Articles by Debra DeLaet
Amicus Curiae, 2024
This article examines protection gaps for children with intersex traits under international an... more This article examines protection gaps for children with intersex traits under international and national laws governing non-voluntary medicalized interventions into sexual anatomy. Various United Nations (UN) bodies, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, human rights treaty-monitoring bodies and the Human Rights Council, have called for full acknowledgment and substantive protection of the rights of children with intersex variations—as with all children—to bodily integrity and (future) bodily autonomy in relation to their own sexed embodiment. However, these global norms generally have not been codified under international law, and most countries have not passed adequate, or any, legislation to secure these rights. We review relevant global norms, international human rights treaties and legislative developments in a range of countries to illustrate potential pathways for closing legal gaps in the protection of all children’s rights to bodily integrity and (future) bodily and sexual autonomy.
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 2024
Global norms developed within the United Nations system have constructed female genital mutilatio... more Global norms developed within the United Nations system have constructed female genital mutilation (FGM) exclusively as a set of non-Western practices. Consistent with these global norms, Western countries have adopted anti-FGM laws targeting non-Western practices while allowing Western genital modification procedures, including female genital cosmetic surgeries (FGCS), male circumcision, and genital 'normalization' surgeries performed on intersex children. These legal inconsistencies suggest that global governance of FGM represents an effort to maintain gendered and racialized social orders reflecting the values of dominant groups. This article examines global norms condemning FGM and anti-FGM laws in Western countries as sites of power and contestation of fundamental human rights.
Global Society, 2018
A pattern of personal and political silence in response to sexual violence is evident across soci... more A pattern of personal and political silence in response to sexual violence is evident across societies, despite significant cultural, political, and social differences. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of discourse as a tool that can shed light on the hidden workings of historically contingent social systems that produce forms of knowledge and meaning, we argue that the logics that are built into laws governing national responses to sexual violence
draw attention to the ways that these logics structure social relations between sexual violence survivors and society, masking some experiences and bringing others to light. Following Marianne Constable’s analysis of silence and the limits and possibilities of modern law, the manuscript explores the ways in which strategies of silence in the face of sexual
violence might lead to novel approaches for pursuing justice for survivors outside of positivist legal frameworks. We also draw on critical feminist perspectives directing legal scholars to pay careful attention to non-legal discourses in developing analyses and responses to sexual violence. The manuscript develops its central arguments through an examination of two dramatically different cases: (a) Title IX as a mechanism for responding to sexual violence on college campuses in the United States; and (b) the
South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s efforts to pursue transitional justice vis-à-vis gender and sexual violence in post-apartheid South Africa.
draw attention to the ways that these logics structure social relations between sexual violence survivors and society, masking some experiences and bringing others to light. Following Marianne Constable’s analysis of silence and the limits and possibilities of modern law, the manuscript explores the ways in which strategies of silence in the face of sexual
violence might lead to novel approaches for pursuing justice for survivors outside of positivist legal frameworks. We also draw on critical feminist perspectives directing legal scholars to pay careful attention to non-legal discourses in developing analyses and responses to sexual violence. The manuscript develops its central arguments through an examination of two dramatically different cases: (a) Title IX as a mechanism for responding to sexual violence on college campuses in the United States; and (b) the
South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s efforts to pursue transitional justice vis-à-vis gender and sexual violence in post-apartheid South Africa.
Lost in Legation: the Gap Between Rhetoric and Reality in International Human Rights Law Governing Women's Rights
Global Discourse, 2018
This article weaves together insights from political science, human rights scholarship, feminist ... more This article weaves together insights from political science, human rights scholarship, feminist legal theory, and other critical perspectives to explore the limits of global legalism as a primary mechanism for promoting women’s rights. Specifically, it examines international human rights law governing women’s rights to consider the limitations of law as a mechanism for improving the status of women globally. Although its development has been prolific, formal international human rights law is characterized by a significant gap between aspirational rhetoric and the reality of limited implementation and enforcement. This gap between rhetoric and reality demonstrates the limitations of a universalistic legal framework as a mechanism for promoting significant gains for women’s equality and rights. The article investigates the limitations of international human rights law as a tool for promoting women’s rights through a close examination of human rights treaty systems, specifically the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
Global Society, 2018
A pattern of personal and political silence in response to sexual violence is evident across soci... more A pattern of personal and political silence in response to sexual violence is evident across societies, despite significant cultural, political, and social differences. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of discourse as a tool that can shed light on the hidden workings of historically contingent social systems that produce forms of knowledge and meaning, we argue that the logics that are built into laws governing national responses to sexual violence draw attention to the ways that these logics structure social relations between sexual violence survivors and society, masking some experiences and bringing others to light. Following Marianne Constable’s analysis of silence and the limits and possibilities of modern law, the manuscript explores the ways in which strategies of silence in the face of sexual violence might lead to novel approaches for pursuing justice for survivors outside of positivist legal frameworks. We also draw on critical feminist perspectives directing legal scholars to pay careful attention to non-legal discourses in developing analyses and responses to sexual violence. The manuscript develops its central arguments through an examination of two dramatically different cases: (a) Title IX as a mechanism for responding to sexual violence on college campuses in the United States; and (b) the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s efforts to pursue transitional justice vis-à-vis gender and sexual violence in post-apartheid South Africa.
