Who-Stole-Feminism.-How-Women-Have-Betrayed-Women

THE BACKLASH MYTH 253Humphrey was attuned to feminist things when I was there. In thecourse of this project he became more aware. . . . But I do not try toreeducate men. I speak in their language. You have to speak in malelanguage. You say: we should do this survey because it's a hot topicand will make money, not we should do this because it's the rightthing to do.I asked her if there are other polling organizations in which feministactivists are influential. She said: "Oh yes. Greenberg-Lake." The readerwill remember that the AAUW used Greenberg-Lake as its polling agencyin studying the self-esteem of adolescents. It came up with the dramaticand inaccurate figure that schoolgirls experience a "31 point drop in selfesteem."Hoeffler went on to say that with the increase in the number of feministswho are doing research, she expects more polls and surveys to reflectthe new consciousness. "We are hitting the peak moment. A researcher'spolitics are always in the research. We [feminist pollsters] balance it out."Since she considers most research politically biased against women, shesaw little reason to apologize for her feminist bias.Then she brought up Foucault. She had found most male researchersto be extremely unenlightened. Foucault had helped her to see why "thosewho are subjugated and marginal are positioned to see the situation moreclearly." "Foucault is great," she concluded, and affirmed that his theorieshad "influenced my participation at Harris while I was there."I had looked into two areas of the women's health survey—those onpsychological abuse and depression. Both revealed severe flaws and apronounced ideological slant. There may well be problems with otherparts of the survey. Did the Commonwealth Fund—one of the oldestfoundations in America, with an endowment of $340 million—know thata study commissioned from a distinguished, long-established pollsterwould use a gynocentric researcher who sought to avoid "phallocentric"methods?But perhaps the Commonwealth Fund is not merely sinned against.Ellen Futter, president of Barnard College, is chair of the CommonwealthFund's Commission on Women's Health, which sponsored the Harrissurvey. She is among the many academic administrators who take painsto deny the existence of political correctness on America's campuses. Onthe contrary, as she sees it, those who claim there is a problem are doingharm. In a recent interview with Anna Quindlen for Mirabella, Futter saidthat the "PC" debate had given the public a "skewed" picture of theacademy. 85"Because of these characterizations, some very . . . thoughtful