Sex and Social Justice

A collection of fifteen essays in two parts, Justice and Sex, defending a liberal feminism grounded in universal values. Nussbaum argues that liberalism, properly understood, is radical for women, because it treats each person as an end and refuses to let families, religions or cultures sacrifice individual women to group goals. 'Women and Cultural Universals' defends her capabilities approach, a list of basic human capabilities, such as health, bodily integrity, practical reason and affiliation, that governments should secure, against relativist objections. Other essays in the first part consider religion and women's human rights, female genital mutilation, equity and mercy, and lesbian and gay rights. The second part includes 'Objectification', which separates seven ways of treating a person as a thing, among them instrumentality, denial of autonomy and fungibility; a reassessment of sex work as one bodily service among others; essays on anger, love, desire and the law on sexual orientation; and a reading of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse.

It shows how a liberal philosopher answers the main feminist objections to liberalism, and its analysis of objectification and its use of the capabilities approach are still standard starting points.