Dworkin; Which Dworkin? Taking Feminism Seriously

Abstract

Feminism and critical legal studies are, of course, two entirely different creatures. Feminism is only partially and peripherally concerned with academic theorising. It is motivated by the dissatisfactions of a wide spectrum of both non-academic and academic women and by the everyday experience of such women. Critical legal studies, whilst it seeks to explore the interrelationship between theory and political practice, is a movement whose impetus springs from the dissatisfactions of legal academics. Amongst feminists there is unanimity about the need to alter the social dynamics of power between women and men in capitalist and other societies, and a diversity of explanations for and solutions to existing power structures. In critical legal studies little unanimity has been apparent. Both movements are revolutionary in the sense that they seek to bring about change. One of the objects of this paper will be an attempt to analyse what feminism might have to offer to critical legal studies. This paper grew out of discussions within the women's caucus of the U.K. Critical Legal Conference and thus reflects some diversity of views. The authors themselves are all feminists who are also involved in the fruitful, but unresolved, dialogue between Marxism and feminism. In this paper, however, we have attempted to distinguish between the times when we can make broad feminist points and times when we would recognise a particular position within feminist theory. It cannot be over-emphasised that feminism covers an enormous range of diverse theoretical positions. It is part of the argument of this paper that too often that fact is ignored or not understood by those espousing the feminist project from within an academic arena. Feminism has grown out of and taken sustenance from a diverse gamut of political practices. It has not been built on a careful body of theory but rather on instances of the experience of power and lack of power. When, as feminists, we begin to talk about such concepts as 'patriarchal relations', we are not simply engaged in an academic search but giving expression to a set of experiences. Many feminists are wary of the academic project. It attempts to put 'us', as women, under the