What's Feminism Got To Do With It?: A Postscript from the Editors

What's Feminism Got To Do With It? A Postscript from the Editors Sara Friedrichsmeyer and Jeanette Clausen The amount of ink that has been spilled during the past year or so on the topic of "political correctness" in higher education can hardly have escaped our notice. Originally a term of self-criticism among leftists,1 "P.C." has been appropriated by conservatives as a term of abuse to imply intellectual bigotry and the pushing of a "correct" line on race, sex, class, sexual orientation, and so on by feminist and other progressive groups. The debate has been conducted in well-publicized tomes; in major newspapers and popular magazines across the country; in professional journals and a variety of feminist publications, including our WIG newsletter; and has even caught the ear of a reporter for the Spiegel. As we write this, a group of scholars—among them Wayne Booth, Henry Louis Gates, and Stanley Fish—has just announced a new organization, "Teachers for a Democratic Culture," formed to counter allegations by conservatives that adherents of "P.C." have become the new thought police. Despite the ubiquity of the debate, however, the topic is far from being "ausdiskutiert," certainly among feminists. In choosing to address it here, we wish to raise some issues that we see as crucial for Women in German and the WIG Yearbook. One answer to our question "what's feminism got to do with it?" is, obviously, that feminism has challenged and then forced change in the American academy, changes against which the current backlash is directed. We have experienced this backlash in calls for a return to the canon, for a return to "standards," for support in the appointment to NEH of individuals inimical to feminist aims, etc. The virulence of the attack is itself evidence of the real impact that feminism has had in the academy —recall the old saying, if "they" aren't upset with us, it probably means we aren't accomplishing anything! But the tone and the superficial level of much of the debate demonstrate all too clearly how limited the impact of feminism has been, and how much still remains to be done. While we recognize that the controversy over "political correctness" is part media-hype, we also believe that feminists can ill afford to stay out of the debate. Obviously we can't prevent the cooptation of "our" language and strategies by the Right. We must, however, find ways to infuse our own definitions into the discussion, so that feminists retain Women in German Yearbook 7 (1991) 170A Postscript from the Editors control of the meaning of feminism. To prevent feminism from becoming the new "f" word, it might be helpful to rethink some of our longstanding notions about our movement and what it means to us. A key issue is that of diversity. It is common to maintain—we have often said it ourselves—that there are probably as many feminisms as there are feminists. This argument has been important in explaining differences among us, for example that feminists espouse a wide range of political positions, from those fairly content with American political and academic institutions to those dedicated to their overthrow, with the majority insisting on and working for change from various positions along the spectrum. To try to paint us all into the corner of America-haters—as is the agenda of the anti-"P.C." Right—is patently absurd. We too are products of Western democracy and to varying degrees accept Western values. While such abstract ideals as reason and order will certainly elicit a differentiated response among feminists—the terms are clouded by the debate over the merits of a postmodern aesthetic—others such as the value of a secular education, for example, or the worth of each individual, and certainly the commitment to progress in the form of working to improve the system, are values to which we, as teachers, have obviously chosen to dedicate our lives. These are all ideals indisputably associated with the Western heritage. Part of the gulf separating us from the Right is that we take very seriously the call embedded in Western democracy to justice and equality of opportunity...