Reputational Assault: A Critical and Historical Analysis of Gender and the Law of Defamation

Abstract

This article looks at the manner in which the U.S. judicial system treats men and women differently in terms of reputational harm. It explores a variety of state statutes that encode such differences as well and places both court cases and legislative enactments in the context of the development of women's history. It shows that women's reputations are generally discussed in terms of virtue, while men's reputations are cast in terms of honor. The article shows how the women's experience with the law of defamation is quite different from the experience of men in two time periods.