Feminism & Philosophy Vol. 10, No. 1
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APA Newsletters NEWSLETTER ON FEMINISM AND PHILOSOPHY Volume 10, Number 1 Fall 2010 FROM THE EDITOR, CHRISTINA M. BELLON ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER ON FEMINISM AND PHILOSOPHY SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND INFORMATION NEWS FROM THE COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN, ERIN MCKENNA ARTICLES THE WOMEN IN PHILOSOPHY TASK FORCE “Open Letter to the APA from the Women in Philosophy Task Force” JANET A. KOURANY “How Do Women Fare in Philosophy Journals?” CAROLE J. LEE AND CHRISTIAN D. SCHUNN “Philosophy Journal Practices and Opportunities for Bias” SALLY HASLANGER “Preliminary Report of the Survey on Publishing in Philosophy” THOM BROOKS “The View from the Journal of Moral Philosophy” HENRY S. RICHARDSON “The Triply Anonymous Review Process at Ethics” ALISON WYLIE “Hypatia: A Journal of Her Own” © 2010 by The American Philosophical Association ISSN 2155-9708 BOOK REVIEWS Angelica Nuzzo: Ideal Embodiment: Kant’s Theory of Sensibility REVIEWED BY KIM ATKINS Marti Kheel: Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective REVIEWED BY KATHRYN J. NORLOCK Sue Campbell, Letitia Meynell, and Susan Sherwin (Eds.): Embodiment and Agency REVIEWED BY MARJORIE JOLLES Mary Friedman and Shana L. Calixte: Mothering and Blogging: The Radical Act of the Mommyblog REVIEWED BY TRISH VAN KATWYK Marilyn Nissim-Sabat: Neither Victim Nor Survivor: Thinking towards a New Humanity REVIEWED BY MELISSA MOSKO John Searle: Making the Social World: The Structure of Human Civilization REVIEWED BY CASSIE A. STRIBLEN Moira Gatens: Feminist Interpretations of Benedict Spinoza REVIEWED BY ERICKA TUCKER Penny A. Weiss: Canon Fodder: Historical Women Political Thinkers REVIEWED BY KRISTIN WATERS CONTRIBUTORS APA NEWSLETTER ON Feminism and Philosophy Christina M. Bellon, Editor Fall 2010 Volume 10, Number 1 affiliations with relevant other professional organizations. Such ROM THE DITOR self-reflective data would also allow those of us interested in F E such matters to fill in further the picture we currently have of the status of women, and all minorities, in this profession of ours. How we long for the day when our national professional This issue of the Newsletter continues our on-going effort to association can tell us about ourselves and thereby to support publish information regarding various dimensions of women’s the many important and progressive efforts of individuals, status in professional philosophy, this time with a focus on groups, and committees to advance philosophy and the publishing in journals. Why publishing in philosophy journals? scholarly and professional undertakings of those who practice it. Well, perhaps in one regard, the answer is obvious. Increasing As we come upon the end of this first decade of the 21st Century, evidence supports the anecdotal experience of our women it would be a wonderful thing indeed for our professional colleagues who express frustration, on the cusp of exasperation, organization to muster the ability to satisfy this expectation for with efforts to get their research published. Women seemed to a fully professional organization. You can learn more about the be rejected at higher rates than men in seemingly anonymous efforts of the group, Women in Philosophy Task Force, by visiting peer review processes, though it is noticeable that women fare their website at http://web.mit.edu/wphtf/Welcome.html. better under doubly anonymous review processes than under The content of this issue of the Newsletter should be both non-anonymous review processes. Is this phenomenon the interesting and surprising, in some regards, not so surprising, result of simply poorer quality philosophical research on the part in other regards. Enjoy. of women? Or, is it indicative of a conspiracy of predominantly male editors to preclude women from the public domain of philosophical research? Or, is it an indication of our mostly Christina M. Bellon, Editor male peers’ biases against feminist or feminist inspired work in the discipline? Or, is it something else as yet indefinable? So long as we only have anecdotal information, supplemented by assessments made several removes from the publishing BOUT THE EWSLETTER ON process, we can only give limited interpretation to our own A N experience. FEMINISM AND PHILOSOPHY In an effort to fill in some of the gaps in the story of journal publishing, we have collected a wonderfully insightful set of analyses of the policies and practices of several major journals The Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy is sponsored in philosophy. Our contributors consist of editors of those by the APA Committee on the Status of Women (CSW). The journals as well as of women philosophers who have published Newsletter is designed to provide an introduction to recent in their pages, served on their editorial boards, contributed to philosophical work that addresses issues of gender. None of the the development of their policies and practices, and