Is gender studies a legitimate field of intellectual inquiry?

Update 2018-10-05: Also see the blog post titled, ”The intellectual legitimacy of gender studies: Responding to criticism”

Gender studies, an academic field devoted to issues related to gender identity and representation, is currently targeted by social conservatives questioning whether it is a legitimate field of intellectual inquiry. In this text, I elaborate on the conservative argument. I argue that it ignores or obscures some relevant complexities. Taking a different approach to intellectual legitimacy, I argue in support of gender studies as a field of inquiry.

Yesterday, The Telegraph reported that the Hungarian government moves to ban gender studies at universities in the country. The government claims that the reason is that ”employers showed no interest in graduates from the subject,” but critics argue that the ban is part of a campaign to ”attack NGOs or institutions that oppose [Viktor Orban’s party’s] socially conservative narrative.”

Social conservatives have targeted gender studies in my native country as well, arguing that the field is non-scientific or pseudoscientific. I have written about that before (in Swedish). Although the present text is independent from my previous writings on this subject, it further develops the same opinions that I have raised elsewhere.

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