Template:Did you know nominations/Hypatia transracialism controversy


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: withdrawn by nominator, closed by BlueMoonset (talk) 22:03, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Hypatia transracialism controversy

 * ... that the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia apologized for an essay equating Rachel Dolezal with transgender people, after hundreds of other academics signed an open letter demanding its retraction? Source: "The journal has already apologized for the article ... That letter has racked up hundreds of signatories within the academic community". Singal, Jesse; "This Is What a Modern-Day Witch Hunt Looks Like", New York; May 2, 2017
 * Reviewed: Battle of al-Yaarubiyah
 * Comment: One I didn't have any real role in creating, for once.

Created by SlimVirgin (talk) and Rybkovich (talk). Nominated by Daniel Case (talk) at 05:15, 11 May 2017 (UTC).


 * Daniel, it wasn't the journal that posted the apology but the associate editors, and I wouldn't say Tuvel equated Dolezal with anyone. She compared the situation of Dolezal and Jenner. Also, it needs to be reworded to signal that the apology was widely criticized, including by Hypatia's editor-in-chief and the president of the board. SarahSV (talk) 05:31, 11 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Also, your hook is 311 characters, so you need to lose 111. SarahSV (talk) 06:14, 11 May 2017 (UTC)
 * OK, I had been going by the "without spaces" count, which yielded 200 characters. It's really difficult to find a short way to describe this paper within those constraints. I have to get something to eat now and I will return to this later. Daniel Case (talk) 14:56, 11 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Addendum: Actually, I get 198 characters with spaces for this one. Did you include the reprinted source text? Daniel Case (talk) 14:59, 11 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, sorry, that must be it. SarahSV (talk) 14:33, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * OK, here's a new hook that focuses on just a smaller, but still remarkable, aspect of this:
 * ALT1: ... that two professors who signed an open letter demanding the feminist journal Hypatia retract a controversial article about race and transgender were members of the author's dissertation committee? Source:Same article as above ("That letter has racked up hundreds of signatories within the academic community—the top names listed are Elise Springer of Wesleyan University, Alexis Shotwell of Carleton University (who is listed as the point of contact), Dilek Huseyinzadegan of Emory University, Lori Gruen of Wesleyan, and Shannon Winnubst of Ohio State University"); the front page of Rebecca Tuvel's dissertation, which lists Lori Gruen and Lisa Gunther as members of her committee. Lisa Gunther verifies signing the open letter in a statement under her own name on Facebook.

OK, how's this? Daniel Case (talk) 06:29, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Daniel, the more I look into this, the more it appears that the situation was caused by social media—not just that it happened on social media—apparently sparked by a tweet from a student 24 hours before the apology was posted, which (if true) is utterly bizarre. (I'm not sure about it yet.)


 * I'd like to put in place a carefully written, well-sourced first draft explaining how it unfolded. Everything else (DYK, date format, fair-use image objections, and now objections to the replacement) is a distraction. That's one of the reasons I'd prefer not to do DYK at this time. If the article gets GA status, that can be revisited because GAs can now be DYK too, and by then we'll know more about what happened. SarahSV (talk) 14:33, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Let's be real, the whole controversy was caused by the sheer insanity that is identity politics.— Kaz (talk) 17:17, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * I was taught in history class never to think I'd understood an event until I had identified seven causes. "Identity politics on steroids" (as one commentator put it) was definitely a factor. But the call-out culture on social media was a major factor. How 830 academics got swept up in it within 48 hours or so is just bizarre. SarahSV (talk) 17:28, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

OK, then, per Sarah's request above I withdraw the nomination at this time. Daniel Case (talk) 17:40, 12 May 2017 (UTC)