The journal Law & Contemporary Problems has published its first issue of 2022, an interdisciplinary symposium on "Sex in Law." Among the contributions to the symposium is an article by philosopher Kathleen Stock, "The Importance of Referring to Human Sex in Language." In this article, Stock argues that "abandoning orthodox biology-based understandings of 'woman,' 'man,' 'girl' and 'boy' deprives language-users with immensely valuable tools to analyse and explain the material and social world. Meanwhile, any supposed gains are partial and uncertain." The inclusion of this article prompted some student editors of the journal to resign, as covered in this post.
The full symposium presents articles from a range of normative and disciplinary perspectives, addressing contemporary questions about how questions of sex, gender, and sexuality are and should be addressed in the law. In addition to Stock, contributors include Edward Schiappa, Joshua D. Safer, Anne B. Goldstein, Richard Chused, Anthony Michael Kreis, Wickliffe Shreve, Joanna Harper, June Carbone, and Madeleine Pape.
As a result of the controversy, no student editors are listed on the journal's masthead for this issue. Instead is the following statement:
