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Identification, scare quotes, weasel words

She identifies as a feminist and there is "No true Scotsman" test for that. Her views on feminism are sought after almost exclusively so the argument she is not a feminist is extremely dubious. There is no one "feminist" test. She self-identifies as a feminist. No other feminists are bracketed into a sub-feminist genre so her identification is enough. Period. End of discussion (it's the same with "TERF" - we don't decide "TERF" vs. "Feminist"). The lede focuses too much on what others think she is against rather than what she has stated she is for. In the body, it says "she claims to her students" while the more neutral source for that uses the term "explains to her students." Rather than state an ideology of a reviewer that is made without any sourcing, it is preferred to just identify the reviewer. All of this is correcting a negative false light narrative which is against BLP policy. --DHeyward (talk) 03:48, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Courtesy ping @ImprovingWiki: as I am not sure the edit shows as a revert. --DHeyward (talk) 04:05, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Did you even bother to read the discussion above? There is no consensus to call Sommers a feminist in the article. Personally, I simply don't care about that issue, but you certainly have no right to call Sommers a feminist in the article when there is no agreement for that. It's dumb and childish to say things like "End of discussion" on Misplaced Pages. This is a collaborative project, where no one person is in command, and it matters what your fellow editors think. Even if there were a good case for calling Sommers a feminist, it's simply silly to suggest that it's a BLP violation not to do so; whether to identify her as a feminist or not is partly a matter of editorial judgment. Incidentally, BLP does not mean, despite what you seem to think given your edit summary here, that "negative information is to be removed." WP:BLP does not say anything like that, and a moment's thought would show that such an approach could never be followed (otherwise, it would be impossible to write articles about criminals, for example). Rather, it means that any "negative" material in the article must be carefully cited, proportionate, and of encyclopedic relevance. ImprovingWiki (talk) 06:14, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

I see you don't even try to justify most of your changes. What was the BLP reason for adding the words " which she calls 'victim feminization' " to the lead supposed to be? As far as I can see, that's simply unnecessary verbiage and does not improve the article at all. Please stop adding it. ImprovingWiki (talk) 06:14, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Considering that a brand new editor has just showed up and made an edit similar to yours here, you might want to see WP:MEAT, among other policies. ImprovingWiki (talk) 10:55, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I read the discussion above. They mistakenly believe feminism is a judgement call by the editor. Like other groups that don't have an inclusion criteria, we defer to the person making the claim - we don't exclude them. There are many examples - we don't even question self-identified women, let alone a feminist that makes living as a feminist author, speaker and professor. We don't distinguish TERFs from feminists either. Or even just radical feminists. Leave off the conditional aspect as if she is not a "true" feminist. We then can use other sources to explain her feminist positions and also critics. I added "what she calls 'victim feminization'" because it's taken directly from the source used for the lead and "equity feminist" is not. Also, it is about an idea, not a person. It doesn't make any claims or qualifiers about another feminist. Before my edit, it was negative in tone and balance. Instead of explaining her views, it was nearly all about her critics' views of her. You can get stuffed on your meat puppet claims. --DHeyward (talk) 16:09, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

The label needs to be a reliably sourced one. Her calling herself a feminist is not enough to make her a feminist, especially when the weight of reliable sources describes her as an anti-feminist. aprock (talk) 18:58, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

I'd think that WP:BLPPRIMARY certainly applies in this instance, especially because they run a Youtube webshow with the username 'The Factual Feminist' and ascribes to what she calls 'Equity feminism.' Just because some sources have disputed that doesn't mean she's all of a sudden not a feminist. This discussion also reeks of what I think of as a misuse of sources. I'm sure we can find a ton of sources that dispute Barrack Obama's status as non-American, but that's not present in the article. Ultimately, I believe that her word should be the final say in terms of identification. She identifies as a feminist, and therefore is. Now, there is an argument to be made that for certain things, she ascribes to the label but uses it as sort of an identity politics sort of thing. Like, claiming to be a Staunch conservative and proposing things like universal healthcare, total reforms of everything, da da da. That can be important to note, but the ultimate identity methinks should be feminist. Maybe those sources can elaborate on her overall views, but I don't think we can deny her the label. Tutelary (talk) 20:23, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes, WP:BLPPRIMARY applies. You are going to need to come up with sources more robust than "youtube username". aprock (talk) 22:58, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

I sourced it to the Stanford article that cites her work numerous times as a classical liberal feminist. There are many varieties of feminists in the literature. Even our handy feminism template lists all sorts of feminist positions and theories. Feminists critical of other feminists doesn't make one or the other less so. There is no standard bearer or mantle from which the label is drawn. --DHeyward (talk) 23:03, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

That source does not describe Sommers as a feminist. aprock (talk) 23:07, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Also, as per above , there is a significant body of sources which describe her as anti-feminist. If you want to apply some sort of label to her, it's up to you to find high quality mainstream sources which establish that label. As it stands, the article is better served by not trying to label her. aprock (talk)

It absolutely does both explicitly and as scholarly reference. See section entitled "Classical-Liberal or Libertarian Feminist Works", and see "Some equity feminists are socially conservative (Morse 2001; Sommers 2000)." "Some equity feminists argue ...(Sommers 2007)" and there are more. Sommers argues the equity feminist points in her works whence the references aren't that Sommers observed equity feminists, rather the Stanford piece uses her work as an example of equity feminist views. She is also not the only one they use. Other sources are free to characterize her views any way they want as she can also criticize theirs. We are certainly not going to put Sommers "victimization" views in other feminist BLPs though so we should not be so quick to put her critics views here as if they were stone tablets. --DHeyward (talk) 23:19, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

You're confusing citing someone with describing someone. aprock (talk) 23:22, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

That's why I explained they were citing them as holding the position, not as observers. It's why the citations are broken out as "Liberal Feminism" and "Classical-Liberal or Libertarian". That occurs when they are attributing ideology, not just citation. Read Wendy McElroy as she is cited exactly the same way and it is the coverage of her views. It's nearly comical to claim that the phrase she coined to describe her views doesn't apply to her. "Equity feminists" exist and she is why they are called that. --DHeyward (talk) 23:49, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Your explanation amounts to editor synthesis. Not a proper use of sources. aprock (talk) 00:05, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

A quick search reveals an IAmA (sort of like an interview) on Reddit where you considers herself an equity feminist; http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1nqdqp/i_am_christina_hoff_sommers_author_of_who_stole/ The IAmA was confirmed by her and as a result, it can be stated that yes, she self identifies as an equity feminist. Per WP:BLPSELFPUB, it's suitable to use this source since all of the criteria is met. Sure it's not third party or secondary, it's primary. But it's unambiguous of her nature. Tutelary (talk) 01:16, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

That she is an equity feminist is not at all in dispute, and is already mentioned in the lead. I'm not entirely sure that reddit AMAs are a reasonable source for any article, let alone a WP:BLP. aprock (talk) 01:26, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Again, see WP:BLPSELFPUB. It's suitable for claims about their person, as long as those criteria are met. So what is in dispute then? I just saw you remove any mention of it. Tutelary (talk) 01:28, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

From the AMA: "I walked onto that ship a liberal feminist and came off- let me just say- confused". It's not clear how you are going to use that to support her being a feminist. As noted just above, her support of equity feminism is already in the lead. aprock (talk) 01:36, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Moving further from the first question, the first answer is I consider myself an equity feminist. An equity feminist wants for women what she wants for everyone: fairness, dignity, liberty, opportunity. Her 'support' of it =/= her actually being one imho. Tutelary (talk) 01:38, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

As noted twice above, there is already a discussion of equity feminism in the lead. aprock (talk) 03:45, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Just so there is no confusion, "equity feminists" are "feminists" just as "TERFs" are "feminists". I am open to "feminist scholar" as her writings are widely cited in nearly all circles of feminism. The fact she criticizes U.S. feminists while such things as female circumcision is protected by law in other countries doesn't make her less of a feminist. In fact, many believe eradicating government backed sexism (i.e. slavery, prostitution, female circumcision and laws forbidding education) in third-world countries is more pressing than issues facing women in the U.S. Feminist ideology is diverse. --DHeyward (talk) 02:14, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

I appreciate that you have your own personal opinions on the matter. You're going to have to come up with an actual source if you want to support content for this article. aprock (talk) 03:45, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

I have looked at recent changes to the article. I find many of them to be unhelpful and quite destructive, and I regret that there has been no discussion of most of them. It does not improve the article in any way to add the words "which she calls "victim feminization" " to the lead. That is simply bad writing, and I am going to remove it in the absence of any convincing argument for inclusion. Part of the lead has been altered, so that the words "Sommers labels herself an "equity feminist" who faults contemporary feminism for "its irrational hostility to men, its recklessness with facts and statistics and its inability to take seriously the possibility that the sexes are equal but different"" have been replaced by, " Sommers supports "equity feminism", which "promotes fair treatment, respect and dignity for all woman."" That, too, is a clearly unhelpful change, and again I am going to remove it if no one can justify or defend it. Obviously, all feminists would say that they are in favor of those things, so that doesn't help the reader in any way or explain why Sommers's views are controversial. If anything, it amounts to trying to hide the controversy, which does a serious disservice to readers. ImprovingWiki (talk) 03:58, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Stanford Encyclopedia

The article currently reads: "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy categorizes Sommers' "equity feminist" views as libertarian and socially conservative." While Sommers' works are cited in the encyclopedia, her views are not discussed. As her views are already well sourced and discussed in extensive detail in the following paragraph, this content is both redundant, and not properly sourced. I will remove it in due course. aprock (talk) 04:06, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

I looked at the SEP, and you are obviously correct. I have removed some of that material myself; a case could be made for removing more. ImprovingWiki (talk) 06:59, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

BS. Her works are her views. Her views are cited through her works. The citation style shows that. Did you note that the reference section was broken out by view? That is done only when the analysis is of the views of the authors. That's the "camps" method of attribution. It's splitting hairs otherwise and the Stanford piece does not do that. Do you go to the Einstein page and claim he disputed relativity because reviews of his work are only citations and not what he believed? We should start taking away Nobel prizes immediately if this this fallacy of attribution holds up. --DHeyward (talk) 11:49, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

No, it's not "BS", it's the truth. Aprock is right. You obviously have no idea how to interpret sources or use them responsibly. You always need to be careful to avoid reading more into a source than is really there. The Stanford Encyclopedia does cite Sommers's books, but it does not discuss her views. It's absolutely crucial to make that distinction. It's just dumb to say that "the citation style shows" that it discusses her views. Everything in a BLP needs to be sourced as reliably and as cautiously as possible; by relying on arguments about the citation style of a source, you are showing that you are on weak ground. ImprovingWiki (talk) 23:37, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Please go down to the bibliography. You will see she is cited differently for works not putting the label "feminist". She is cited as "Classical-Liberal or Libertarian Feminist Works" for her works that are "feminist" and attributed as her work. She is cited as "Additional Sources" when it is of the type Aprock uses above. There is also a citation for "Liberal Feminism Works" where she is not cited. That is how "adherent" citation style works. There would be no reason to have four separate sections in the bibliography. Nor would they separate out her other works that were attributing a view to her. She coined the term "Equity feminist" and described herself with it in the book. Now, others describe themselves with it. A compromise is "feminist scholar" as she is undoubtedly one (google scholar lists her first book on feminism as being cited over 700 times). Wendy McElroy is also a feminist. If anything, surely you can that the Stanford piece citing her work where she says she is an equity feminist is at least reliable? --DHeyward (talk) 00:26, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Maybe it would help if you quoted the portion of the encyclopedia you think is relevant. As best I can tell, you're just performing editory WP:SYNTHESIS, which is not appropriate. aprock (talk) 01:37, 22 November 2014 (UTC) {Here:

