This article analyzes the failure of international law to take into account the gendered nature of violence and how this has not evolved significantly over time. Specifically, the author compares the concerns expressed by foundational international legal scholar Christine Chinkin in 1997 to those remaining in 2019 on the integration of feminist theory with international law. The article describes how contemporary concerns around the impact that a gendered focus in international law has on men is problematic. Gender neutral analysis in this field serves as a barrier to true and transformative change to the system. The article concludes by exploring how feminist political theory is divided, and how this intra-feminist division has impacted individual women’s role as substantive feminist agents in international institutions. The plethora of enduring disagreement in the feminist theory tradition gives rise to an intellectual incoherence that undermines strategic feminist international law initiatives.