One of the shortcomings of legal education concerns the fact one can graduate from law school with little, if any, exposure to just how brutal the world actually is, especially for the powerless (e.g., women, minorities, children, the poor, many migrants and, yes, even nonhuman animals). This is not to say law students are not exposed to the the world's brutality outside their law school experience (for example, sexual assault, domestic violence), only that such exposure is not integrated into the law school experience. As lawyers we (you) are supposed to know how the world actually works. The ugly, gritty, cruel reality of the underside of society and life. As law students, It is your responsible to get that education. The three items listed above may serve as part, a very small part, of your studies.
Book:
Freidoune Sahebjam, The Stoning of Sorayan: A Story of Injustice in Iran, translated from the French by Richard Seaver (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1990, 18994, 2011) (From the front cover: "Over the past 25 years, more than 1,500 women have been stoned to death in Iran." From the backcover: "When he couldn't afford to marry another woman, Soraya M.'s husband plotted with four friends and a counterfeit mullah to dispose of her. Together, they accused Soraya of adultery. Her only crime was cooking for a friend's widowed husband. Exhausted by a lifetime of abuse and hardship, Soraya said nothing, and the makeshift tribunal took her silence as a confession of guilt. They sentenced her to death by stoning: a punishment prohibited by Islam but widely practiced." "Day by day---sometimes minute by minute--Sahebjam deftly recounts these horrendous events, tracing Soraya's life with searing immediacy, from her arranged marriage and the births of her children to her husband's increasing cruelty and the difficult details of her horrifying execution, where, by tradition, her father, husband, and sons hurled the first stones. A stark look at the intersection between culture and justice, this is one woman's story, but it stands for the stories of thousands of women who suffered--and continue to suffer--the same fate. It is a story that must be told.").
DVDs:
The Stoning of Soraya M. (based on the above-mentioned book).
The Invisible War (From the DVD sleeve: From ... filmmaker Kirby Dick ... comes The Invisible War, a groundbreaking investigate documentary about one of America's most shameful and best-kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U. S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem--today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow solider than killed by enemy fire. Twenty percent of all active-duty female servicewomen are sexually assaulted." "Profoundly moving, the film follows the stories of several idealistic young servicewomen who were raped and then betrayed by their own officers when they courageously came forward to report. Both a rallying cry for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who've been assaulted and a hopeful road map for change, The Invisible War is one of those rare films so powerful it has already helped change military policy.").
I cannot say “enjoy,” as there is nothing joyful about these suggested reading and viewings. Reality is a painful experience.