Classical-Liberal or Libertarian Feminist Works

Sommers, Christina Hoff (2007). “The Subjection of Islamic Women.” Weekly Standard Vol. 12, No. 34. Sommers, Christina Hoff (2002). ‘The Case against Ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).’ Government Testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published by American Enterprise Institute. ––– (2000). The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men. New York: Simon and Schuster. ––– (1994). Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Please note the attribution is to works by feminists, not works on feminism. There is a seperate section for works that are topical but not attributable to feminists. Stanford explicitly labels her a feminist. --DHeyward (talk) 02:13, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

You say that those are works by feminists, but the article does not make that claim. Please take care in being sure that you aren't reading more into the source than what is actually written. aprock (talk) 02:51, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

What is ambiguous to you about "Feminist Works?" It is English. It's in the article. If it listed "Renaissance Painter Works" and listed a bunch of paintings, would you argue the painters themselves weren't Renaissance Painters? It's an absurd reading to deny the Stanford posit that she is a "Classical-Liberal or Libertarian Feminist" as they list her as such. In addition, she self-identifies as an "equity feminist" and a "democrat." I don't see the reasoning behind denying her any of that. --DHeyward (talk) 03:04, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Are those works by feminists, or works about feminists? The encyclopedia isn't clear about this. As you say, she identifies herself as an equity feminist, and that is what is in the lead. aprock (talk) 03:08, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Obviously "by feminists" as they break up the camps of feminists and also cite works that are "about feminists" is in the "other" section. There are four sections of citations (liberal feminists, other works about liberal feminists, libertarian feminists, other works about libertarian feminists). Note that Sommers has works in both the sections attributed "to libertarian feminists" and the "other" section. The author was careful to cite what was "by feminists" and "other." The fact Sommers is in both showa that the source meticulously identified whether it was the author or the subject. --DHeyward (talk) 03:30, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

DHeyward, you obviously just don't get it. We need to use the highest-quality sources in BLPs, and we need to use them as cautiously and as responsibly as possible. You are plain wrong in thinking that it is acceptable for the article to say something like, "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy categorizes Sommers' "equity feminist" views as libertarian and socially conservative". The fact is that it doesn't, and going on about citation styles isn't a valid response. You are trying to read something into the source that is not really there, and that is unacceptable. I suggest taking the issue to the BLP noticeboard. There experienced editors will tell you that you are wrong. Listen to them. ImprovingWiki (talk) 04:00, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

IW, Are you even reading the edits? I just add "feminist scholar" in the first sentence. Surely you are not so obtuse that being references in a 750+ scholarly sources on feminism and being identified as a feminist in a analytical piece and self-identifying as a feminist isn't enough to say she is a "feminist scholar" in the opening sentence? really? Do you consider the label negative? Why are you denying the reality of all the references, self identification and scholarly analysis. The "anti-feminist" label is very negative and not nearly as supportable as "feminist scholar." If you knew anything about BLP policy, it would move you to strike anti-feminist long before striking feminist scholar. --DHeyward (talk) 19:42, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

BTW, I'm the editor that struck Sommers out of the Stanford line so it now reads ""The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy categorizes "equity feminist" views as libertarian and socially conservative." --DHeyward (talk) 19:50, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Again, the source does not make the claim that she is a feminist scholar. That is your interpretation. aprock (talk) 22:41, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Even if the source had called equity feminism "conservative" the position of that sentence is highly suspect. As written, the article calls equity feminism convervative before it even explains the basic concept of equity feminism. I don't think that sentence is supported by the source at all; it seems like a fairly obvious attempt to discredit Sommers before the reader has a basic understand of what she is about. Even if it was sourced, it doesn't even make sense to use as the first sentence. We should state her views first, then talk about how others categorize them. 107.179.240.80 (talk) 00:33, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Sommers does not 'make the case for moral conservation'

Regarding this sentence: "In an article for the textbook, Moral Soundings, Sommers makes the case for moral conservation and traditional values."

