# Jane Larson

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{{short description|American law professor (1958–2011)}}
'''Jane Larson''' (1958–2011) was the Voss-Bascom Professor of Law at the [University of Wisconsin Law School](/source/University_of_Wisconsin_Law_School), United States.<ref name="Wisconsin - Faculty Profile">{{cite web|title=University of Wisconsin - Faculty Profile|url=http://law.wisc.edu/profiles/janelarson@wisc.edu|access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref>

==Education and career==
Born in [Omaha, Nebraska](/source/Omaha%2C_Nebraska),<ref name="Madison - Local Deaths">{{cite web|title=Larson Jane E|date=29 December 2011 |url=http://host.madison.com/news/local/obituaries/larson-jane-e/article_9d6360ea-319a-11e1-8953-001871e3ce6c.html|access-date=13 July 2012}}</ref> Larson was a [Phi Beta Kappa](/source/Phi_Beta_Kappa), [magna cum laude](/source/magna_cum_laude) graduate of [Macalester College](/source/Macalester_College) and of [University of Minnesota Law School](/source/University_of_Minnesota_Law_School). At Minnesota, she was a member of the [Order of the Coif](/source/Order_of_the_Coif) and Articles Editor of the ''Journal of [Law and Inequality](/source/Law_and_Inequality)''.<ref name="Wisconsin - Faculty Profile" />

Larson served as [law clerk](/source/law_clerk) to two U.S. Judges.  From 1985{{Ndash}}1986 she clerked for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice [Rosalie E. Wahl](/source/Rosalie_E._Wahl). During the 1986{{Ndash}}1987 court term she clerked for Judge [Theodore McMillian](/source/Theodore_McMillian) of the [U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit](/source/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Eighth_Circuit).<ref name="Wisconsin - Faculty Profile" />

In 1987, Larson began working as an associate for the Washington D.C. branch of the law firm [Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy](/source/Bryan_Cave_Leighton_Paisner).<ref name="Wisconsin - Faculty Profile" /> In 1990 she joined the faculty of [Northwestern University Law School](/source/Northwestern_University_Law_School), where she twice won the Robert Childs award for excellence in teaching.<ref name="Robert Childres Award List">{{cite web|title=Robert Childres Award List |url=http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/awards/childres.html |publisher=Northwestern Law School |access-date=17 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512025842/http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/awards/childres.html |archive-date=12 May 2012 }}</ref>  Larson joined the faculty of the [University of Wisconsin Law School](/source/University_of_Wisconsin_Law_School) in 1996, where she remained for the rest of her life.<ref name="Wisconsin - Faculty Profile" /> She was active in the [Association of American Law Schools](/source/Association_of_American_Law_Schools).<ref>{{Cite web|title=AALS Panel "Law from the Outside-In: In Honor of Jane Larson|url=https://media.law.wisc.edu/s/c_440/y9ymg/aals.pdf|website=University of Wisconsin}}</ref>

== Scholarship and philosophy ==
During her time on faculty at Northwestern, Larson developed her theory of "sexual fraud" – "intentional lies made for the express purpose of gaining sexual consent that would otherwise have been withheld," in Larson's words<ref name="Sex, Lies and The Right to Sue">{{cite news|last=Larson|first=Jane|date=5 October 1993|title=Sex, Lies and The Right to Sue|newspaper=The Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1993/10/05/sex-lies-and-the-right-to-sue/|access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> – as a [tort](/source/tort) for which people could sue if they suffered damages such as sexually transmitted diseases.<ref name="Broken Eros">{{cite news|last=Pollock|first=Ellen Joan|date=4 July 1993|title=Broken Eros: Suing For 'Sexual Fraud'|newspaper=Seattle Times|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19930704/1709418/broken-eros-suing-for-sexual-fraud|access-date=13 July 2012}}</ref>

Larson's 1993 [''Columbia Law Review''](/source/Columbia_Law_Review) article, "'Women Understand So Little, They Call My Good Nature "Deceit{{"'}}: A Feminist Rethinking of Seduction",<ref name="Columbia Law Review">{{cite journal|last=Larson|first=Jane E.|date=March 1993|title='Women Understand So Little, They Call My Good Nature "Deceit{{"'}}: A Feminist Rethinking of Seduction|journal=Columbia Law Review|volume=93|issue=2|pages=374–472|doi=10.2307/1123051|jstor=1123051}}</ref> was widely acclaimed within the fields of legal theory<ref name="The Faculty Lounge">{{cite web|last=Brophy|first=Alfred|title=Jane Larson (1958-2011)|url=http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2011/12/jane-.html|access-date=13 July 2012|work=The Faculty Lounge}}</ref><ref name="New Legal Realism">{{cite web|title=New Legal Realism Conversations|url=http://newlegalrealism.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/honoring-jane-larson/|access-date=13 July 2012|work=Honoring Jane Larson}}</ref> and feminist thought.<ref name="Fathom">{{cite web|last=Doniger|first=Wendy|title=Carnal Ignorance|url=http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/1/777777121893/|access-date=13 July 2012|work=Fathom|publisher=University of Chicago}}</ref>