Global Change, Peace & Security, 2008
... 29 Kai Grieg, The War Children of the World, Report 1 (Bergen, Norway: War and ... of wartime... more ... 29 Kai Grieg, The War Children of the World, Report 1 (Bergen, Norway: War and ... of wartime sexualviolence are almost entirely invisible in scholarly and media accounts of ... Rape and other forms of sexual violence undermine idealised conceptions of masculinity that stress the ...
The International Journal of Children's Rights, 2012
Claims that genital autonomy should be considered a human right call into question medically unne... more Claims that genital autonomy should be considered a human right call into question medically unnecessary genital alterations, including genital cutting of both boy and girl children, the forced or coerced circumcision of adults, and surgical alterations performed on the genitals of intersex children prior to the age of consent. To date, global norms suggest only a narrow applicability of any right to genital autonomy. International organizations, states, and nongovernmental organizations increasingly condemn genital cutting of girls and women but generally tolerate both the genital cutting of boys and men and the surgical alteration of the genitals of intersex children. In examining assertions that genital autonomy should be considered a human right, the article considers competing rights claims, including religious and cultural rights, parental rights, and contending perspectives on health rights. Ultimately, this article highlights the limitations of international human rights law as a tool for promoting a right to genital autonomy.
Journal of Human Rights, 2009
The international community has not framed male circumcision as a violation of human rights in th... more The international community has not framed male circumcision as a violation of human rights in the same way that it has condemned female genital mutilation. Although this article acknowledges sharp differences between the most extreme forms of female genital mutilation and male circumcision as it is most widely practiced, this article concludes that the most common forms of male and
Gay Marriage as a Religious Right: Reframing the Legal Debate over Gay Marriage in the United States*
Polity, 2008
The definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman has origins in sectarian religiou... more The definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman has origins in sectarian religious views of marriage. Nevertheless, proponents of gay marriage have not yet fully explored the religious discrimination inherent in public policies that embrace this sectarian definition of ...
This article delineates the limitations of international human rights law—including ambivalent la... more This article delineates the limitations of international human rights law—including ambivalent language, loopholes, ill-defined state obligations, and a lack of concrete enforcement mechanisms—that have limited the effectiveness of international human rights law as a mechanism for advancing the cause of global human rights. These limitations suggest that the costs from the establishment of a Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) may outweigh the benefits. Given that a human right to health is already codified in existing international human rights law, this article also suggests that the FCGH would be a duplicative treaty that would contribute to redundancies and bureaucratic inefficiencies in the existing international human rights regime. Further, it would divert scarce resources that might be more productively spent on other global health initiatives.
International Studies Perspectives, 2012
This essay discusses a pedagogical approach to the teaching of international relations grounded i... more This essay discusses a pedagogical approach to the teaching of international relations grounded in both a pluralist approach to the study of politics and post-modern feminism. Whereas pluralism helpfully draws attention to the wide range of actors that play a role in world politics and the multiplicity of factors that shape the motivations, identities, and behaviors of these actors, post-modern feminism underscores the fact that actors-and their identities, norms, and interests-are constructed rather than given. In combination, these perspectives encourage students and teachers to focus not only on diversity within and across societies but also on the possibilities for constructing alternative models of politics and for building coalitions across presumed divisions of politics, ideology, culture, gender, and other social markers. The essay provides an overview of strategies for integrating a pedagogy of feminist pluralism in the international relations classroom.
A pedagogy of civic engagement for the undergraduate political science classroom
Journal of Political Science Education, 2015
International Feminist Journal of Politics, 2013
Books by Debra DeLaet
Book Chapters by Debra DeLaet
Introduction: The Invisibility of Women in Scholarship on International Migration
Gender and Immigration, 1999
Book Reviews by Debra DeLaet
Beyond the Responsibility to Protect
International Studies Review, 2016
Donna Seto, No Place for a War Baby: The Global Politics of Children Born of Wartime Sexual Violence
Peace Review, 2014