WashU Law is pleased to welcome Brenda Dvoskin as an Associate Professor of Law. Dvoskin brings a wealth of experience to our halls and joins WashU with a research portfolio focusing on the pressing legal and social questions surrounding sexuality, privacy, and digital spaces.
“What set WashU apart during my interview were the questions the faculty asked, which made me rethink parts of my work,” Dvoskin said. “That’s when you know you’ve found the right faculty: a handful of questions that refine your thinking and advance your work.”
Professor Dvoskin will lead two courses during the 2024-2025 academic year: a first-year course on torts and a seminar entitled “Feminist Legal Theory.” Drawing on canonical feminist texts, Dvoskin’s seminar will explore how feminists have theorized the state and the law. Students will pursue answers to longstanding questions and fundamental debates within feminism, such as the regulation of public representations of sex, sexual violence, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
“Some questions are unsolvable: what makes sex legally acceptable, how the state should govern gender, how the law should help deviant communities navigate visibility and privacy. Each generation has its answers,” Dvoskin said. “I find this generation’s answers thrilling and enjoy reading classic texts in the field through my students’ eyes. I think WashU is growing as a place for sexuality scholars to think through these questions.”
An accomplished researcher, Dvoskin examines the intersection of sexuality and technology. Her current work seeks to reconceptualize the conventional frameworks that regulate online sexuality from a critical feminist perspective. Her research and writing have appeared in such publications as the Fordham Law Review, the Washington Law Review, the Harvard International Law Journal, and the Villanova Law Review.
“I’m interested in theorizing the importance of sexual privacy for erotic life,” Dvoskin explained. “Along with Thomas Kadri of the University of Georgia, I’m writing a paper critiquing tech companies and lawmakers for deploying safety rationales that sanitize online spaces and exclude subordinated communities.”
Professor Dvoskin holds a S.J.D. and LL.M. from Harvard University as well as a law degree from Torcuato Di Tella University in Argentina. She has held fellowships at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center.
Please join us in welcoming Professor Dvoskin!
