As I indicated, I respect her work. However, she is paid by the American Enterprise Institute, which has a definite agenda.
On Jul 4, 2009, at 6:32 AM, Allen Esterson wrote: > > > In reponse to Stephen Black's citing an article by Christina Hoff > Sommers, Paul Brandon wrote: > >...and slightly right wing, though she often makes good points. > > Dare I suggest that Hoff Sommer's work should be treated on its > merits, regardless of whether her socio-political views are right > or left of centre! > > As Hoff Sommers notes, there are certainly what she calls "serious > scholars" in feminist studies, but, apart from her own *Who Stole > Feminism?" (1994), Patai & Koertge's *Professing Feminism: > Education and Indoctrination in Women's Studies* (2003) highlights > numerous causes for concern about academic standards in women's > studies. I've had my own brush with an example of this in the > person of Senta Troemel-Ploetz, a linguist who came to prominence > in 1990 when the sensational claims that Einstein's first wife made > substantive contributions to his epoch-making 1905 papers first > surfaced: > http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12517061.700.html > > Many of the erroneous assertions in Troemel-Ploetz's woefully > unscholarly article "Mileva Einstein-Maric: The Woman Who Did > Einstein's Mathematics" are uncritically recyled, including on > "Women in Science" websites, and notoriously on the PBS co-produced > "Einstein's Wife" documentary. Howes and Herzenberg's book *Their > Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project* (1999) even lists > Mileva Maric among five women who were "Founding Mothers" in > nuclear science. (Unsurprisingly, Troemel-Ploetz is referenced for > this section.) > > I have no direct information about whether Troemel-Ploetz is right > wing or left wing, but I regard that as irrelevant to a > consideration of the accuracy of her contentions. (Her denunciation > of what she calls "the cultural imperialism of the U.S. academic > establishment" perhaps gives a clue, or maybe not.) > > References > > "Mileva Einstein-Maric: The Woman Who Did Einstein's mathematics", > Women's Studies International Forum, Vol. 13, Issue 5, 1990, pp. > 415-432 > http://tinyurl.com/http-www-sciencedirect-com-s > > Exchanges with Troemel-Ploetz on MSNBC's "Cosmic Log": > http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/11/27/15908.aspx > http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/11/20/15370.aspx > > Critique of Troemel-Ploetz (1990): > http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=218 > > Allen Esterson > Former lecturer, Science Department > Southwark College, London > http://www.esterson.org > > ******************************************************* > Michael Smith > Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:19:13 -0700 > ...I guess that will balance the slightly left wing > > > > That reminds me, I still have to read her book The War Against Boys > > > > --Mike > > > > > > On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Paul Brandon > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > .... and slightly right wing, though she often makes good points. > > > > > > > > On Jul 3, 2009, at 2:59 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > > > > > The admirable and incisive Christina Hoff Sommers is at it again > on the > > >> myths and fake statistics propagated by certain feminist authors > (for > > >> example, the old "rule of thumb" canard), Shame on them for giving > > >> scholarship a bad name. > > >> > > >> http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i40/40sommers.htm > > >> > > >> Stephen > > >> > > > Paul Brandon > > > 10 Crown Hill Lane > > > Mankato, MN 56001 > > > [email protected] > > Don't let your email address define you - Define yourself at > tunome.com today! > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
