Karen Kachra: Feminism Wrecked My Yoga Class

   I think this is worth a read.
   The point Kachra doesn't quite make...but she sidles up to...is that feminism just isn't criticized in the academy. You can criticize some version of feminism...but basically only by arguing that it isn't feminist enough. But to argue that feminism is just wrong about something...well...that's usually not very welcome. And to deem any theory beyond question in academia is to err.
   You can sometimes get away with criticizing feminism by arguing that its immunity from criticism is bad for feminism itself. Again, your overall goal must be feminist. That's non-negotiable. It's probably true, after all, that feminism has evolved into such ridiculous, outlandish forms because of this immunity. In an intellectual environment free of predators, all sorts of bizarre idea-forms can evolve... But you can't just conclude and that's why so much contemporary academic feminism is such a train wreck. You must, rather, say: and since we're all feminists, that's why we might want to reconsider the unofficial ban on criticism.
   In fact, one of the reasons I don't classify myself as a feminist anymore is that old-school egalitarianism about sex is such a small part of contemporary (especially academic) feminism. So much of feminism is now bad, outlandish, and outlandishly bad philosophy that I want nothing to do with it. But there's also its protected status in the academy. That, alone, is enough to make me criticize it. It's like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I mean...a cartoon bull. Real bulls don't seem to care about such things. At least I've never seen one care about something like that. I think they're color-blind anyway. A cartoon flag, too, I guess. Who'd wave a real flag in front of a cartoon bull?  How would you even do that? That doesn't make any sense at all. A bull gored the shit out of my grandfather once, before I was born. It was a well-known family story. Left him "crippled up" for the rest of his life. But that bull was just mean, by everyone's accounting. And there was no flag-waving involved. So far as I know, anyway.
   Er...what was I holding forth about?