Flora Renz | University of Kent (original) (raw)
Teaching Documents by Flora Renz
Book Reviews by Flora Renz
Social & Legal Studies, Jun 2014
In-Spire Journal of Law, Politics and Societies (Vol. 6, No. 2), 2012
Policing Sexuality: Sex, Society and the State Lee, Julian C.H.; London and New York; Zed Books; ... more Policing Sexuality: Sex, Society and the State Lee, Julian C.H.; London and New York; Zed Books; 2011; 192pp; £16.99 paperback; ISBN 978-1-84813-897-1.
Papers by Flora Renz
Law and Critique
By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her w... more By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her wheelchair being damaged by an airline, this article asks whether law could accommodate a definition of legal personhood that encompasses the possibility of bodies augmented by prosthetics, technology, and mobility aids. The use of mobility aids by disabled people and the role of prosthetic penises in so-called ‘gender fraud’ cases offer two useful provocations to consider the ways in which legal personhood, if defined as largely mapping on to an ideal, normative body, is becoming an increasingly inadequate legal concept in the modern age. Drawing on the work of Donna Haraway and the figure of the cyborg, this article argues that a more protean, flexible, and fluctuating understanding of legal personhood would offer both a more accurate and utopian conception of the body in law than the current essentialist approach found in a number of legal areas and particularly in English criminal law.
Law and Critique, 2023
By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her w... more By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her wheelchair being damaged by an airline, this article asks whether law could accommodate a definition of legal personhood that encompasses the possibility of bodies augmented by prosthetics, technology, and mobility aids. The use of mobility aids by disabled people and the role of prosthetic penises in so-called "gender fraud" cases offer two useful provocations to consider the ways in which legal personhood, if defined as largely mapping on to an ideal, normative body, is becoming an increasingly inadequate legal concept in the modern age. Drawing on the work of Donna Haraway and the figure of the cyborg, this article argues that a more protean, flexible, and fluctuating understanding of legal personhood would offer both a more accurate and utopian conception of the body in law than the current essentialist approach found in a number of legal areas and particularly in English criminal law.
Feminist Legal Studies
This article considers what the implications of decertification would be for single-sex services ... more This article considers what the implications of decertification would be for single-sex services such as domestic and sexual violence support. Some reform options attached to decertification could (re)allocate authority away from the state to organisations or individuals to determine gender criteria. What would the consequences of such re-allocation be in determining eligibility to receive or access services or excluding people on the basis of a characteristic protected under equality law? Engaging with this in the context of domestic and sexual violence support service provision raises a number of questions. Firstly, does the existence of gender-based violence and/or of the effects it produces require a stable category in order to address them? What benefits may emerge from providing single-sex spaces that could not be replicated in other settings? And finally, what criteria of exclusion and inclusion are currently used to determine access to spaces beyond legal gender status?
Stopping forced sterilisation is not enough-the limitations of the recent ECHR judgement on trans... more Stopping forced sterilisation is not enough-the limitations of the recent ECHR judgement on trans rights verfassungsblog.de /stopping-forced-sterilisation-is-not-enough-the-limitations-of-the-recent-echrjudgement-on-trans-rights/ Flora Renz Do 13 Apr 2017 The recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in A.P., Garçon and Nicot v. France [2017] (Nos. 79885/12 , 52471/13 and 52596/130) constitutes an important decision for trans 1) I am using "trans" rather than "transgender" or "transsexual" to accommodate a variety of identity categories that may not necessarily align with a binary understanding of sex and gender, encompassing identities such as genderqueer and agender more readily than the medically defined "transsexual" rights in many ways. The ECtHR determined that France's requirement of sterilisation, applying to persons wishing to legally change their names and gender on their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity, is a violation of the right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The case was the result of three joined applications contesting various provisions of French law regarding changes of one's legal gender.
