States of Injury

Abstract

in characterizing Catherine MacKinnon's theory of gender as itself pornographic or in identifying liberalism as unable to make good on its promises, this text pursues a central question: how does a sense of woundedness become basis for a sense of identity? Brown argues that efforts to outlaw hate speech and pornography powerfully legitimize state: such apparently well-intentioned attempts harm victims further by portraying them as so helpless as to be in continuing need of governmental protection. Whether one is dealing with state, Mafia, parents, pimps, police, or husbands, writes Brown, the heavy price of institutionalized protection is always a measure of dependence and agreement to abide by protector's rules. True democracy, she insists, requires sharing power, not regulation by it; fr