First, the sentence is repeated.

Second, it is not an accurate summary of what the source said. This sentence, is misrepresenting the source to make it seem like Sommers is some sort of pro-life bible thumper who promotes conservative political ideas (e.g. pro-life, anti-premarital-sex, pro-religion, etc).

The only relevant thing the source says is, "Christina Hoff Sommers, in chapter 17, seems to rely on such a view when she argues that contemporary students' lack of grounding our moral traditions inhibits their capacity for judgment."

This is not 'promoting traditional values'. It's just saying that knowing your history and the traditions of your people helps your judgment. It says nothing at all about traditional values and whether we should follow them - only that we should know them, so we know where we come from.

Sommers has a piece written earlier in the book, but if I'm not mistaken, we can't just summarize it because that would be original research? If that's what we're citing, we should link to it. And anyway, the same point would apply; she does not make a case for following traditional values - only for knowing them.

In conclusion, this sentence should be removed (both copies) as it does not reflect what the (extremely weak, one-sentence) source says.107.179.240.80 (talk) 05:04, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for drawing attention to this issue. ImprovingWiki (talk) 05:13, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

I'll remove this sentence. It does, indeed, seem to be a weak source for a view that she does not seem to have stated explicitly. Metamagician3000 (talk) 00:57, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for removing it Metamagician3000; if you review the discussion above, you will see that there is more questionable material that may need removing. ImprovingWiki (talk) 03:30, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Typo

Minor point, but: in the first section of the Ideas and Views section, there is an unclosed quotation mark around the phrase "equity feminist." Can someone who can edit the page fix this please? (Page is currently protected or I'd fix this myself) Fyddlestix (talk) 01:25, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

"att== First sentence ==

We have "equity feminist"in the lede but not the first sentence where it belongs as that is what she is most known for. "equity feminist", "feminist" or "feminist scholar" are all reasonable descriptions of what she is known for. There are sources for all three. Pick one. --DHeyward (talk) 02:05, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

There is no consensus to call Sommers a feminist, and you know that. Why do you care so much about this? It's a total irrelevance to me whether Sommers is called a feminist or not. ImprovingWiki (talk) 02:52, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

It's her most notable aspect and contribution that make her notable (750+ references in Google scholar to her first book, many secondary references to the term "equity femininst"). Why do people want to bury it? She is not known for anything but feminist works whether you agree or disagree with her style of feminism is beside the point. "feminist scholar" is adequate but her most notable accomplishment should be in the first sentence. --DHeyward (talk) 03:00, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Rubbish. Sommers is mainly notable because she wrote a book attacking one kind of feminism in the 1990s. The book and the attack are what make her notable, not her being a feminist, which is a debatable and rather uninteresting point. ImprovingWiki (talk) 03:20, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

That's incorrect. Her book categorized types of feminists and she identified with a type. That type is notable today and referenced. Do you remove the "feminist" label from authors that attack "equity feminism" or do you only have a problem with equity feminists? --DHeyward (talk) 03:33, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Uh, no that's perfectly correct. She wrote a book attacking one kind of feminism, and that fact that it "categorized types of feminists" does not contradict that. You seem to have misunderstood my position; as I've said, I completely do not care whether Sommers is called a feminist or not. ImprovingWiki (talk) 03:41, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

"Attacked?" Really? What weapons did she use? You are objecting pretty mightily for someone that doesn't care. She characterized different versions. That's it. --DHeyward (talk) 18:02, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Line 22

Christina Hoff Sommers (/ˈsʌmərz/; born 1950) is an American author and former philosophy professor known for her opposition to late 20th-century feminism in contemporary American culture.

should be reverted to

Christina Hoff Sommers (/ˈsʌmərz/; born 1950) is an American author, feminist, and former philosophy professor known for her opposition to late 20th-century feminism, which she calls "victim feminization," in contemporary American culture.