Feminist Legal Studies
Our analysis includes laws that relate specifically to England and Wales as well as laws which al... more Our analysis includes laws that relate specifically to England and Wales as well as laws which also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland, e.g., see Ministerial and Other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, s7(1). 2 Political contestation over the terms of sex and gender-in what they mean, what they include, and how they operate as material enactments-makes their usage complicated. Our use of gender does not refer principally to identity or expression but to socially institutionalised processes that draw and maintain hierarchical distinctions. These also work with and give meaning to material forms of embodiment, conventionally understood as sex. Thus, we refer to gender in contexts where some sex-based feminists would prefer to talk about sex. Where the law refers explicitly to 'sex', we follow this terminology. However, English law is often inconsistent in its usage of these terms. 3 The members of the research team were Davina Cooper, Robyn Emerton, Emily Grabham, Hannah Newman, Elizabeth Peel, Flora Renz, and Jessica Smith. 4 However, a recent effort to introduce pregnancy-related leave for government ministers received significant pushback against the gender-neutral term 'person', with the government ultimately changing this to 'mother' (Skopeliti 2021); see Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, s1. 5 For instance, in England and Wales, non-disclosure of one's sex/ gender at birth has vitiated consent for the purpose of sexual offences legislation see, e.g.,
Feminist Legal Studies, 2022
British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists ... more British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists tussle over legal and social categories of gender, gender transitioning, and sex. This article considers the future of gender-related equality protections in relation to ‘decertification’—an imagined reform that would detach sex and gender from legal personhood. One criticism of decertification is that de-formalising gender membership would undermine equality law protections. This article explores how gender-based equality law could operate in conditions of decertification, drawing on legal thoughtways developed for two other protected characteristics in equality law—religion and belief, and disability—to explore the legal responses and imaginaries that these two grounds make available. Religious equality law focuses on beliefs, communities, and practices, deemed to be stable, multivarious, and subject to deep personal commitment. Disability equality law focuses on embodied disadvantage,...
The Queer Outside in Law, 2020
In July 2017 the UK government committed to “streamlining” the process for a legal change of gend... more In July 2017 the UK government committed to “streamlining” the process for a legal change of gender in England and Wales. At present, the legal recognition of a change of gender is conditional upon applicants submitting two detailed medical reports certifying their diagnosis with “gender dysphoria”, as well as a number of documents that attest to the “permanence” of their so-called “new” gender. In addition, legal recognition is limited to those applicants who identify – at least for the purpose of the application process – with a binary system of sex/gender. Drawing on comparable legal frameworks, this chapter will consider the limitations of the current legal framework regarding non-binary people, as well as the potential changes proposed more recently.
Journal of Law and Society, 2016
If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination... more If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.
Social & Legal Studies, 2014
Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and the Law, 2020
The field of legal gender regulation across the world has been developing at an ever increasing p... more The field of legal gender regulation across the world has been developing at an ever increasing pace across the last two decades. This chapter aims to consider the development of legal gender regulation by focusing on England and Wales as one specific jurisdiction in which key changes can be observed. In doing so this chapter seeks to chart the key normative underpinnings, particularly concerns about the validity of trans identities, that seem to underpin most, if not all laws focusing on trans people. While charting the development of legal gender regulation in England and Wales since 2003, this chapter questions whether the solution to persisting issues with the existing legal framework can be found in further legal amendments or whether such amendments will simply perpetuate existing inequalities.
Feminist Legal Studies, 2022
British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists ... more British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists tussle over legal and social categories of gender, gender transitioning, and sex. This article considers the future of gender-related equality protections in relation to 'decertification'an imagined reform that would detach sex and gender from legal personhood. One criticism of decertification is that de-formalising gender membership would undermine equality law protections. This article explores how gender-based equality law could operate in conditions of decertification, drawing on legal thoughtways developed for two other protected characteristics in equality law: religion and belief, and disability, to explore the legal responses and imaginaries that these two grounds make available. Religious equality law focuses on beliefs, communities, and practices, deemed to be stable, multivarious, and subject to deep personal commitment. Disability equality law focuses on embodied disadvantage, approached as social, relational, and fluctuating. While these two equality frameworks have considerable
Introduction to the special issue on the Future of Legal Gender. The editors of the special issue... more Introduction to the special issue on the Future of Legal Gender. The editors of the special issue are Flora Renz, Davina Cooper and Emily Grabham.
Social & Legal Studies, Jun 2014
In-Spire Journal of Law, Politics and Societies (Vol. 6, No. 2), 2012
Policing Sexuality: Sex, Society and the State Lee, Julian C.H.; London and New York; Zed Books; ... more Policing Sexuality: Sex, Society and the State Lee, Julian C.H.; London and New York; Zed Books; 2011; 192pp; £16.99 paperback; ISBN 978-1-84813-897-1.
