Talk:Raewyn Connell

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[edit] Raewyn Connell

I think she is a woman now? -- schwarze feder 19:49, 17 July 2006 (UTC) [1] -- schwarze feder 19:52, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup needed

This article needs a cleanup. It needs to be more balanced. Parts of the article seems off-topic. Entheta 20:47, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Some of it is written from an opposing POV, and much of it doesn't belong here but in other articles relevant to the subject (gender study articles, articles on masculinity in society, et cetera). -- Shoejar^talk/edits 08:36, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Sorted. Needs more content under "Work". -- Shoejar^talk/edits 13:12, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, Shoejar and others, for significantly improving Connell's page. I visited it about a month ago and was somewhat bothered by its incoherence, and by the relative lack of coverage given to a formidable scholar in my field. In the interest of further improving this article, however, I wonder if something more should be added about Connell's biography. I can see both sides to this issue. I realize that Wikipedia may view Connell's biography as beyond the scope of what's relevant about her, as the personal lives of "disinterested" scientists are supposed to be kept separate from their research. But given that Connell is a gender/masculinities scholar, some might find it relevant that she used to be a man, just as the Noam Chomsky article mentions his Jewish heritage in reference to what he has written about Israel. What do you all think? I don't have a strong opinion at this point, though I certainly agree that Connell's transgendered identity should by no means eclipse his professional achievements. M. Frederick 14:09, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I think it's worth mentioning. Entheta 20:11, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Hi - I think your point about Chomsky above is apposite in the context of this discussion. Connell and most 'second wave' feminism rejected a biologically determinist account of women and their capabilities. On this account 'being' a woman is at least as much a matter of being subordinated and subject to discrimination and male violence as it is a matter of being in possession of female reproductive organs. In the absence of any intellectual explanation, Connell's transgender identity could be taken as a stark repudiation of the theory of the social determination of gender identity. It is certainly worth mention, in my view. Alternatively, we can differentiate between 'objective' social scientific inquiry and the personal life choices of intellectuals but only at the expense of collapse into what Alisdair Macintyre called 'subjectivism' (see 'After Virtue'). The cost is the loss of any common ground for moral or philosophical discussion. Tonguetwister 07:22, 29 May 2007 (UTC)