The former casts her as an opponent of feminism. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.56.148.111 (talk • contribs) 02:57, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

No, the article should not be reverted from one version to the other. Either version could be questioned. Discussion needs to take place first. In my opinion, the version the IP editor thinks the article should be reverted to is the result of rather inept and destructive editing. There is certainly no advantage to adding mumbo-jumbo like "victim feminization" to the lead; who knows what it's even supposed to mean? ImprovingWiki (talk) 03:25, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

I think everything in that sentence after 'professor' can go. The next sentences introduce her books and ideas sufficiently; we don't need to pack the same information in distorted form into the first sentence. Good writing is generally one idea per sentence. Casimirin (talk) 03:30, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

I concur if "feminist", "equity feminist" or "feminist scholar" are in the first sentence. He main contribution is creating and identifying as an equity feminist. --DHeyward (talk) 03:37, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

No, her main contribution was writing a book attacking one strain of feminism - the dominant strain at the time, and still possibly now. Most people probably have no idea what "equity feminist" is supposed to mean, so characterizing her as one without further qualification is not helpful. ImprovingWiki (talk) 03:39, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Generally agree, though characterizing her writing as an attack is probably a bit heavy for the lead. But she is best known for her ideas about factionalizing feminism, and her support of the faction that is not traditional feminism. aprock (talk) 17:01, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

I think it would be a bit presumptuous for us to decide what is 'traditional' feminism. By the way Sommers and many others write, equity feminism is the traditional feminism of the 20th century, and the modern academic version is a sort of offshoot neo-feminism. I don't think we need to say that any form of feminism is more traditional or mainstream. Or at least, we can't without good sourcing, because going either way would be contentious. IMo the best approach here is to just say she's explicitly equity feminist, discuss what that means, and then perhaps talk about how others view equity feminism. Casimirin (talk) 19:45, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes, when discussing content for the article, we cite reliable sources. aprock (talk) 00:33, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Is this merely a lot of "No True Scotsman" being thrown about here ? The idea that there cannot be different branches or views that can all be described as feminism. I mean to give a rather relevant example can you only believe in Islam if you are a member of I.S.I.S or are plenty of people who believe in Islam objecting to I.S.I.S and their interpretation of an ideology. dwavenhobble (talk) 17:25 24 November 2014 (UTC)

CHSommers disputing content of article.

Ms Sommers today tweeted "My Misplaced Pages profile has been attacked. Now full of errors and mischaracterizations. Who did this? What can I do?." With respect to WP:BLP, what is the procedure when the subject disputes the content? She is clearly not WP savvy so she would not be able to initiate on-site dispute resolution process. Maybe the regular editors could follow this up in the interest of WP:BLP. Thanks Jgm74 (talk) 03:24, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for drawing attention to that. Unfortunately, since Sommers does not explain what she considers the errors and mischaracterizations to be, her comments are not very helpful. I suppose that's partly a limitation of Twitter. ImprovingWiki (talk) 03:28, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

