Introduction.

• Author: Ezie, Chinyere
• Position: Symposium Volume: Gender on the Frontiers--Confronting Intersectionalities

The Columbia Journal of Gender and Law is pleased to announce that it has brought together volume 19.3 and 19.4 to present the total symposium publication, Gender on The Frontiers: Confronting Intersectionalities. This Symposium publication_brings together thirteen scholars to comment on the intersection between gender, sexual orientation and other statutes, identities and modalities. By "confronting intersectionalities," the Symposium authors expand upon the seminal writings of Kimberle Crenshaw (1) and explore the ways that race, class, gender and sexual orientation collectively inform people's lived experiences under the system of laws. In examining "gender on the frontiers," the Symposium writers examine the frontier in both its literal and figurative dimensions--analyzing citizenship and belonging; borders and exclusion, and the societal and legal regulation of bodies.

While the articles featured address a common theme, the authors' approaches are diverse, demonstrating that gender and sexuality studies is not just a discipline, but a lens, one which illuminates fields as varied as law, political science and performance studies. For ease of reference, the articles are organized alphabetically in each issue by author name but the many dialogues connecting the authors are various. This introduction hopes to illuminate some of those connections and brief summarize each article.

Libby Adler (2) and Sarah Valentine (3) and discuss the ongoing struggle faced by two distinct groups of sexual minorities-transgender persons and queer youth--discussing the unique marginalization they face within the LGBTQ community, and the way it compounds their vulnerabilities in society at large. (4)

Barrak Alzaid focuses on gay bodies. He discusses how homophobic violence has come to advance two projects in Iraq: a visibilization project, whereby bodies are marked and "material difference is monitored, regulated and enacted"; (5) and a state building/anti-imperialist project, or specifically, the eradication of perceived Western influence. (6)

Jessie Hill discusses the body in a final context, examining how the female body has been dissected and dismembered in recent Supreme Court decisions regarding abortion. (7) Hill reviews the Court's perplexing use of language that is at times clinical and at times purely emotive, a discourse which alternately appeals to the maternal instincts of women seeking abortions while alternately erasing them from view...