Law and Critique
By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her w... more By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her wheelchair being damaged by an airline, this article asks whether law could accommodate a definition of legal personhood that encompasses the possibility of bodies augmented by prosthetics, technology, and mobility aids. The use of mobility aids by disabled people and the role of prosthetic penises in so-called ‘gender fraud’ cases offer two useful provocations to consider the ways in which legal personhood, if defined as largely mapping on to an ideal, normative body, is becoming an increasingly inadequate legal concept in the modern age. Drawing on the work of Donna Haraway and the figure of the cyborg, this article argues that a more protean, flexible, and fluctuating understanding of legal personhood would offer both a more accurate and utopian conception of the body in law than the current essentialist approach found in a number of legal areas and particularly in English criminal law.
Law and Critique, 2023
By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her w... more By considering the death of the disability activist Engracia Figueroa as the consequence of her wheelchair being damaged by an airline, this article asks whether law could accommodate a definition of legal personhood that encompasses the possibility of bodies augmented by prosthetics, technology, and mobility aids. The use of mobility aids by disabled people and the role of prosthetic penises in so-called "gender fraud" cases offer two useful provocations to consider the ways in which legal personhood, if defined as largely mapping on to an ideal, normative body, is becoming an increasingly inadequate legal concept in the modern age. Drawing on the work of Donna Haraway and the figure of the cyborg, this article argues that a more protean, flexible, and fluctuating understanding of legal personhood would offer both a more accurate and utopian conception of the body in law than the current essentialist approach found in a number of legal areas and particularly in English criminal law.
Feminist Legal Studies
This article considers what the implications of decertification would be for single-sex services ... more This article considers what the implications of decertification would be for single-sex services such as domestic and sexual violence support. Some reform options attached to decertification could (re)allocate authority away from the state to organisations or individuals to determine gender criteria. What would the consequences of such re-allocation be in determining eligibility to receive or access services or excluding people on the basis of a characteristic protected under equality law? Engaging with this in the context of domestic and sexual violence support service provision raises a number of questions. Firstly, does the existence of gender-based violence and/or of the effects it produces require a stable category in order to address them? What benefits may emerge from providing single-sex spaces that could not be replicated in other settings? And finally, what criteria of exclusion and inclusion are currently used to determine access to spaces beyond legal gender status?
Stopping forced sterilisation is not enough-the limitations of the recent ECHR judgement on trans... more Stopping forced sterilisation is not enough-the limitations of the recent ECHR judgement on trans rights verfassungsblog.de /stopping-forced-sterilisation-is-not-enough-the-limitations-of-the-recent-echrjudgement-on-trans-rights/ Flora Renz Do 13 Apr 2017 The recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in A.P., Garçon and Nicot v. France [2017] (Nos. 79885/12 , 52471/13 and 52596/130) constitutes an important decision for trans 1) I am using "trans" rather than "transgender" or "transsexual" to accommodate a variety of identity categories that may not necessarily align with a binary understanding of sex and gender, encompassing identities such as genderqueer and agender more readily than the medically defined "transsexual" rights in many ways. The ECtHR determined that France's requirement of sterilisation, applying to persons wishing to legally change their names and gender on their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity, is a violation of the right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The case was the result of three joined applications contesting various provisions of French law regarding changes of one's legal gender.
