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The Feminist Scholar
by Jo Freeman
At first glance, there appears to be an inherent contradiction in the term "feminist scholar." The idea of the scholar implies one who sits back and dispassionately studies a topic; who seeks and objectively weighs all evidence, forming an opinion only after the data are in. Yet as a feminist, when I am dealing with questions concerning women, I don feel in the least dispassionate; the "truth" is largely predetermined by the feminist values that I hold; and while I'm willing to look at all evidence, I reserve the right to interpret it in a way that will support my position. To be a feminist, in effect, is to advocate a particular point of view. Starting from the premise that women and men have the same potential for individual development, this view examines the way in which social institutions create differences; it rejects the idea that there is any meaningful choice for members of either sex as long as there are socially prescribed sex roles and social penalties for those who deviate from them. This is the description of a decisively political position -- which I use my academic. training to support.
Such an alliance of scholarship and advocacy would have been thought an unholy one fifteen or so years ago. Those were the days when the myth of value-free social science predominated. People really believed -- or at least said they did -- that they could approach a fresh research problem uncontaminated by their past experiences and present circumstances. Since then, however, the radical critique of social science has made us aware that all knowledge reflects a bias. People's background and position in the social structure not only determine their interpretation, but filter out what they think they see. In the words of one anonymous pundit, "How you stand depends on where you sit."
Fortunately, this critique preceded the women's liberation movement. It therefore made it easier to be both advocate and scholar. Most academicians are now sensitive to the fact that we all have values which lead us to particular research projects, which define our methods, our conclusions. Points of view not only exist within disciplines but can be brought to disciplines. Sociology has even been described as the attempt to draw a mathematically precise line between unwarranted assumptions and foregone conclusions. Thus, the fact that my scholarship is guided by a feminist perspective does not make it qualitatively different than that of others.
Nonetheless the awareness of ubiquitous bias does impose upon one some responsibilities which those who thought they were value-free could blissfully ignore. The primary responsibility is to not be blinded by one's own politics. There is a time for pure advocacy and a time for critical reflection. Just as the awareness of the inevitable bias of any scholarship makes it easier to apply one's own, so must that awareness make one constantly reexamine one's perceptions. This responsibility grows greater as the acceptability and influence of one's perspective -- feminist or non-feminist --increases. When one is an outsider, criticizing the established view, one can legitimately muster all one's forces for the assault without tolerance for differing points of view. But singlemindedness is a privilege permissible only to those out of power. The more established one becomes, the less one can afford it. To fail to acknowledge the responsibility that comes with power, is to undermine the right to hold it.
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