Abstract

If writing about women was once an innovation, it is now an imperative. Very rare only two short decades ago, feminist scholarship today pervades the disciplines of art, history, law, literature, and religion. This volume, as probably every reader will have observed, is another sign that feminist studies, if not the norm, are now so regular an exception to it that they have redefined the norm. This volume is a sign of something else, which is that feminism has made a place for men. I was invited to participate because my recent work argues for theoretical self-examination and revision in the disciplines of medieval studies. A traditionalist eager to see tradition challenged and revitalized, I believe that scholarship ought to represent a joining of our public and private selves. This is a kind of self-awareness on which feminist scholars insist, but that view does not make me a feminist. When I chose the title for this essay, I did not know that I was to be the volume's only male contributor. As the token man, with no desire to speak for all men , I fear that I speak for them nevertheless. If women aren't enough, for this volume or for feminist criticism, one essay by one man isn't enough to explain why