Apr 9, 2024 08:24 PM
The Phantasmagoric World of Judith Butler
https://fairerdisputations.org/judith-bu...ric-world/
INTRO: One chapter of Judith Butler’s new book, Who’s Afraid of Gender?, is called “TERFs and British matters of sex.” (“TERF” is an acronym for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.) The book has not landed well on TERF Island.
“Butler flatters herself if she thinks there’s anything to be afraid of in her work,” writes Sarah Ditum in the Times. Jane O’Grady’s review in the Telegraph is titled “Is this the most incoherent book about gender yet?” (One star out of five.) Kathleen Stock (who is mentioned in the book) is also underwhelmed: “The chapter on British so-called TERFs is a compendium of smears culled from online teenagers about their gender-critical mums.”
On the other side of the Atlantic, the reception has been somewhat warmer.
In Slate, Dana Stevens (a former Butler student: “I was lucky enough to study with them”) concedes that the book is a “demanding read,” but explains this as the result of “the rigor of the thought itself.”
The US journal Signs ran a series of laudatory mini-reviews: according to Julia Serano, Butler’s book is “full of counterarguments” that “will undoubtedly be useful” in responding to “misconceptions” about transgender issues.
In a review in the Washington Post Becca Rothfeld tempers her declaration that Butler is “a giant and a genius” with the verdict that the new book “is not their best.”
Nina Power, writing in the US online magazine Compact, offers some unsparing criticism: “Judith Butler has presided over the attempted eradication of sex as a fundamental category. She is the Pope of Gender.”
Given these quotations, you might suspect that Butler, who became legally non-binary a few years ago, is “she” to her detractors and “they” to her supporters. Although a “they/them” review of her book might be positive or negative, a “she/her” review is an infallible sign of thumbs down. Of course, I have now given the game away.
In short: Who’s Afraid of Gender? is not just poorly argued. Butler also persistently misdescribes the people and views she attempts to criticize, and her carelessness with citations would be unacceptable in an undergraduate essay. And, as if this mess wasn’t bad enough, it comes with a dollop of plagiarism on top... (MORE - details)
https://fairerdisputations.org/judith-bu...ric-world/
INTRO: One chapter of Judith Butler’s new book, Who’s Afraid of Gender?, is called “TERFs and British matters of sex.” (“TERF” is an acronym for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.) The book has not landed well on TERF Island.
“Butler flatters herself if she thinks there’s anything to be afraid of in her work,” writes Sarah Ditum in the Times. Jane O’Grady’s review in the Telegraph is titled “Is this the most incoherent book about gender yet?” (One star out of five.) Kathleen Stock (who is mentioned in the book) is also underwhelmed: “The chapter on British so-called TERFs is a compendium of smears culled from online teenagers about their gender-critical mums.”
On the other side of the Atlantic, the reception has been somewhat warmer.
In Slate, Dana Stevens (a former Butler student: “I was lucky enough to study with them”) concedes that the book is a “demanding read,” but explains this as the result of “the rigor of the thought itself.”
The US journal Signs ran a series of laudatory mini-reviews: according to Julia Serano, Butler’s book is “full of counterarguments” that “will undoubtedly be useful” in responding to “misconceptions” about transgender issues.
In a review in the Washington Post Becca Rothfeld tempers her declaration that Butler is “a giant and a genius” with the verdict that the new book “is not their best.”
Nina Power, writing in the US online magazine Compact, offers some unsparing criticism: “Judith Butler has presided over the attempted eradication of sex as a fundamental category. She is the Pope of Gender.”
Given these quotations, you might suspect that Butler, who became legally non-binary a few years ago, is “she” to her detractors and “they” to her supporters. Although a “they/them” review of her book might be positive or negative, a “she/her” review is an infallible sign of thumbs down. Of course, I have now given the game away.
In short: Who’s Afraid of Gender? is not just poorly argued. Butler also persistently misdescribes the people and views she attempts to criticize, and her carelessness with citations would be unacceptable in an undergraduate essay. And, as if this mess wasn’t bad enough, it comes with a dollop of plagiarism on top... (MORE - details)