More than partly a limitation of twitter. But what is the most appropriate way for her to express her concerns? By what means, in what forum? She raised a concern. It behoves WP to acknowledge her concerns even if they are found to be of no issue. Jgm74 (talk) 03:54, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Sommers should say clearly what she thinks the problem is. If she doesn't, there is nothing Misplaced Pages can really do about it. ImprovingWiki (talk) 04:01, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Other than raising it here, she should be encouraged to contact info-en-q@wikimedia.org. There are also some suggestions on how to proceed at Misplaced Pages:Contact us - Subjects. We should always take the concerns raised by the subjects of articles seriously. Unfortunately, it is difficult in this case to know what the problems are - I'd like to help fix them, but other than the minor issues listed so far, I haven't seen anything in particular that we can act on. As you say, this is probably due to the limitations of Twitter, but maybe the email address will help. - Bilby (talk) 04:16, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Bilby. That's all I was after. I forwarded the Misplaced Pages:Contact us - Subjects to her so she has the option to raise specific issues if she so desires. Jgm74 (talk) 04:29, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Hopefully she'll do that - Misplaced Pages is hard to navigate if you don't know the processes, but problems with biographies of living people are should always be looked into, as there is potential for real harm. I don't know if this will be something we can act on - at the moment I'm not sure of what the concern is, but I just may not be seeing the right things - but her concerns should be taken very seriously. - Bilby (talk) 04:53, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Her comments are VERY helpful. They have alerted you to a problem. Your comments insulting her contribution and dismissing them without spending any time analyzing using the DIFFERENCE tool is not very helpful. I suppose that's partly a limitation of how wiki amplifies a person's negative traits.208.53.122.13 (talk) 04:01, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Her comments are vague and of very limited use. I have not insulted Sommers or anyone else, as you wrongly suggest, but you are insulting me. See WP:CIVIL. ImprovingWiki (talk) 04:24, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Guys, I'm genuinely not trying to start drama. Bilby answered the questions. Thanks, I'm done. Jgm74 (talk) 04:31, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

It's easy. Go to a version way before GG and watch it go negative. Watch how editors came here to tear it down. --DHeyward (talk) 18:06, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Classification of Equity feminism

The first line in the section "Ideas and Views claims that "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy categorizes equity feminism as libertarian and socially conservative." While the former is supported by the source supplied, the latter isn't. From the source section 2.2.3 Socially Conservative Equity Feminism,

"Some equity feminists are socially conservative (Morse 2001; Sommers 2000). To be sure, equity feminism as described here is a form of classical-liberal or libertarian feminism."

This claims that **some** are socially conservative, not equity feminists in general. It even goes on to clarify that in the article that equity feminism is described as classical-liberal or libertarian. The sentence is misquoting the source. I suggest the following rewrite:

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy categorizes equity feminism as classical-liberal or libertarian with some members being socially conservative.

SirArren (talk) 04:07, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

The sentence, as written, does not even seem to be about Sommers. It does not mention her by name. Why place it in this article? Also, please sign your posts. ImprovingWiki (talk) 04:03, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

signed, sorry. I'm still getting around wiki. I don't know why it's in the article in the first place. And as is, it's misconstruing the source. SirArren (talk) 04:07, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Since that material as it is currently written is not even about Sommers, it should simply be removed. An admin could do this, as they can edit through article protection. ImprovingWiki (talk) 04:10, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

She coined the term/invented it. Should we remove Einstein's general theory of relativity from his bio? We can add her name back but you've objected to every factual and neutral portrayal of her. Her socially conservative stance is not nearly as attributable than equity feminism. --DHeyward (talk) 18:13, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Also The immediate following sentence is unsourced(where does she say there are acceptable and non-acceptable forms of feminism?) and then the sentence following that isn't supported by its source. On page 22 of "Who stole feminism?" http://books.google.com/books?id=EIUtJziqIqAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q=Enlightenment%20principles%20of%20individual%20justice&f=false

She says that 18th century feminists "grounded their demands in Enlightenment principles of justice." She does not describe equity feminism with this. Rather she describes the 18th century feminists with this description. She directly describes equity feminists in this line(on the same page)

"A First Wave, 'mainstream,' or 'equity' feminist wants for women what she wants for everyone: fair treatment, without discrimination.

