'Women's Lives, Men's Laws' collects papers by MacKinnon from 1980 to the present, in which she discusses the deep gender bias of American law and the changes to legislation on sexual harassment, rape and battering, to which she has contributed.

"Catharine A. MacKinnon, noted feminist and legal scholar, explores and develops her original theories and practical proposals on sexual politics and law. These discourses, originally delivered as speeches, have been brilliantly woven into a book that retains all the spontaneity and accessibility of a live presentation. Through these engaged works on issues such as rape, abortion, athletics, sexual harassment, and pornography, MacKinnon seeks feminism on its own terms, unconstrained by the limits of prior traditions. She argues that viewing gender as a matter of sameness and difference--as virtually all existing theory and law have done--covers up the reality of gender, which is a system of social hierarchy, an imposed inequality of power"--Back cover.

Toward a Feminist Theory of the State presents Catharine MacKinnon’s powerful analysis of politics, sexuality, and the law from the perspective of women. Using the debate over Marxism and feminism as a point of departure, MacKinnon develops a theory of gender centered on sexual subordination and applies it to the state. The result is an informed and compelling critique of inequality and a transformative vision of a direction for social change.

More than half a century after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defined what a human being is and is entitled to, Catharine MacKinnon asks: Are women human yet? If women were regarded as human, would they be sold into sexual slavery worldwide; veiled, silenced, and imprisoned in homes; bred, and worked as menials for little or no pay; stoned for sex outside marriage or burned within it; mutilated genitally, impoverished economically, and mired in illiteracy--all as a matter of course and without effective recourse? The cutting edge is where law and culture hurts, which is where MacKinnon operates in these essays on the transnational status and treatment of women. Taking her gendered critique of the state to the international plane, ranging widely intellectually and concretely, she exposes the consequences and significance of the systematic maltreatment of women and its systemic condonation. And she points toward fresh ways--social, legal, and political--of targeting its toxic orthodoxies. MacKinnon takes us inside the workings of nation-states, where the oppression of women defines community life and distributes power in society and government. She takes us to Bosnia-Herzogovina for a harrowing look at how the wholesale rape and murder of women and girls there was an act of genocide, not a side effect of war. She takes us into the heart of the international law of conflict to ask--and reveal--why the international community can rally against terrorists' violence, but not against violence against women. A critique of the transnational status quo that also envisions the transforming possibilities of human rights, this bracing book makes us look as never before at an ongoing war too long undeclared.

A comprehensive legal theory is needed to prevent the persistence of sexual harassment. Although requiring sexual favors as a quid pro quo for job retention or advancement clearly is unjust, the task of translating that obvious statement into legal theory is difficult. To do so, one must define sexual harassment and decide what the law's role in addressing harassment claims should be. In Sexual Harassment of Working Women,' Catharine Mac-Kinnon attempts all of this and more. In making a strong case that sexual harassment is sex discrimination and that a legal remedy should be available for it, the book proposes a new standard for evaluating all practices claimed to be discriminatory on the basis of sex. Although MacKinnon's "inequality" theory is flawed and its implications are not considered sufficiently, her formulation of it makes the book a significant contribution to the literature of sex discrimination. MacKinnon calls upon the law to eliminate not only sex dis- crimination but also most instances of sexism from society. She uses traditional theories in an admittedly strident manner, and relies upon both traditional and radical-feminist sources. The results of her effort are mixed. The book is at times fresh and challenging, at times needlessly provocative. -- https://www.jstor.org (Sep. 30, 2016).

MacKinnon contends that pornography, racial and sexual harassment, and racial hate speech are acts of intimidation, subordination, terrorism, and discrimination, and should be legally treated as such.

The Essays Highlight Women`S Inequality In South Asia And The Failure Of The State To Secure Political And Human Rights For Their Female Citizens.