Professing Feminism: Education and Indoctrination in Women's Studies / Edition 2

by Daphne Patai, Noretta Koertge

Overview

Feminists have often called Women's Studies the "academic arm of the women's movement." But Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge charge that the attempt to make Women's Studies serve a political agenda has led to deeply problematic results: dubious scholarship, pedagogical practices that resemble indoctrination more than education, and the alienation of countless potential supporters.

In this new and expanded edition of their controversial 1994 book, the authors update their analysis of what's gone wrong with Women's Studies programs. Original chapters feature interviews with professors, students, and staffers who invested much time and effort in Women's Studies, and new chapters look primarily at documents recently generated from within Women's Studies itself. Through critiques of actual program mission statements, course descriptions, newsletters, and e-mail lists devoted to feminist pedagogy and Women's Studies, and, not least, the writings of well-known feminist scholars, Patai and Koertge provide a detailed and devastating examination of the routine practices found in feminist teaching and research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739104552
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	01/29/2003
Edition description:	New and Expanded
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.28(d)

About the Author

Daphne Patai's most recent book is Heterophobia: Sexual Harassment and the Future of Feminism. She is Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Noretta Koertge, the author of A House Built on Sand: Exposing Postmodernist Myths about Science, is Professor Emerita of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction to the New Expanded Edition Part 2 Cautionary Tales from the Strange World of Women's Studies Chapter 3 Prologue: On Airing Dirty Linen Chapter 4 Introduction to the World of Women's Studies Chapter 5 Cautionary Tales from Women Who Walked Away Chapter 6 Ideology and Identity: Playing the Oppression Sweepstakes Chapter 7 Proselytizing and Policing in the Feminist Classroom Chapter 8 Semantic Sorcery: Rhetoric Overtakes Reality Chapter 9 BIODENIAL and Other Subversive Stratagems Chapter 10 "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall": Feminist Self-Scrutiny Chapter 11 Cults, Communes, and Clicks Chapter 12 From Dogma to Dialogue: The Importance of Liberal Values Part 13 Women's Studies in the New Millennium Chapter 14 Rhetoric and Reality in Women's Studies Chapter 15 Policing the Academy Chapter 16 Feminists Take on Science: Tilting with the Evil Empire Chapter 17 Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

Joan Mandle

Feminists should read this book seriously and debate it vigorously. In this way they would be engaging in the self-reflection and self-criticism that are necessary to strengthen feminism.

Mary Lefkowitz

In this illuminating book, Patai and Koertge show that . . . in many universities Women's Studies programs have been transformed into political pressure groups or religious cults. The authors' analysis of the situation, based on expert examination of eyewitnesses, leads to the inevitable conclusion that Women's Studies, as presently professed, represents a giant step backward into educational fundamentalism.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese

It is impossible not to admire the courage and integrity that inform Professing Feminism, although, as the authors know full well, it will provoke many feminists to condemn them as traitors and deny their claim to write as feminists at all.

Editorial Reviews

In this illuminating book, Patai and Koertge show that. .. in many universities Women's Studies programs have been transformed into political pressure groups or religious cults. The authors' analysis of the situation, based on expert examination of eyewitnesses, leads to the inevitable conclusion that Women's Studies, as presently professed, represents a giant step backward into educational fundamentalism.

Mary Lefkowitz

This book is certain to start a firestorm within the North American academic feminist movement.

Asahi Evening News

The answer that emerges from Professing Feminism is clear: Whatever Women's Studies in its present form may be, a scholarly or intellectual enterprise it is not.. .. This witty and informative book also is an excellent read.

The Washington Times

Feminists should read this book seriously and debate it vigorously. In this way they would be engaging in the self-reflection and self-criticism that are necessary to strengthen feminism.

Joan Mandle

This book seeks not to kill Women's Studies, but to save it. Feminists should listen closely.

National Review

This book is certain to start a firestorm within the North American academic feminist movement.

Asahi Evening News (Tokyo)

The answer that emerges from Professing Feminism is clear: Whatever Women's Studies in its present form may be, a scholarly or intellectual enterprise it is not. . . . This witty and informative book also is an excellent read.

Washington Times

It is impossible not to admire the courage and integrity that inform Professing Feminism, although, as the authors know full well, it will provoke many feminists to condemn them as traitors and deny their claim to write as feminists at all.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese

This book is certain to start a firestorm within the North American academic feminist movement.

(Tokyo) Asahi Evening News

This book seeks not to kill Women's Studies, but to save it. Feminists should listen closely.

National Review