Brenda Cossman (born 1960) is a professor of law at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. She was the director at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies from 2009 to 2018. In 2012, Cossman was named a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

Education and career

Cossman holds degrees in law from Harvard and the

, and an undergraduate degree from Queen's University. In 2002 and 2003, she was a Visiting Professor of Law at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, she was associate professor at

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

of York University. Her teaching and research is in the area of family law, feminist theory, law and film, and sexuality and the law. She is actively involved in law reform, particularly in the area of same sex couples and definitions of family. She authored reports for the now-defunct

Law Commission of Canada The Law Commission of Canada was an independent law commission that gave advice to the Canadian government on matters of law. The body was created in 1971 as the Law Reform Commission of Canada and was disbanded in 1992. The body was reestablished ...

as well as the Ontario Law Reform Commission on the legal regulation of adult relationships. Cossman is also a frequent commentator in the media on issues relating to law and sexuality, most frequently for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' and the CBC. She is prominently featured as a commentator in

John Greyson John Greyson (born March 13, 1960) is a Canadian director, writer, video artist, producer, and political activist, whose work frequently deals with queer characters and themes. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in ...

's CBC documentary ''After the Bath'' (1996) about the London sex scandal. She also served as a member of the

Pink Triangle Press Pink Triangle Press is a Canadian organization which specializes in LGBT media including publishing, online interactive media, and television. PTP's main asset is the LGBT news website ''Daily Xtra'', a continuation of the company's former print t ...

Board of Directors for 10 years, working as a frequent contributor to their main publication,

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...

Selected publications

* ''The New Sex Wars: Sexual Harm in the #Metoo Era,'' New York University Press, 2021. * ''Sexual Citizens: The Legal and Cultural Regulation of Sex and Belonging,'' Stanford University Press, 2007. * ''Privatization, Law, and the Challenge to Feminism'', co-editor, University of Toronto Press, 2002. * ''Bad Attitudes on Trial: Pornography, Feminism and the Butler Decision,'' co-author, University of Toronto Press, 1997. * ''Censorship and the Arts: Law, Controversy, Debate, Facts,'' Ontario Association of Art Galleries, 1995.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110108025341/http://www.uc.utoronto.ca/content/view/284/1809/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20110106023257/http://www.law.utoronto.ca/index.asp {{DEFAULTSORT:Cossman, Brenda 1960 births Living people Lawyers in Ontario Canadian legal scholars University of Toronto faculty University of Toronto alumni Queen's University at Kingston alumni Harvard Law School alumni Canadian lesbian writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women lawyers Women legal scholars Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century LGBT people