The other "F" word

Elizabeth Nowicki has an interesting series of posts over at Concurring Opinions (see here, here, and here) about race and gender discrimination in legal academia.  One intriguing question she poses - at least it's one I've always wondered about - is the appropriate definition of "feminist" and, in particular, "feminist law professor".  Back when I started teaching in Australia in the 1990s feminist law professors were relatively few and far between.  Now, I notice a longer list in the United States at least of people prepared to identify themselves as "feminist law professors" (see Ann Bartow's blog for the list).

Elizabeth notes that she's happy to be identified as a feminist law professor, but she's not 100% sure what the term connotes.  Bruce Boyden suggests in response to Elizabeth's question that:  "my intuition on what separates “feminists” from all other people who support gender equality is that feminists believe there are profound problems with the current situation that need addressing."  That's an interesting thought.  I kind of like the idea that one might be more likely to adopt a label for one's position on something (feminism, racial equality, conservatism, libertarianism etc - whatever it may be) if one thinks that action is needed.

Like Elizabeth, I've never really known if I was a "feminist" or not.  I certainly believe in gender (and racial and other kinds of) equality.  And I would always prefer to be surrounded by more diverse viewpoints than less.  And, like Elizabeth, I've never burned a bra.  But I've never really known what the term means.  Can anyone come up with good definitions for the various "isms" we come across in our profession?

Comments

[Kim Krawiec]

Well, Judge Judy (via Jezebel) does have some thoughts to offer on this: http://jezebel.com/5259716/comic-confrontations-judge-judy-vs-feminists-part-2. Yes, I watch way too much television.

[Marc DeGirolami]

I have very little knowledge about what feminism or most of the other -isms have in common or require, but I do not think that conservatism is a label one claims because one thinks that "action is needed." But the label is plastic enough at this point that others may see it differently.

Thanks for the interesting discussion.

Marc