ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bettina Rentsch

Bettina Rentsch is an Assistant Professor for European Private Law, Private International Law and Comparative Law at Freie Universität Berlin's Department of Law. Her research areas include Private International and Comparative Law, the Private Law of social spaces and private legal questions of self-determination on gender.

POSTS BY Bettina Rentsch

09 October 2024

Bettina Rentsch

Fanfictioning Critical Theory

To redeem its commitment to an ‘emancipatory critique’, LPE would do good by supporting itself with a theory of science, or at least an epistemic program. While the critical tradition has raised powerful normative desires, it first and foremost stands for an alternative model of scientific reasoning. LPE, as will be shown, updates much of critical theory’s historical normative claims. Yet, at least from my readings, it appears to be missing out on a theory of science. Continue reading >>

22 November 2023

Bettina Rentsch

Deregulating Legal Gender in the Shadow of Social Ascription

On 23 August 2023, the German government published a bill on Gender Self-Determination (hereinafter also referred to as SBGG-E). The bill is currently under debate before the German parliament (Bundestag) and is subject to heated socio-political debate. Its primary objective consists of deregulating the conditions for altering and deleting the gender entry provided by the German Civil Status Act. Aside from a strong commitment to deregulating legal gender (Section 1 SBGG-E), the bill sets boundaries and conditions for gender recognition. While some appear self-explanatory, others are infused by what I will hereinafter refer to as the ‘logic of social ascription’. Continue reading >>