Anita Bernstein, ‘Renewing Products Liability with Semen’, 73 DePaul Law Review 211 (2024). Of the tens of thousands of reported civil cases in Westlaw’s torts database, would it surprise you that a mere 34 opinions in the set use the word ‘vulva’? Even then, the term is often mentioned only as a quote from a statute, regulation, or expert testimony, or used with reference to non-human animals (baby mink). 74 cases mention the term ‘oocyte or ovum’. 578 mention the word ‘vagina’. These small numbers exist alongside 5,954 published civil cases in the database that mention ‘rape’ or ‘sexual assault’. Courts use terms related to male anatomy more often than their female analogues, but only two to three times more often. Into this gap concerning bodies and sexuality, Professor Anita Bernstein has consciously ‘chosen to feel inspired by this silence in the discourse’ … (more)
[Ellen Bublick, JOTWELL, 18 September 2024]
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