Metamorphosis-“Brief for the Appellant in Reed v. Reed (1971)"
Ginsburg elaborates, “The old social consensus that race was a clear indication of inferiority has yielded to the notion that race is unrelated to ability or performance. Even allegedly rational attempts at racial classification are now generally rejected outright... Once though normal, proper, and ordained in the “very nature of things,” sex discrimination may soon be seen as a sham, not unlike that perpetrated in the name of racial superiority.”
Metamorphosis denotes the social evolution that has resulted in the dismantling of notions concerning the inferiority and superiority of races. The evolution of ideologies has influenced the changes in notions concerning the inequality of sexes. Due to social evolution, the public has started recognizing the flaws of sex discrimination.
Negroes-"Brief for the Appellant in Reed v. Reed (1971)"
Ginsburg elucidates, “Another characteristic which underlies all suspect classifications is the stigma of inferiority and second class citizenship associated with them. Women, like Negroes, aliens and the poor have historically labored under severe legal and social disabilities. Like black citizens, they were for so many years denied the right to vote and, until recently, the right to serve on juries in many states.” Equating women to Negroes underscores the perceived inferiority which they encounter all their lives due to their gender. As a result of the flawed notion of females' inferiority, they have been historically disenfranchised and undermined. Legal and social structures have contributed to the subjugation of women.
Pigeonhole-“Brief of the American Civil Liberties Union, Amicua Curiae, in Craig v. Boren (1976)”
Ginsburg expounds, “Establishing a sex/age line to determine qualification for association with 3.2 beer, discriminates impermissibly on the basis of gender in violation of the fourteenth amendment’s equal protection clause. This legislation places all 18-20 year old males in one pigeonhole, all 18-20 year old females in another, in conformity with familiar notions about “the way women (or men are).” The pigeonholes are representative of the discriminatory classifications that perpetuate stereotypes regarding drinking tendencies. These pigeonholes do not consider that there are women who start drinking earlier than females, and some females do not drink at all. Accordingly, the pigeonholes are founded on sexist attitudes.
“Artificial barriers”-“Brief of the American Civil Liberties Union, Amicua Curiae, in Craig v. Boren (1976)”
Ginsburg explains, “Laws such as [Oklahoma’s] serve only to shore up artificial barriers to full realization by men and women of their human potential, and to retard progress toward equal opportunity, free from gender-based discrimination. Ultimately harmful to women by casting the weight of the state on the side of traditional notions concerning woman’s behaviour and her relation to man, such laws have no place in a nation preparing to celebrate a 200-year commitment to equal justice under law.” The metaphorical ‘artificial barriers’ denote the laws imposed by humans to foster the discrimination of females. The barriers project misogynistic and sexist attitudes to all females and increase females' likelihood of being denied their liberties due to their sexualities.
Statues-“Majority Opinion in United States v. Virginia (1996)”
Brettschneider reports, “The state legislature, prior to the advent of this controversy, had repealed “all Virginia statues requiring individual institutions to admit only men or women.” The repeal is an acknowledgment of the limitations of the statutes which had encouraged gender-based discrimination. The statutes had to be repealed to ensure that the state does not contribute to sex-based discrimination in its academic institutions' admission policies.
