The Politics of Writing | CU Experts

Abstract; This chapter examines how compulsory heterosexuality structures feminist writing practices in political theory. Taking Iris Marion Young as a Case Study, it argues that feminist scholars face persistent pressures to orient their work toward male authorities in order to gain legitimacy within masculinist academic fields. This dynamic is evident in Young’s evolving discussions of structure: although her theory of structure emerges through sustained engagement with feminist theory and politics, her later publications increasingly attribute her ideas instead to a cluster of male theorists. Reconstructing Young’s feminist theory of structure, including its grounding in feminist practices of consciousness-raising, the chapter demonstrates that this citational shift distorts the reception of her work and obscures its feminist foundations. Why then would she choose to hide her feminism? The chapter argues that feminist scholars like Young experience structural pressures to veil their feminism in order to be taken seriously by nonfeminists. Building on Adrienne Rich’s concept of compulsory heterosexuality as reframed by Sara Ahmed, the chapter expands the concept to specify a variety of structural pressures on feminist scholars to “live a life by citing men.” It concludes by framing resistance to these pressures as a matter of collective responsibility, calling for writing practices that make feminist traditions unmistakably visible.

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