"Modern-day feminism is intellectually dishonest" - E.R. Klein
Feminism Under Fire is the first systematic analysis of modern-day feminism and the personal memoir of Ellen R. Klein, a philosopher coming of age and coming to terms with feminism as it relates to university politics and teaching. Klein entered graduate school and the world of professional philosophy in 1984 and soon became aware of sexism existing in classrooms, texts, and the real world. She attended a national conference on feminist philosophy in 1988 and found herself questioning her commitment to feminism. As fate would have it, she left the conference determined to learn everything she could about feminist philosophy and was asked to teach a course entitled "Feminist Philosophy." Circumstances and rigorous research have enabled her to offer the critical analysis of feminism found in Feminism Under Fire.
Restrained, if not repressed, by the current climate of political correctness, mainstream philosophers have been reluctant to attack feminism, instead relegating it to the status of a crazy aunt in the attic of the discipline. Klein climbs the forbidden steps and opens the door to a critique of contemporary feminism. She takes on the task of differentiating between feminist philosophy, non feminist philosophy, and feminist non-philosophy. She analyses feminist epistemology, philosophy of science, and pedagogy. She helps the crazy aunt down the staircase and leads her into the dinner parlour.
Feminism Under Fire is ruthlessly analytical yet eminently accessible. Klein's lucid and provocative prose undresses academic feminism and exposes its pretensions, dogmas, fallacies, and peccadilloes. Klein recognizes the rampant sexism that permeates academia, but believes modern-day feminism is "intellectually dishonest and scandalously unscholarly" and even more oppressive toward women. She concludes that the true way to feminist liberation is not to fight against the philosophical method, but to embrace it.
Feminism Under Fire is sure to be a popular weapon in the gender battles and the culture war currently raging in America. Furthermore, it should appeal to everyone with an interest in the tumultuous and far-reaching implications, both academic and philosophical, of contemporary feminism.
Ellen R. Klein is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville.
258 pages Publication date 30th May, 1996