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Christina Hoff Sommers

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Christina Hoff Sommers (born 1950 in Petaluma, California) is an American author who researches culture, adolescents, and ethics in American society.

Sommers earned her B.A. at New York University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Brandeis University in 1979.[1] A former philosophy professor in Ethics at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sommers is a resident scholar at several conservative institutions, including the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and the Board of Advisors of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. She speaks on college campuses through the socially conservative Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute's campus lecture program,[2] and is also one of the founding members of the conservative Independent Women's Forum.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy categorizes Sommers' equity feminist views as classical liberal or libertarian and socially conservative.[3]

Books

In 1986 Christina Hoff Sommers wrote "Right and Wrong: Basic Readings in Ethics" (1984 ISBN-10 0155771108). Ethics is Dr. Sommer's academic area of concentration.

In 1995 Christina Hoff Sommers wrote Who Stole Feminism (1995 ISBN 9780684801568) This book questions the ethics of modern feminist writers while pointing out that many published feminist articles have inaccurate citings and contain specious 'facts.' As examples it turned out that the often cited March of Dimes study which says that 'domestic violence is the leading cause of birth defects,' does not exist. The 'rule of thumb' does not come from a law about the diameter of rods to beat one's wife with, and domestic violence does not rise during Super Bowl weekend.

In 2000 Dr. Sommers wrote "The War on Boys" (2000 ISBN 0-684-84956-9). In this book Dr. Sommers makes the case that feminist ideology in school instruction and curriculum is harming boys' education.

In 2003 Christina Hoff Sommers, Fred Sommers, an Federic Tamler Sommers wrote Vice & Virtue in Everyday life (2003 ISBN 9780534605346), a comprehensive and provocative collection of both classical and contemporary voices in perennial ethical debates.

In 2006 Dr. Christina Hoff and Sally Satel, M.D. wrote One Nation Under Therapy (2006 ISBN 9780312304447), according to the publisher's summary: Drawing on established science and common sense, Christina Sommers and Dr. Sally Satel reveal how “therapism” and the burgeoning trauma industry have come to pervade our lives, with a host of troubling consequences.

Dr. Sommers has over 80 publications.

Criticism

Dr. Sommers struck a nerve with so-called "gender feminists" by publishing "Who Stole Feminism" and "The War on Boys". All of the material in this section is in regards to those two books and related articles. Dr. Sommer's specific charges have never been answered in the literature, e.g. there has never been an explanation from the authors who cited the non-existent March of Dimes report, who obviously cited it without reading it, nor an explanation of the Super Bowl Sunday statistic, or the fabricated etymology for the rule of thumb. Rather, the responses have been general and sometimes emotional. Nor is it the case that academic honesty in feminist research, especially domestic violence research, is unimportant. With one bill alone on the topic of Domestic Violence, VAWA the USA has spent 1.6 billion dollars a year for 12 years.

E. Anthony Rotundo wrote a reveiw on "The War Against Boys" July 2, 2000 that appeared in the Washington Post.[4] He begins by articulating his belief in cultural relativism, the concept that cultural shapes gender personality, a theory that had been criticized by Dr. Sommers in her book. He continues by explaining the theory that feminism was caused by over emphasis of boys in culture, he says "The era from the 1870s to the 1970s could well be called "The Century of the Boy." He notes Dr. Sommer's work was getting postive press, and cites an Atlantic Monthly article. [5] He faults Dr.Sommers for not paying more attention to studies that support the thesis of cultural relativism, "She also rejects the notions common among feminist scholars that boys need to have better access to their gentler emotions .. (non-competitive games; doll play for boys) to apply these notions to the raising of boys." He then states, "Most studies of sex difference in various forms of behavior show no statistically significant difference," thus begging the question about the 'some' studies that do show a statistically significant difference. He complains that Sommers leaves no room for a middle ground. Dr. Rotundo concludes that Dr. Sommers failed to prove her thesis, but agrees with Sommers that there is an emerging problem in the schools, "Boys do lag behind girls in reading and writing, and they do trail in extracurricular participation."

