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Academic attainment and feminism?

782 replies

suwoo · 08/05/2011 22:32

I have wanted to start this thread all day but have been scared that it is stupid or I will be flamed. I want to ask if people feel there is a correlation between academic attainment and feminist principles. Is that a valid question?
I had no idea that I was a feminist. I knew I had these thoughts and principles but didn't know what they were or the significance of them until we did feminist literary theory this semester- it was like an epiphany and my whole world made sense

Had I not gone to uni at the grand old age of 35, maybe I would never had these revelations.

What do you think? Those of you that identify as a feminist, what level of education do you have?

OP posts:
LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:48

Me too. Smile

AyeRobot · 13/05/2011 18:47

As a complete ignoramus* about all things academic, can someone explain why discussions about feminism and the academia always end up circling around lit crit?

*I have a BA in Economics from a tin pot outfit. I was exposed to no explicit feminism whatsoever in my entire educational career and all of my knowledge comes from my lived experience and MN (and the suggestions of links and books posted on here).

dittany · 13/05/2011 18:47

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LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:44

Sure, but that's why it's no disrespect to her to say someone else could go correct (or enlarge on?) the stuff about fairytales, isn't it?

LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:43

Yeah, I think that's it exactly - she's writing beautifully there, but that is presumably exactly what inspires other people to go and write about the same ideas in other ways, so she doesn't have to be the last word on the subject.

Incidentally, I have a little one-woman campaign going about crappy sexist language of inspiration in academia since one of my teachers a long time ago told me 'seminal' was a much more academic word than 'inspirational'.

dittany · 13/05/2011 18:41

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dittany · 13/05/2011 18:39

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LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:31

No, she's not - I didn't explain very well maybe, but the point I'm getting at is that the ground has been broken. If I'm teach lit., why wouldn't I use someone who's drawn older work and also added to it? It's no insult to Dworkin to say that someone could correct parts of her work.

I am trying to work out how to teach more radical feminist theory though - I asked how you'd do it upthread but it got a bit buried.

dittany · 13/05/2011 18:26

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LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:21

proles - that's interesting. I'm getting the impression I had the least theory-based undergrad degree possible! Grin

LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:20

dittany - for my subject area, I'd get them to read Jocelyn Wogan-Browne's stuff about hagiography (which talks a bit about fairy-tale archetypes but obviously it's the wrong period/country for Grimm). She's great, especially on women's bodies.

Prolesworth · 13/05/2011 18:19

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Prolesworth · 13/05/2011 18:18

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dittany · 13/05/2011 18:18

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LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:18

I wouldn't teach Foucault and can't remember ever seeing him on a syllabus as an undergraduate ...

dittany · 13/05/2011 18:17

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Prolesworth · 13/05/2011 18:10

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LRDTheFeministDragon · 13/05/2011 18:08

'Dworkin noticed that men as a class hate women, use hideous violence against us and oppress us. But lets ignore that because she doesn't know the minutiae of European folk tales.'

I agree that would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But why not read someone who can do both?

sieglinde · 13/05/2011 18:07

I'm not focusing on it particularly, Dittany. I'm just registering that it exists and that it is hugely problematic. I don't think it helps women scholars to underperform in ways that would lead to returned work at undergraduate level.

dittany · 13/05/2011 18:00

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Bonsoir · 13/05/2011 18:00

[it is Marquis de Sade or Sade, never "de Sade"]

dittany · 13/05/2011 17:59

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motherinferior · 13/05/2011 17:54

Er...actually there is the whole witch burning bad research too, which IMO is a bit significant given that the Dreadful Witchburnings Of Wimmin In Days Past was one of the things we went on about a lot back in the days when I went on a lot about this sort of thing.

dittany · 13/05/2011 17:15

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dittany · 13/05/2011 17:11

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