The Feminist Ethnographer’s Dilemma: Reconciling Progressive Research Agendas with Fieldwork Realities

In this article, we use three case studies of conservative field sites to consider the dilemma faced when feminist analytic perspectives clash with observations. We note that feminism can operate as a blinder, limiting our ability to see and interpret empirical realities that do not conform with feminist expectations. Using our research on orthodox Jewish women’s practices of menstrual purity, evangelical ex-gay ministries, and state-sponsored marriage promotion programs as examples, we discuss our shared experience that unreflexive feminist critiques of seemingly antifeminist social practices, groups, and policies can impede our ability to understand how feminism has influenced nonfeminist spaces. We use our cases to reflect upon a tension that informs all progressive social change research: the tension between our political sensibilities and goals and our intellectual mission to produce reliable knowledge. In responding to that tension, we argue that feminist researchers should incorporate institutional reflexivity on feminism itself as part of their ethnographic practice.