There's no Feminism SE, and Philosophy seems to be the closest Wissenschaft to the topic. But I've refrained from asking questions about feminism since it seemed like they would get flagged as off topic.

So I'll ask straight up: Can we post questions related to feminism?

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    I think a tricky thing with feminism is that it is a very broad movement right now. There are those which have strong philosophical roots, and there are those that... don't. It may be helpful to spend extra effort on the question to help lead the answeres towards the philosophical side. I think this would be less of an issue for historical feminism questions (20th century), but modern questions could turn into political questions faster than we'd like. – Cort Ammon Jul 30 '16 at 15:54
  • General questions could be problematic, but a very narrowly defined question, I don't see how it could be a problem. So do you mean a philosophical question about a specific feminist proposition? – Dave Aug 20 '16 at 21:20

Feminism had quite an impact in philosophy as I take it, especially in ethics.

There are entries on SEP and Wikipedia that deal specifically with touching points/topics between philosophy and feminism.

The point to be held in mind would nevertheless be that the questions should be on and answerable in the boundaries of philosophy. It is quite possible that some questions have not been dealt with yet by philosophy or the corresponding texts are not known to people contributing. But I think a broader scope would improve the accessability of this site.

I, personally, would encourage to ask questions on that topic and will work against people wanting to close them as off-topic because I am sure most of them are answerable quite well, enough knowledge of the texts presupposed.

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I don't see why not. Its a particular strand in modern philosophy. I don't think they would be flagged off-topic, its simply that very few people in the community have expressed any interest - which might be to due to the heavy slanting towards men.

Its one reason why I sometimes mention philosophers such as Hannah Arendt or Martha Nussbaum - though they aren't feminist philosophers per se; but philosophers who happen to be women. I think they can offer a refreshingly different orientation, for example Arendt on the role of natality in action, and Nussbaum on the role of emotions.

Judith Butler, of course specifically looks at gender and its possible fluidities.

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Sure, people do. There is a tag for feminism, and there are deep philosophical roots in many trends of feminism.

I have given answers to several questions on feminism here, and have occasionally responded to contemporary ethics questions from the point of view of cultural feminists, radical pacifist feminists or Marxist-feminists because as inheritors of a specific analytic perspective, they sometimes provide an exceptionally clear framing of social issues, especially about work, obligations or identity.

The problem, that gets many related questions closed, as the comment indicates, is that feminists often speak about deeply emotional issues, and that there is a strange prohibition on respectfully criticising feminists in public even from other feminist positions. Non-feminists would rather have you trash the lot of them, and many feminist supporters will accept no nuanced or partial agreement. So a question that leaves even the slightest leeway for interpretation on both sides is perceived as a threat to women.

(I also insist on responding to questions on men's issues which all get immediately closed, even when they are basically feminist.)

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Sure. And why not go to Area 51 and start a new site. There's none for Feminism or Women's Issues.

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    Because it's perfectly on topic here. – user2953 Jul 31 '16 at 13:42
  • Why the markdown?? We're in agreement and I furthermore suggest that the subject matter could even deserve its own site... – tale852150 Jul 31 '16 at 15:05
  • There would not be enough people interested in a site only about feminism. There are also no sites only about programming language X, because StackOverflow is there - even though there would be enough interest, there is just no reason to split things up. Also, note that votes on meta work differently than votes on the main sites: they express only (dis)agreement. – user2953 Jul 31 '16 at 17:09
  • I understand your position and accept the possibility of there being a lack of interest. But it was just a suggestion, opening a Area 51 site on Women's Issue may draw more interest and, as pointed out, I agreed that Feminism questions can be addressed on this philosophy site. So I don't agree with the down vote. To disagree in the comments about my suggestion - that's understandable - to down vote it when it agrees with other answers but makes a suggestion - not understandable. With kind regards, thank you for your input. – tale852150 Jul 31 '16 at 17:19
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    I'm not convinced that feminism is "perfectly on topic here". We have feminist philosophy, which is completely on topic, but feminism (and, more broadly, gender studies) extends well beyond philosophy (consider the experimental and sociological branches of the field). There's a reason many universities house the two under separate departments - not because of some fundamental disagreement, but simply because they're different things. Feminism is more than welcome here, but I think it also merits a place of its own. – commando Jul 31 '16 at 19:04
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    Yeah, for some feminism questions perhaps Sociology is an interesting proposal as well. – user2953 Jul 31 '16 at 22:37
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    @commando. I would suggest that is not an argument. The reasons Universities have departments like Gay Studies or Women's Studies or Black History and Culture has nothing to do with a difference in content and everything to do with the vagaries of history and systematic disenfranchisement. – user9166 Aug 5 '16 at 21:38

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