Professing Feminism

This unsparing account of the troubles that beset Women's Studies programs should incite vigorous debate. * Publishers Weekly * 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, Former Director of the Women's Studies Program, Colgate University, and author of Can We Wear Our Pearls and Still Be Feminists? 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 * Essential reading for anyone involved in Women's Studies. * Library Journal * This book is certain to start a firestorm within the North American academic feminist movement. * Asahi Evening News, (Tokyo) * 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, Wellesley College This book seeks not to kill Women's Studies, but to save it. Feminists should listen closely. * National Review * 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, author of <I>Feminism is not the Story of My Life<I>

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.

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