(May-July 2003): I wrote
this paper for the inaugural issue of the journal, Feminist Theory
(which appeared in 2000), and in response to the pre-publicity asking for
submissions on the question of what counts as feminist theory (among others).
It was sent to three reviewers, two of whom argued against publishing it.
The third recommended publication despite some disagreements she had with
it, but the majority prevailed and I received a letter telling me my paper
had been rejected. I wrote a reply to the letter and to the readers' reports,
pointing out a number of problems with the reasons given for the rejection.
When the first issue of the journal appeared, the
editorial referred approvingly to 'feminist theory in all its many and
diverse forms', and contained the following statement: 'We intend this
journal to be ... a place where all shades of feminist opinion can be aired
... we neither wish to impose any form of theoretical orthodoxy nor any single
definition of what counts as feminist theory. This theoretical heterodoxy
is central to our project' (Griffin et al, 2000: 5). In the light of the
rejection of my paper and the inadequacy of the reasons given, this statement
rang somewhat hollow. It sounded to me like an example of what Herbert
Marcuse referred to as 'repressive tolerance' (Marcuse, 1969), the claim
to be all-inclusive and accepting that functions to reduce everything to
the lowest common denominator of irrelevance. As Marcuse pointed out, demands
for tolerance can be demands for political quiescence, demands to refrain
from criticising and opposing the structural causes of injustice and oppression
(male supremacy in the case of feminism). I also knew that the journal's
claims to tolerance were untrue. They had rejected my paper and they presumably
had the same rejection rate as other academic journals, hence they were
clearly applying some criteria of acceptance and rejection. So I wrote
a short piece called 'Pure Tolerance Revisited'. It was published in the
third issue of the journal.
References
Griffin, Gabrielle, Hennessy, Rosemary, Jackson,
Stevi and Roseneil, Sasha (2000) 'Editorial' Feminist Theory
1(1): 5-9
Marcuse, Herbert (1969) 'Repressive Tolerance',
in Wolff, Moore Jr and Marcuse, 1971
Wolff, Robert Paul, Moore Jr, Barrington and
Marcuse, Herbert (1971) A Critique of Pure Tolerance London:
Jonathan Cape
Click here for the full paper
Click here for the readers' reviews and my reply
Click here for 'Pure Tolerance Revisited'
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