‘Grievance Studies affair’ hoaxer Helen Pluckrose to deliver the fourth Ramsay Lecture for 2019

Sydney, Tuesday 18 June: To test their theory that some fields in the humanities have become over-run by a ‘victim mentality’ that overrides genuine scholarship, a UK-based magazine editor and two US academics submitted 20 deliberately absurd, unevidenced papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Seven papers were accepted and seven more were “actively considered” for publication before their ruse ended late last year, following suspicion from the Wall Street Journal. The trio gained international notoriety. Their hoax became known as the ‘Grievance Studies affair.’

Tonight, one of the ‘hoaxers’ and editor of Areo magazine Helen Pluckrose will deliver the fourth Ramsay Lecture for 2019, outlining the threat she believes ‘grievance studies’ pose to real academic progress in fields that should continue the work of the US civil rights movement.

“Studying social justice issues around race, gender and sexuality is important but this cannot be achieved by shoddy scholarship and inconsistent ethics and that is what we are seeing in these fields right now,” Ms. Pluckrose says.

“Scholarship based less upon finding truth and more upon attending to social grievances has become firmly established, if not fully dominant. Increasingly we are shifting away from a society where everyone is free to argue anything, so long as they use evidence and reason, to one where identity and experience determines who speaks. This has major ramifications for scholarship and activism which will help inform the next generation.”

The most famous of the Grievance Studies affair hoax papers was the fake ‘dog park study’ which suggested that dog parks are petri dishes for canine rape culture after examining ‘dog humping’ in hundreds of dog parks. The study was titled “Human reactions to rape culture and queer performativity at urban dog parks in Portland, Oregon,” and received praise as having the potential to make “…an important contribution to feminist animal geography”.

Another hoax paper suggested white and male university students should sit on the floor in chains, as a form of “experiential reparation”, and listen and learn in silence. The paper was rejected but the author was encouraged to resubmit and received applause for identifying ‘specific approaches’ to redress epistemic injustice in the classroom.

Helen Pluckrose is the editor-in-chief of Areo, a digital magazine focusing on humanism, reason, science, culture and art. She has research interests in late medieval and early modern women’s religious writing, receiving her bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of East London and her Master’s in Early Modern Studies 1300-1700 from Queen Mary University London. Last month she was announced as a finalist for the UK Contrarian Prize, along with UK Prime Minister Theresa May, to be presented by broadcaster Jeremy Paxman on June 25.

The Ramsay Lecture series hosts speakers from all walks of life who have important and interesting perspectives relating to the world and our western heritage. Printed versions of the lectures and video recordings are available on our website: www.ramsaycentre.org

Media contact: Sarah Switzer 0407 816 098