AMY HAMM REPORTS: Simon Fraser University students study porn, fatness, write 'Twitter rants' instead of essays

Remember "women’s studies?" You know, the academic area of study that taught women’s history and feminist theory? I do. But the discipline is disappearing, infected by wokeness. 

It’s difficult to find a "women’s studies" program that doesn’t supplant "women" with "gender," which, in practical terms, means the inclusion of males and every cockamamie social justice issue that a blue-haired, self-identifying queer communist can think of. 

At Canada’s Simon Fraser University (SFU), what was previously The Department of Women’s Studies is now "gender, sexuality, and women’s studies (GSWS)."

In an email to The Post Millennial, SFU communications staffer Will Henderson said that the "Department of Women’s Studies underwent a name change in 2009… The inclusive name change was an opportunity to differentiate sexuality from gender studies and was reflective of a diversification into new teaching and research areas…"

In the new department, students can drop thousands of dollars on courses that include "Fat Studies" and "Intro to Porn Studies." Rather than writing academic papers, the professor of Fat Studies allowed students to submit a "Twitter Rant." (As an aside, SFU should award me a PhD for all the Twitter ranting I’ve done…)

SFU’s Henderson said that the "Twitter rant" is a "unique or creative [assignment] in addition to standard assignments and tests." In the Fat Studies course, however, the entire grade was made up of two group projects, participation and attendance, and the "Twitter rant" or personal essay. Not an academic paper in sight. "Faculty members and instructors are empowered to design and structure their course[s]… in a way they feel is most beneficial in supporting positive learning outcomes," said Henderson.

The Fat Studies course syllabus reads: "Write a 900-1200 word 'first person' piece… or write 10x ~280 character 'tweets' about a course theme."

The course theme: "A locus of privilege, discrimination, subjectivity, and sociability, fat reveals intersections of gender, sex, sexuality, race, class, ability, place, and history. This course unpacks fatness, employing feminist and queer theories of embodiment, subjectivity, and social justice… Recognizing the topical and controversial nature of fatness as well as the role of GSWS in transforming students into critical advocates for social change, assignments encourage students to engage in public dialogues by considering feminist approaches to fat."

Not only is the blatant admission that the university is seeking to transform its students into activists an arrogant display of the institute’s abdication of its role—to educate—but what in the hell is a "feminist approach to fat?" Yes, I googled it and no, I still do not understand what a "feminist approach to fat" is. I stopped after reading about how "fat in contemporary culture becomes a kind of material immateriality, corporeality in suspension."

And then there is "porn studies," which does sound like it could belong in a women’s studies program—supposing there was an examination of trafficking and the victims of pornography, including its consumers. Alas, SFU’s course on pornography is instead about why porn causes "anxieties" or can "incite panic," as well as the "fantasies and desires of our culture," morality, and censorship. In other words, porn is good and prudes are bad.

I’ll take being a prude before being someone who tells young women that sex trafficking and filmed rape are empowering choices rather than despicable crimes. I also refuse to pretend that the world’s obesity epidemic is some kind of "material immateriality," rather than a serious public health crisis that disproportionately affects females. 

It’s unfortunate that women and feminists continue to fight for our basic rights in many areas (see: Iran) or to maintain hard-won rights (see: self-ID in Canada) while powerful institutions like SFU make a mockery of women’s studies, and by extension the legitimate issues facing women and girls globally. I know this to be true: I have been involved in the grassroots movement to retain women’s rights in Canada during the era of gender ideology for several years now. Countless times, I’ve seen men and (fewer) women dismiss any mention of women’s rights or feminism outright, because of the perception that talking about women’s rights places one squarely in the blue-hair commie camp found in academia. We don’t have legitimate concerns about women’s rights in Canada, they say, all we have are angry "feminazis" screaming about why no one is subscribing to their Only Fans!

I can’t blame naysayers for feeling exasperated. Instead, I blame the "folx" who are teaching Canada’s impressionable university students to spout nonsensical slogans about privilege and identity, typically with zero idea of what they are actually saying. I cannot be convinced that "unpacking fatness with queer and feminist theory" is a worthwhile academic endeavor, let alone one that isn’t purely based on hard-left ideology.

"We encourage students to embrace curiosity by engaging in diverse activities and dialogue that exposes them to varying points of view and perspectives," said SFU’s Henderson. I call nonsense. When every single staffer in your university program has their pronouns on display, you are not embracing diversity or varying perspectives—you are enforcing conformity to the Woke World Order. 

For the young women and men with genuine interest in women’s studies, I suggest staying far away from universities like SFU. Talk to your mother or grandmother instead. They almost certainly know better, and it’s unlikely that they will want to talk to you about fat porn or queer theory.