have done varied philosophical views presented by authors of Newsletter comparative analyses of them. The essays included in this issue articles necessarily reflect the views of any or all of the members originate from a CSW panel organized by Janet Kourany, who of the Committee on the Status of Women, including the provides an introduction to the individual pieces collected editor(s) of the Newsletter, nor does the committee advocate here. It should be noted, however, that in the time between any particular type of feminist philosophy. We advocate only the Eastern Division meeting, where the panel was held, to the that serious philosophical attention be given to issues of gender publication of this issue, much revision and elaboration was and that claims of gender bias in philosophy receive full and engaged in by the respective authors. The result is an enriched fair consideration. and thorough presentation of the challenges and successes of publishing both feminist philosophy, in particular, and the work of women philosophers, in general. I have also elected to include the Women in Philosophy Task Force’s open letter petitioning the APA to conduct much SUBMISSION GUIDELINES needed regular data gathering and analysis of the membership, AND NFORMATION including data regarding important demographic variables. This, I it is reasonably argued, is a central function of a professional academic organization. And, as indicated in the 1999 Hanson Report, would provide a vital mechanism for the profession 1. Purpose: The purpose of the Newsletter is to publish to better understand itself in order to plan and move forward, information about the status of women in philosophy and to develop responsively to its membership, and to foster to make the resources of feminist philosophy more widely — APA Newsletter, Fall 2010, Volume 10, Number 1 — available. The Newsletter contains discussions of recent and Board positions over the years. It fails to see how the CSW, developments in feminist philosophy and related work in other and other women in the profession, are choosing to replicate disciplines, literature overviews and book reviews, suggestions the very politics they set out to dismantle. This is my greatest for eliminating gender bias in the traditional philosophy disappointment. curriculum, and reflections on feminist pedagogy. It also The CSW will be taking on the issue of the climate for informs the profession about the work of the APA Committee women in the profession. I am very happy about this endeavor on the Status of Women. Articles submitted to the Newsletter and look forward to the panel at the 2010 meeting of the should be limited to 10 double-spaced pages and must follow Eastern Division. However, we need to be sure this ongoing the APA guidelines for gender-neutral language. Please submit discussion includes a look at ourselves. Are we perpetuating essays electronically to the editor or send four copies of the idea that the production of graduate students is the most essays via regular mail. All manuscripts should be prepared important teaching we can do? Are we replicating the elitism for anonymous review. References should follow The Chicago of scholarship by considering only those who publish in certain Manual of Style. journals as successful and so worthy of our attention? Are we 2. Book Reviews and Reviewers: If you have published a book buying into the politics we claim to want to dismantle as we that is appropriate for review in the Newsletter, please have select our friends to serve on committees with us or send your publisher send us a copy of your book. We are always our students only to certain graduate programs that we have seeking new book reviewers. To volunteer to review books deemed acceptable? I worry we are. (or some particular book), please send the editor a CV and For instance, from the moment I joined the committee letter of interest, including mention of your areas of research I voiced the opinion that if we were concerned about the and teaching. low number of women in the profession we needed to work 3. Where to Send Things: Please send all articles, comments, on increasing the number of women who choose to major suggestions, books, and other communications to the editor: in philosophy at the undergraduate level. I was repeatedly Dr. Christina Bellon, Department of Philosophy, Sacramento dismissed. As our own research showed us that indeed we State University, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819-6033, retain women pretty well from graduate school to tenure [email protected]. track hiring, it became clearer that we need to increase the 4. Submission Deadlines: Submissions for Spring issues are number of women who want to enter graduate programs in due by the preceding September 1st; submissions for Fall issues philosophy. The committee has now taken up this idea and are due by the preceding February 1st. I expect some very good work to be forthcoming. We have people ready to post advice on how to increase the number of women majors in various kinds of philosophy programs.