Author:
Akbari Roxana,Vogler Stefan
Abstract
Advocates have long observed that sexual minority women are treated less favorably than sexual minority men under US asylum law. However, there has been little empirical examination of these claims in a US context. We offer the first systematic comparative empirical analysis of 199 asylum decisions for cisgender sexual minorities. Using quantitative metrics to contextualize in-depth qualitative analysis, we show that even when cisgender sexual minority men and women face very similar types of violence, women’s claims are adjudicated differently. This is particularly stark in courts’ treatment of sexual violence but is also evident in determinations of generalized persecution and individuals’ sexualities. When women attempt to use laws that are structured around straight, white, Western male perspectives and experiences, their pathways are limited and sometimes nonexistent. Although the flexibility in this area of asylum law has allowed many types of new claims, these changes have mostly benefited those assigned male at birth, and this surface malleability has ultimately worked to maintain law as a regulatory structure. Even with seemingly progressive changes in asylum law, the law itself continues to uphold race, gender, and sexuality as durable social structures and does little to ameliorate inequalities along these axes of social difference.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Law,General Social Sciences
Reference68 articles.
1. Black Women and the Constitution: Finding Our Place, Asserting Our Rights.;Scales-Trent;Harvard Civil Rights – Civil Liberties Law Review,1989
2. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color
3. Gender As a Social Structure
4. The Emerging Importance of ‘Social Visibility’ in Defining a ‘Particular Social Group’ and Its Potential Impact on Asylum Claims Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender.;Marouf;Yale Law and Policy Review,2008
Cited by
12 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献