We are told that Critical Race Theory has deep and respected intellectual underpinnings and, like all science, commands your respect and indeed obedience to its political implications. But wait, what if the science behind the various grievance studies — “race studies,” “feminist studies,” “queer studies,” “fat studies,” etc. — isn’t science at all but actually a sort of quasi religious politics?
In 2018, three academics decided to put that theory to the test by submitting twenty fake articles — outrageous articles with patently silly claims, but in the lingo of these professions and with conclusions pleasing to the professional journals covering these subjects — to see if the articles would get accepted and published. This wasn’t just a hoax but an actual scientific test of the “science” of these studies. These three academics agreed in advance to publish the results whatever the outcome. If their articles were accepted into these highly regarded peer-reviewed journals, it meant that grievance studies are deeply flawed and not really science at all; if their articles were rejected, it meant that such studies passed the test of legitimacy.
How outrageous were these articles? One article claimed that ordinary dog humping is actually rape culture; another argued that men could reduce their transphobia by regularly engaging in anal stimulation with sex toys; and yet another of these articles was simply Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf rewritten in feminist language. Per The Atlantic, “by the time they took their experiment public, seven of their articles had been accepted for publication by ostensibly serious peer-reviewed journals. Seven more were still going through various stages of the review process. Only six had been rejected.”
The video below highlights some of their moments of triumph.