American Radical Feminist, Scholar, Lawyer, Teacher and Activist
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist, scholar, lawyer, teacher and activist. Born in Minnesota, MacKinnon attended Smith College and earned her J.D. and Ph.D. from Yale University. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. As a legal scholar, MacKinnon has addressed the issues of sexual harassment and pornography. Professor MacKinnon practices and consults nationally and internationally and works regularly with Equality Now, an NGO promoting international sex equality rights for women, and the Coalition against Trafficking in Women. Serving as the first special gender advisor to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (The Hague) from 2008 to 2012, she implemented her concept of “gender crime.” In 2014, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of American Law Schools Women’s Division and was elected to the American Law Institute. Studies document that Professor MacKinnon is among the most widely-cited legal scholars in the English language.