Ironic Freedom Personal Choice, Public Policy, and the Paradox of Reform

If we legalize physician-assisted suicide, will people be forced into it? Did allowing abortion make it compulsory for some women? Did abolishing the military draft create a 'poverty draft' for disadvantaged youth? Ironic Freedom analyses this familiar problem in feminist and liberal theory which asserts that freedom from governmental interference may actually make people vulnerable to other sources of coercion. Drawing on both political theory and popular discourse, Judith A. Baer inquires as to what kinds of evidence would be needed to support, or refute, the existence of these "ironic freedoms."

Judith A. Baer is Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University, USA.

1. An Introduction to Ironic Freedom
2. Right to Die, Right to Live: Assisted Suicide
3. Ironic Freedom and Occupational Choice: Sex Work and Military Service
4. Path to Liberation or Stigma as Social Policy? Same-Sex Marriage
5. Whose Right? Whose Duty? Sexual Choice and Gender Equality
6. Conclusion: Ironic Freedom and Feminist Post-Liberalism