HARVARD WOMEN'S LAW JOURNAL

In this article, the author examines how sexual violence against women has traditionally been kept outside of the realm of violations of human rights. She argues that crimes that fall under such violations are crimes that are perpetrated on men and women indiscriminately, whereas sexual violence against women is legally seen as 'private' and therefore, has not been understood as a violation of women's humanity. The exclusion of sexual violence from violations of human rights, it is argued, stems from the fact that, while women are typically raped by individual

This article examines the obstacles faced by women seeking asylum due to gender-based persecution. First, the author reviews the difficulties in framing gender-based persecution claims such that they fit into internationally recognized definitions and categories. The author argues that there is no reason why the use of the existing "membership in a particular social class category" cannot continue while efforts to achieve the recognition of a new category of "gender" also take place.

This essay discusses the importance of a "bottom-line feminist theory" to engender a degree of cohesiveness amongst the diverse voices within the feminist movement. The author posits that feminists' commitment to diversity has made it difficult to identify a feminist position on specific issues since there may be numerous feminist positions. The author uses the concept of customary international law (CIL) to suggest a methodology for arriving at a middle ground between the extremes of grand theory and subjective narrative.

The author analyzes the focus of international attention to the issue of consent related to sex trafficking. She begins with an examination of the treatment given by international documents to trafficking of women for prostitution. She then discusses the demand side of sex trafficking and ends with an analysis of the consequences of treating consent as determinative of whether sex trafficking is a human rights violation. She argues that "this focus on consent obscures the larger issue of gender inequality that underlies and fuels the sex trafficking and prostitution industries.