ABSTRACT

Groups seeking legal equality often take a victory as the end of the line. Once judgment is granted or a law is passed, coalitions disband and life goes on in a new state of equality. Policy makers too may assume that a troublesome file is now closed. This collection arises from the urgent sense that law reforms driven by equality call for fresh lines of inquiry. In unintended ways, reforms may harm their intended beneficiaries. They may also worsen the disadvantage of other groups. Committed to tackling these important issues beyond the boundaries that often confine legal scholarship, this book pursues an interdisciplinary consideration of efforts to advance equality, as it explores the developments, challenges, and consequences that arise from law reforms aiming to deliver equality in the areas of sexuality, kinship, and family relations. With an international array of contributors, After Legal Equality: Family, Sex, Kinship will be an invaluable resource for those with interests in this area.

chapter |21 pages

Introduction

After legal equality

part |74 pages

Care and justice under neo-liberalism

chapter |17 pages

Equality

An uncomfortable fit in parenting law

chapter |18 pages

Men, gender and fathers' rights ‘after legal equality'

New formations of rights and responsibility in family justice

chapter |20 pages

Economic justice after legal equality

The case for caring queerly

part |51 pages

Sex and love

chapter |17 pages

Tackling inequality in the intimate sphere

Problematizing love and violence in same-sex relationships

chapter |16 pages

(Re)inscribing the heteronormative family

Same-sex relationships and parenting ‘after equality'