Feminist Legal Studies
Our analysis includes laws that relate specifically to England and Wales as well as laws which al... more Our analysis includes laws that relate specifically to England and Wales as well as laws which also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland, e.g., see Ministerial and Other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, s7(1). 2 Political contestation over the terms of sex and gender-in what they mean, what they include, and how they operate as material enactments-makes their usage complicated. Our use of gender does not refer principally to identity or expression but to socially institutionalised processes that draw and maintain hierarchical distinctions. These also work with and give meaning to material forms of embodiment, conventionally understood as sex. Thus, we refer to gender in contexts where some sex-based feminists would prefer to talk about sex. Where the law refers explicitly to 'sex', we follow this terminology. However, English law is often inconsistent in its usage of these terms. 3 The members of the research team were Davina Cooper, Robyn Emerton, Emily Grabham, Hannah Newman, Elizabeth Peel, Flora Renz, and Jessica Smith. 4 However, a recent effort to introduce pregnancy-related leave for government ministers received significant pushback against the gender-neutral term 'person', with the government ultimately changing this to 'mother' (Skopeliti 2021); see Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, s1. 5 For instance, in England and Wales, non-disclosure of one's sex/ gender at birth has vitiated consent for the purpose of sexual offences legislation see, e.g.,
Feminist Legal Studies, 2022
British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists ... more British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists tussle over legal and social categories of gender, gender transitioning, and sex. This article considers the future of gender-related equality protections in relation to ‘decertification’—an imagined reform that would detach sex and gender from legal personhood. One criticism of decertification is that de-formalising gender membership would undermine equality law protections. This article explores how gender-based equality law could operate in conditions of decertification, drawing on legal thoughtways developed for two other protected characteristics in equality law—religion and belief, and disability—to explore the legal responses and imaginaries that these two grounds make available. Religious equality law focuses on beliefs, communities, and practices, deemed to be stable, multivarious, and subject to deep personal commitment. Disability equality law focuses on embodied disadvantage,...
The Queer Outside in Law, 2020
In July 2017 the UK government committed to “streamlining” the process for a legal change of gend... more In July 2017 the UK government committed to “streamlining” the process for a legal change of gender in England and Wales. At present, the legal recognition of a change of gender is conditional upon applicants submitting two detailed medical reports certifying their diagnosis with “gender dysphoria”, as well as a number of documents that attest to the “permanence” of their so-called “new” gender. In addition, legal recognition is limited to those applicants who identify – at least for the purpose of the application process – with a binary system of sex/gender. Drawing on comparable legal frameworks, this chapter will consider the limitations of the current legal framework regarding non-binary people, as well as the potential changes proposed more recently.
Journal of Law and Society, 2016
If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination... more If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.
Social & Legal Studies, 2014
Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and the Law, 2020
The field of legal gender regulation across the world has been developing at an ever increasing p... more The field of legal gender regulation across the world has been developing at an ever increasing pace across the last two decades. This chapter aims to consider the development of legal gender regulation by focusing on England and Wales as one specific jurisdiction in which key changes can be observed. In doing so this chapter seeks to chart the key normative underpinnings, particularly concerns about the validity of trans identities, that seem to underpin most, if not all laws focusing on trans people. While charting the development of legal gender regulation in England and Wales since 2003, this chapter questions whether the solution to persisting issues with the existing legal framework can be found in further legal amendments or whether such amendments will simply perpetuate existing inequalities.
Feminist Legal Studies, 2022
British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists ... more British equality law protections for sex and gender reassignment have grown fraught as activists tussle over legal and social categories of gender, gender transitioning, and sex. This article considers the future of gender-related equality protections in relation to 'decertification'an imagined reform that would detach sex and gender from legal personhood. One criticism of decertification is that de-formalising gender membership would undermine equality law protections. This article explores how gender-based equality law could operate in conditions of decertification, drawing on legal thoughtways developed for two other protected characteristics in equality law: religion and belief, and disability, to explore the legal responses and imaginaries that these two grounds make available. Religious equality law focuses on beliefs, communities, and practices, deemed to be stable, multivarious, and subject to deep personal commitment. Disability equality law focuses on embodied disadvantage, approached as social, relational, and fluctuating. While these two equality frameworks have considerable
Introduction to the special issue on the Future of Legal Gender. The editors of the special issue... more Introduction to the special issue on the Future of Legal Gender. The editors of the special issue are Flora Renz, Davina Cooper and Emily Grabham.
Until the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) came into force in 2004 trans people in the UK were not ab... more Until the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) came into force in 2004 trans people in the UK were not able to legally change their birth certificates and other documents to accurately reflect the way they experienced their gender identity. Previous case law defined sex and gender in primarily biological terms and made several highly problematic assumptions about trans people. For example, it assumed that trans people were intentionally deceiving either potential partners or indeed the state, by wanting to access marriage rights while being in homosexual relationships. The GRA has supposedly revolutionised gender rights in the UK by moving away from a biological understanding of sex/gender and by making it possible for trans people to change their birth certificates, gain access to legal rights, and as a result enjoy protection against discrimination. However, it contains several provisions that effectively encourage trans people to regulate their gender identity. This regulation aims to en...