Regulating Intimacy: A New Legal Paradigm

Abstract

Regulating Intimacy: A New Legal Paradigm. By Jean L. Cohen. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004. 304 pp.Although Jean Cohen's book was originally published in 2002, her argument for a reformulated justification for the right to privacy seems more relevant than ever. The resignation of a key swing vote from the Supreme Court makes feminist concerns about the future of legal abortion seem all the more pressing. As her subtitle—“a new legal paradigm”—suggests, Cohen undertakes an ambitious project of reviving the right to privacy as a key feminist concept, while simultaneously attempting to rethink the nature and use of the law. Defending the reflexive paradigm of law, she argues that neither the liberal nor welfare paradigms of legal action is adequate for formulating solutions to privacy issues tinged with issues of gender equity, including abortion, sexual orientation law, and sexual harassment. The book's strength and weakness is its admirable breadth, as it tackles an impressive pantheon of legal theory, political philosophy, legal doctrine, and substantive legal and political issues. The author successfully refutes the liberal and welfarist paradigms but is less persuasive that the reflexive paradigm offers a way out of the dilemma.