Sappho Goes to Law School

Robson tackles controversial legal questions, including the treatment of lesbian criminal defendants; lesbianism and violence; the courts' tendency to resort to stereotypes, such as "the good lesbian" and "the bad lesbian"; the numerous debates enveloping same-sex marriage; and the outcome of child custody cases involving lesbians. She also repudiates the recent habit of legal theorists to address lesbians as "alternative family."

Drawing on concepts taken from US law and legal theory, postmodernism and queer theory, as well as the author's own experience in the courtroom and classroom, this book examines the complexities of lesbian identity and the often detrimental ways in which legal scholarship approaches lesbianism.In Sappho Goes to Law School Ruthann Robson weaves together concepts taken from traditional legal theory, postmodernism, feminist theory, and queer theory, as well as her own personal experience in the courtroom and classroom, to take stock of the complexities of lesbian identity and the often detrimental ways in which legal scholarship approaches lesbianism.