Herstory

Herstory is a neologism coined in the late 1960s as part of a feminist critique of conventional historiography. In feminist discourse the term refers to history (ironically restated as "his story") written from a feminist perspective, emphasizing the role of women, or told from a woman's point of view. (The word "history", coming from the Ancient Greek ιστορία, or "istoria," meaning "a learning or knowing by inquiry", through the Latin "historia", is etymologically unrelated to the possessive pronoun "his".)

Usage

The Oxford English Dictionary credits Robin Morgan with coining the term in her 1970 book, "Sisterhood is Powerful." Concerning the feminist organization WITCH, Morgan writes:

:The fluidity and wit of the witches is evident in the ever-changing acronym: the basic, original title was Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell [...] and the latest heard at this writing is Women Inspired to Commit Herstory." [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00293243?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=herstory&first=1&max_to_show=10 Herstory] ", Oxford English Dictionary Online (Oxford University Press, 2006).]

In 1976, Casey Miller and Kate Swift wrote in "Words & Women," :When women in the movement use herstory, their purpose is to emphasize that women's lives, deeds, and participation in human affairs have been neglected or undervalued in standard histories.

During the 1970s and 1980s, second-wave feminists saw the study of history as a male-dominated intellectual enterprise and presented "herstory" as a means of compensation.Devoney Looser, "British Women Writers and the Writing of History" (Johns Hopkins University Press: 2000). ISBN 0-8018-6448-8.] The term, intended to be both serious and comic, [Angus Calder and Lizbeth Goodman, "Gender and Poetry", in "Literature and Gender," ed. by Lizbeth Goodman (Routledge: 1996). ISBN 0-415-13573-7.] became a rallying cry used on T-shirts and buttons as well as in academia.cite book |title=Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women |last=Hoff Sommers |first=Christina |year=1995| accessdate=2008-09-10 |publisher=Touchstone Books |location=United Kingdom |language=English |isbn=0684801566 |chapter=3 (Transforming the Academy) ]

In feminist literature and academic discourse, the term has been used occasionally as an "economical way" to describe feminist efforts against a male-centered canon. [Robert J. Belton, " [http://people.ok.ubc.ca/creative/glossary/h_list.html Words of Art] " (2002).]

Criticism

Christina Hoff Sommers has been a strident critic of the concept of herstory, and presented her argument against the movement in her 1994 book, "Who Stole Feminism?". Hoff Sommers defined herstory as an attempt to infuse education with ideology, at the expense of knowledge. [cite book |title=Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women |last=Hoff Sommers |first=Christina |year=1995| accessdate=2008-09-11 |publisher=Touchstone Books |location=United Kingdom |language=English |isbn=0684801566 |page=97 |chapter=5 (The Feminist Classroom) ] The "gender feminists", as she termed them, were the band of feminists responsible the movement, which she felt amounted to negationism. She regarded most attempts to make historical studies more female-inclusive as being artificial in nature, and an impediment to progress.

Professor and author Devoney Looser has criticized the concept of herstory for overlooking the contributions that some women made as historians before the twentieth century.

The Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that analyzes and tracks trends in language, named "herstory" the third most "politically incorrect" word of 2006—rivaled only by "macaca" and "Global Warming Denier." [ Global Language Monitor web page" [http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page20.html] " (2006).] cite web
title="Macaca" named most politically incorrect word
publisher=Reuters
date=December 16, 2006
url =http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKN1516924620061219
accessdate=2007-07-13]

Books

Recent books published on the topic include:
*"Herstory: Women Who Changed the World" ISBN 0-670-85434-4
*"Daughters Of Eve: A Herstory Book" ISBN 1-4140-4356-2
*"HerStory" ISBN 9781604025514

ee also

*Feminism
*Womyn
*Gender-neutral pronoun
*History of feminism
*Misogyny
*Non-sexist language
*Radical feminism
*Sexism

References