When Sex Counts

That's the title of a brand new book by Dorf on Law blogger and Rutgers Law Professor Sherry Colb. Actually, as you can see from the cover (left), the full title is When Sex Counts: Making Babies and Making Law. You can buy it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or directly from the publisher.

Beginning with a riff on the Supreme Court's famously obtuse distinction between pregnant and non-pregnant persons in Geduldig v. Aiello, the book addresses a host of sex equality issues by observing the centrality of reproduction and pregnancy (or the capacity for pregnancy) to nearly all of them. I think this is a rare and successful effort to write across the spectrum of sex equality issues. But don't take my word for it. Here are the blurbs:

"With deft writing, clear thinking, and deep knowledge, Sherry Colb illuminates the dark intersection of law and sex. She displays both journalistic verve and scholarly rigor. The result is a wonderful book that makes advanced thinking about complex controversies nicely accessible to the general reader."—Randall L. Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and author of Interracial Intimacies

"In her feisty and informative exploration of pregnancy, rape, and sex discrimination, Sherry Colb flips the familiar conclusion of 'no easy answers' to the more challenging premise of 'no easy questions.' Are pro-life feminists feminist? Is male circumcision gender violence? Should assisted reproduction be prohibited? In clear staccato chapters, When Sex Counts offers readers thoughtful and thought-provoking analyses of the toughest issues now confronting women and men as their lives intersect with law."—Carol Sanger, Barbara Aronstein Black Professor of Law, Columbia University Law School

"A beautifully written and brilliant exploration of gender in American society. Professor Colb tackles all of the hard questions in a series of provocative and insightful essays about some of the most important and intimate aspects of our lives. A must read for all who care about issues of gender, sexuality, and reproduction."—Erwin Chemerinsky, Alston & Bird Professor of Law, Duke University Law School, and author of Constitutional Law (2006)