03.10b. Damsels in Distress: Naomi Wolf, Nona Gerard, and Martha Stewart. I just realized that all three people I've discussed recently as being picked on unfairly are leftwing women. To some extent this is accidental-- I was going to discuss the case of David Deming at Oklahoma when I got diverted, and will when I get a chance. I'll discussed the fired professors at the University of Southern Mississippi too sometime, though in that case the University is tangling with the AAUP and is getting plenty of heat even without the blogosphere weighing in. But is there something about women that gets them in trouble?

In the case of Naomi Wolf, there clearly is. She is a feminist who charged a famous liberal intellectual with sexual misconduct. The result is that the left attacks her for disloyalty and the right attacks her for weakness; from both sides, the complaint is that a feminist shouldn't make such charges.

Nona Gerard's case is less clear. Her offenses were to criticize colleagues and belittle an academic program as having low quality. The ultimate cause seems to be that she doesn't mind offending people-- more a male than a female characteristic, I seem to recall from Caplan (2003) -- and she objects strongly to low quality.

Martha Stewart's case is also unclear. Her problem is that she is a celebrity in several sphere--business, magazines, and TV-- and told a lie to investigators while being at the periphery of a corporate scandal involving insider trading. Because she is rich and famous and they want to show they are putting rich and famous people in jail for business offenses, the Justice Department went after her for a minor offense they rarely prosecute. Is this related to her being a woman? Yes, but only indirectly. The proximate cause is her fame and wealth, not her sex, but she achieved fame and wealth by her excellence in feminine pursuits.

Why there is so little concern from the Left about Nona Gerard surprises me, although at least I don't see any signs that they agree with Penn State's policy (unlike their support for Yale against Wolf). I suppose Martha Stewart's sin is being rich, and the Left thinks that even if she wasn't really guilty of insider trading, as someone successful in business she deserves to go to jail anyway, despite her liberalism. Still, it does seem odd that her defenders are conservatives and libertarians.

[in full at 04.03.10b.htm . Erasmusen@yahoo.com. ]

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