In 1999, [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press) published her book ''Hard Bargains: The Politics of Sex'',<ref name="Hard Bargains">{{cite book|last=Hirshman|first=Linda & Jane E. Larson|title=Hard Bargains: The Politics of Sex|url=https://archive.org/details/hardbargainspoli00hirs_0|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0195134209}}</ref> co-authored with [Linda Hirshman](/source/Linda_Hirshman). The book offered a critical analysis of the power dynamics involved in heterosexual sex, a theme echoed in Larson's scholarly work on the legal histories of [prostitution](/source/prostitution), [rape](/source/rape) and [sexual harassment](/source/sexual_harassment).<ref name="Columbia Journal of Gender & Law">{{cite journal|last=McLean|first=Sara|title=Confided to His Care or Protection|journal=Columbia Journal of Gender & Law|year=1999|volume=9|issue=47|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/coljgl9&div=5&id=&page=|access-date=13 July 2012}}</ref>

Other notable areas of scholarship included her participation in [amicus briefs](/source/Amicus_curiae) for ''[Webster v. Reproductive Health Services](/source/Webster_v._Reproductive_Health_Services)'' and ''[Planned Parenthood v. Casey](/source/Planned_Parenthood_v._Casey)'', supporting [reproductive rights](/source/reproductive_rights),<ref name="Feminist Law Professors">{{cite web|last=Hirshman|first=Linda|title=In Memory of Jane Larson 1958-2011|date=2 January 2012|url=http://www.feministlawprofessors.com/2012/01/memory-jane-larson-1959-2011/|access-date=13 July 2012}}</ref> and her analysis of the legal rights of residents of the [colonia](/source/Colonia_(United_States)) settlements on the U.S. Mexico border.<ref name="Immigration Prof">{{cite web|last=Johnson|first=Kevin|title=Professor Jane Larson RIP|url=http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2011/12/we-recently-learned-of-the-unexpected-passing-of-professor-jane-larson-of-wisconsin-much-of-her-pathbreaking-scholarship-ha.html|access-date=13 July 2012}}</ref>

== Death and influence ==
Larson died at her home in [Madison, Wisconsin](/source/Madison%2C_Wisconsin)<ref name="University of Wisconsin obituary">{{cite web|title=University of Wisconsin Law School Mourns the Loss of Professor Jane Larson|url=http://www.law.wisc.edu/news/Articles/University_of_Wisconsin_Law_Scho_2011-12-27|access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Gold|first=Heather|title=I remember my mentor Prof. Jane E. Larson|date=2011-12-31|url=https://vimeo.com/34415858}}</ref> on December 24, 2011.<ref name="Madison - Local Deaths" />

Professor Larson taught law in an unorthodox way, stressing the social, cultural, historical, and philosophical dimensions of legal outcomes.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Althouse|first=Ann|date=2011-12-27|title=The University of Wisconsin Law School is deeply saddened by the loss...|url=https://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/12/university-of-wisconsin-law-school-is.html|website=Althouse}}</ref>  She influenced her students to rethink concepts such as [property](/source/property), [free speech](/source/free_speech), and [gender](/source/gender),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wasserman|first=Howard|date=December 26, 2011|title=PrawfsBlawg: R.I.P. Jane Larson|url=https://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2011/12/rip-jane-larson.html|website=prawfsblawg.blogs.com}}</ref> and had an international following.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Amann|first=Diane Marie|date=December 28, 2011|title=In passing: Jane Larson|url=http://www.intlawgrrls.com/2011/12/in-passing-jane-larson.html|website=IntLawGrrls|language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

==External links==
* [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/gk11w Jane E. Larson Papers at Hugh F. MacMillan Law Library, Law Archives, Emory University]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Jane}}
Category:1958 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:American feminists
Category:20th-century American legal scholars
Category:American legal writers
Category:20th-century American women lawyers
Category:Feminist studies scholars
Category:Lawyers from Minneapolis
Category:Macalester College alumni
Category:University of Minnesota Law School alumni
Category:University of Wisconsin Law School faculty
Category:Wisconsin lawyers
Category:American women legal scholars
Category:Writers from Minneapolis
Category:Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law faculty
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:21st-century American women lawyers
Category:21st-century American legal scholars

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jane Larson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Larson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Larson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.