moral Responsibility→
    3 shared
    Adrienne Rich3 shared