Module LAW3011 for 2020/1
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
LAW3011: Gender, Sexuality and Law
This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.
Module Aims
The aim of this module is to introduce you to the concepts of sex, gender and sexuality and to highlight their (often uneasy) relationships with the law. The module will foster your critical engagement with the law which will be useful in many other modules as well as your future career. The module is based on your engagement with cutting edge issues backed by up to date scholarship in the areas of law, gender and sexuality. These include genital modification, gay adoption, trans-bodies, domestic violence and civil partnerships. Thus this module also aims to familiarise you with the fascinating theoretical background to aid their critique of the law. Teaching sessions will foster your critical thinking and encourage you to challenge traditional legal reasoning. The module emphasises student interaction with a focus on presentations, debates and group work in a supportive environment.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate a critical awareness of contemporary sex, gender and sexuality issues and how these issues influence/impact upon law; 2. Critically evaluate theories and techniques regarding gender and sex; |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Demonstrate detailed/comprehensive knowledge of legal concepts and their contextual/social/political implications; 4. Define complex legal problems, identify their relative significance and select appropriate methods for investigating and critically evaluating them; 5. Select, integrate and present coherently and reflectively relevant law and legal/theoretical arguments; |
| Personal and Key Skills | 6. Work independently and to manage time efficiently in preparing for scheduled learning activities and assessments; 7. Manage relevant learning resources/ information/ learning strategies and to develop own arguments and opinions with minimum guidance; 8. Communicate and engage in debate effectively and accurately, in a manner appropriate to the discipline/ different contexts; |
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 750 words | 1-8 | Written. General feedback highlighting common errors. |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay and reflective commentary | 100 | 3,750 words | 1-8 | Written or oral. General feedback highlighting common errors. |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay and reflective commentary | Essay and reflective commentary (3,750 words) | 1-8 | August/September Re-assessment period. |
Re-assessment notes
Students resubmitting their essays will have to choose a different topic and/or title to the essay that they submitted originally.
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
- Feminist Legal Theory [in] McCoubrey & White's Textbook on Jurisprudence, James Penner and Emmanuel Melissaris, 2012
- Jones, J. Grear, A. Fenton, R. A. & Stevenson, K. (ed.) Gender, Sexualities and Law. 2011. Oxon: Routledge.
- Jackson, E and Lacey, N. Introducing Feminist Legal Theory in Introduction to Jurisprudence and Legal Theory: Commentary and Materials.
- Finley, L. Reshaping Women’s Silence in Law: The Dilemma of the Gendered Nature of Legal Reasoning. 1989. Notre Dame L. Rev. Vol. 64, No.5, pp. 886-891
- Fineman, M. The Autonomy Myth, 2005.
- Barker, N. Sex and the civil partnership act: the future of (non) conjugality? Feminist Legal Studies. 2006. Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 241-259.
- Fineman, M. A. The Neutered Mother. U. Miami L. Rev. Vol. 46. No. 3, pp. 653-670.
- Fox, M. & Thomson, M. Foreskin Is a Feminist Issue, Australian Feminist Studies, 2009, Vol. 24, No. 60, pp. 195-210.
- Sharpe, A. N. Endless Sex: The Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Persistence of a Legal Category. Feminist Legal Studies. 2007. Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.57-84.
- Naffine, N. The Body Bag, in Sexing the Subject of Law, 1997
- Nicolson, D (2005) ‘Demography, discrimination and diversity: a new dawn for the British legal profession,’ International Journal of the Legal Profession, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.201-228.
- V. Bettinson and C. Bishop, “Is the creation of a discrete offence of coercive control necessary to combat domestic violence?” Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 2015, 66(2): 179–97.
- C. Bishop, ‘The Limitations of a Legal Response’ in Hilder and Bettinson, Domestic Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Protection, Prevention and Intervention (2016)
- N. Naffine, 1994 “Possession: Erotic Love in the Law of Rape”. Modern Law Review. 57(10) pp. 10-37.
- N. Gooch (2005) “The Feminisation of the Male Rape Victim”, UCL Jurisprudence Review 12 pp. 196-213.
- L. Ellison and V. Munro (2013). “Better the Devil You Know? ‘Real Rape’ Stereotypes and The Relevance of a Previous Relationship in (Mock) Juror Deliberation”, International Journal of Evidence & Proof, Vol. 14 pp. 299-322.
