Feminist Judgment: A Commentary on Johnson v. Ramsden

Abstract

The Feminist Judgment Projects are collaborations of hundreds of feminist jurists who reimagine and rewrite key judicial decisions from a feminist perspec-tive. Their aim is to reconsider judgments that have failed to address fundamental issues surrounding gender equality and sexual autonomy. In this article, after an introduction into the topic and methodology of Feminist Judgments, the relevant sections of the Australian judgment Johnson v. Ramsden [2019] WASC 84 are thus rewritten. The case concerned a woman who was pinched on the bottom by a stranger – in this case a policeman – during a group photo-graph at a charity event. The judge had maintained that the conduct in question does not amount to sexual harassment because a person’s bottom is not considered to be a private part of the body that is ultimately associated with sexuality. In the rewritten version, the development of sexual harassment and abuse within society as well as the role of the #MeToo movement and its meaning are considered. Finally, an outlook pleads for the introduction of feminist judgments in Switzerland.