In the New York Times Review of Books, Robert Coles, writes a short review covering two different views of boys in America, one being that of Dr. Sommers.[6] Cole sets the tone by starting with innuendo, "Sommers once taught at Clark University, but these days she is the W. H. Brady fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. She is no stranger to polemics, and is not reluctant to declare herself an adversary." He faults Dr. Sommers for spending too much time criticizing feminists, especially Carol Gilligan. (Dr. Sommers criticized Dr. Gilligan method of sitting in classrooms and making observations as subjective, and requested Dr. Gilligan's data. Dr. Gilligan has refused to provide her data.) Ironically, Cole writes: [Sommers] speaks of our children, yet hasn't sought them out; instead she attends those who have, in fact, worked with boys and girls -- and in so doing is quick to look askance at Carol Gilligan's ideas about girls, Pollack's about boys. Much of The War Against Boys comes across as Sommers's strongly felt war against those two prominent psychologists, who have spent years trying to learn how young men and women grow to adulthood in the United States." Dr. Stanley Kurtz replied with a letter published in the New York Times [7] opposing Robert Coles' review for failing to note the myriad ways in which boys are being left behind by educational system mired in feminist orthodoxies. All three, Coles, Sommers, and Kurtz research and write on the topic of ethics.

In an article from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a national progressive media watch group, Laura Flanders writes, "[Sommers'] book [Who Stole Feminism] is filled with the same kind errors, unsubstantiated charges and citations of 'advocacy research' that she claims to find in the work of the feminists she takes to task... Sommers relies heavily on a handful of oft-repeated anti-feminist anecdotes--or folktales."[8]

Sommers criticizes women's organizations like the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in her book Who Stole Feminism in conservative publications like The National Review, and in public forums.[9][10][11] She writes of the AAUW:

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) issued two reports in the early Nineties that were harmfully wrong. AAUW researchers claimed to show how "our gender biased" classrooms were damaging the self-esteem of the nation’s girls and holding them back academically. That was simply not true... If the AAUW were serious about improving the climate on campus, it could start by looking for ways to reason with the V-Day enthusiasts to discourage their antics... Campuses need effective policies against genuine harassment. They do not need the divisive gender politics of the AAUW spin sisters. The AAUW’s statistically challenged, chronically mistaken, and relentlessly male-averse "studies" should not be taken seriously.[9]

The AAUW replied saying they were for "positive societal change":

Unfortunately, Who Stole Feminism? is not about making positive societal change or changing behavior to create a more equitable society for women and girls. Rather, AAUW perceives the book to be an attack on scholars, women's organizations, and higher education. Contrary to what Sommers contends, there is nothing in any of our research about terms she uses--domination, subjugation, victimization, or oppression... Ours is not a radical agenda despite Sommers' characterization of AAUW. We are about positive societal change... Our research looks for solutions and is based on facts, not anecdotes or soundbites. The important thing to remember is that this debate is not about AAUW; it's about the children in this country. What is important is that our daughters and sons reach their full potential.[12]

References

  1. ^ Texas A&M website biography "[Sommers] has a doctor of philosophy degree in philosophy from Brandeis University."
  2. ^ Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute's campus lecture program
  3. ^ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  4. ^ Review of The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men, by E. Anthony Rotundo in the Washington Post, July 2, 2000.
  5. ^ Christina Hoff Sommers, "The War Against Boys," The Atlantic MonthlyMay, 2000)
  6. ^ Robert Coles, Boys to Men, Two views of what it's like to be young and male in the United States today, New York Times, June 25, 2000.
  7. ^ Stanley Kurtz, The Boys Left Behind, New York Times, July 16, 2000.
  8. ^ Laura Flanders, The "Stolen Feminism" Hoax Anti-Feminist Attack Based on Error-Filled Anecdotes, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, September/OCTOBER 1994.
  9. ^ a b Christina Hoff Sommers, Crying Wolf, National Review, February 21, 2006.
  10. ^ "The Future of Feminism: An Interview with Christina Hoff Sommers
  11. ^ American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research A Speech by Christina Hoff Sommers
  12. ^ American Association of University Women Memorandum March 1995

Further reading

  • Sterling Harwood, "Introduction: A Statistical Portrait," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 2000), pp. 166-167.[dubious – discuss]
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