So, we had a big long discussion of the legal scholar Janet Halley, existentialism, the meaning of the word agency, structure/agency in social theory, legal theory, and the idea of coercion in moral philosophy. Janet Halley is author of the book, Split Decisions: How and Why to Take a Break from Feminism.
Someone linked to Duncan Kennedy's article, 'Sexual Abuse, Sexy Dressing, and the Eroticization of Domination.' He saw the traffic at his site, ended up at the blog, and then told Halley about it.
So, when I called Halley just to say "Hi and thanks" and let her know we were talking about her work and planning on reading the book, she already knew about it and was happy that we were into her work. She proposed the idea of a Question and Answer session at the blog -- probably in 4-6 weeks, since I'll need time to read the book.
If you're interested in joining in, great. Feel free to pass this along if you know anyone who might be interested.
Also, you can buy the book through my account and I'll get kick back:
Or use the blog post if the long URL breaks: http://blog.pulpculture.org/2006/09/15/split-decisions/
Helpful Links:
The Introductory Chapter: http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/chapters/s8258.html
A paper that basically outlines the basic contours of the book, Queer Theory by Men: http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/djglp/articles/gen11p7.htm
(It's authored by Ian Halley, a name she took because, I think, it represents what she means by "taking a break from feminism". She stopped working on women/gender/sex issues in the law and, instead, advocated for gay men for awhile. What she means by this is that her work at the time involved looking at the way sex harassment law was being used to sue gay men for harassment.)
A 2 hour lecture where she outlines the ideas in the book: http://realmedia.oit.duke.edu/ramgen/law/fall02/currie02.rm
Text overview: http://www.law.duke.edu/features/news_brainerd_series.html
More information forthcoming at the Seminars: Janet Halley page: http://blog.pulpculture.org/category/seminars-janet-halley/
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