SirArren (talk) 04:26, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes, the acceptable/non-acceptable line should be removed. Your quote is also accurate and was in the lead prior to the addition of negative material (I added it but I believe it was reverted). --DHeyward (talk) 18:16, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Article concerns

Hi. My understanding is the Dr Sommers has expressed some concerns about this article (per the above), but hasn't yet been able to elaborate on what they are. I'm always concerned that Misplaced Pages makes it difficult for people who don't know the system to engage with editors, and that seems to be what has happened. However, I noticed that comparisons have been drawn between the current version of the article and the version from July (pre GamerGate) . In looking at the two, the content is quite similar - there has been a major reorganisation, but the leads of the two are mostly the same, and much of the content is still there. That said, in the July version there was a "Criticisms and controversy" section, almost all of which has been removed, but my feeling is that the old section suffered from being undue. Other than that, the main differences I can find are two lines which have since been removed:

• Author Barbara Marshall has stated that Sommers explicitly identifies herself as a "libertarian." Sommers is also a registered Democrat.
• The War Against Boys was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2000.

And from the lead, there has been a change from "... known for her critique of late 20th century feminism, and her writings about feminism in contemporary American culture" to "...known for her opposition to late 20th-century feminism in contemporary American culture" which moves the focus from criticism and writing to just opposition.

Presuming that these are a concern, I don't see a problem with returning the statement that she is a registered Democrat. I've never understood US politics, but I'm assuming that it matters more than I would have expected from an Australian perspective. I also see no problems with the "notable book of the year" being raised, as it seems significant given the source. The sentence in the lead is a bit trickier, but I greatly prefer the "critique" wording over "opposition", (you can critique something without being in full opposition, so it would fit better with the equity feminist description), and it might be worth adding back a reference to her writings. In regard as to whether or not to describe her as a feminist in the lead I'm a bit indifferent - her official biography at AEI doesn't describe her as a feminist, (just as a former philosophy professor), but there are a lot of reasons why that might be the case. Perhaps describing her as an equity feminist in the first line would be a decent way forward, but that's a different issue.

My other main concern is with the description of "Who Stole Feminism" which starts with a criticism before explaining what the book is about. It should start with a summary, even if only a sentence or two, as per "The War Against Boys" section, and be more balanced in the discussion.

Any thoughts? I might be right off base with this, but given the concerns it seemed worth trying to look at what changes might help, even though we still probably need better context on the issues. - Bilby (talk) 14:14, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Generally agree with this. I think critique should be preferred to opposition in the lead. As the editor who removed much of incidental criticism, I agree with it being undue weight. My edit summary from the time: removing the rest of the controversy section per guidelines, these are isolated incident and appear to be cherry picked, much better source required by WP:BLP). You are also correct about needing a book summary at the head of the section. Describing her as an equity feminist seems quite appropriate, since she invented that term to differentiate herself from traditional feminism. aprock (talk) 17:18, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

While we defer to self identification for religion and sexual orientation, we do not defer to self identification via made up words for what a person is known for/their work classified as. We place her work and works as others have classified them, and if appropriate, state how the person positions themself. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 23:58, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Her "made up word" is mainstream, survived over 20 years and her work that coined it is cited over 700 times in scholarly works. There are other libertarian feminists that also ascribe to equity feminist ideals. You need to get over the idea that it's made up or that it's anti-feminist. --DHeyward (talk) 01:31, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

The part about one author claiming that Sommers explicitly self-identifies as a libertarian was removed by me, per WP:UNDUE. It seems suspect, and I don't see a good reason to include that material in this article. ImprovingWiki (talk) 09:54, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Protected edit request on 23 November 2014

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Per the Misplaced Pages:Manual_of_Style/Captions#Credits, the caption in the info box should be "Hoff Sommers, circa 2009" or something similar, not a photo credit. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 14:22, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Agree, that looks weird. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:05, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

And the image is suggested for deletion: Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:24, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Done --Redrose64 (talk) 16:28, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

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