Postmodernism is an academic theory, originating in academia

The words of Catharine MacKinnon — “Postmodernism is an academic theory, originating in academia with an academic elite, not in the world of women and men, where feminist theory is rooted.” — strike with the force of distinction, drawing a sharp line between thought that floats in abstraction and thought that rises from lived struggle. In them she reveals a truth: postmodernism was born in ivory towers, nurtured by scholars who dissect language and symbols, while feminist theory was forged in the fires of real life — in kitchens, in workplaces, in courts, in the cries of women seeking justice.

At its heart, this saying reminds us that not all knowledge bears the same weight. Postmodernism questions meaning, deconstructs certainty, and delights in ambiguity, but feminism begins with the flesh and blood reality of oppression, exploitation, and survival. One hovers above, playing with ideas; the other roots itself in the ground, demanding change in the lives of women and men. MacKinnon insists that theories divorced from lived experience risk becoming ornaments of the mind, while theories born of struggle carry the power to transform society.

History itself testifies to this truth. The American suffragists did not wait for philosophers to deconstruct “truth” before demanding the vote; they marched, they bled, they starved in prison, so that justice might become real. The factory women of the early twentieth century who struck for fair wages and safe conditions did not have the luxury of academic theory — their feminist theory was born of fire, of the bodies of women lost in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, sacrificed to neglect. Their ideas grew not from academia, but from pain and from action.

MacKinnon’s words also carry a warning: that intellectual movements, however clever, may become detached from the struggles of the people. Postmodernism often asked, “What is truth?” while women asked, “Why do we not have safety, equality, or dignity?” To confuse the two is to forget that theory must serve life, not life serve theory. For while scholars debated the instability of language, women lived under laws that denied them voice, autonomy, and justice.

Let future generations remember: the most enduring ideas are those rooted in reality. Feminist theory, born from the cries of women denied freedom, carries a truth sharper than any abstraction. MacKinnon’s words remind us that thought without life is air, but thought grounded in the struggles of women and men is stone — heavy, immovable, a foundation upon which justice may be built.