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Dammit Jim, She's a Doctor

Updated: Feb 20, 2022


I am a bit late to the game, but dammit I am still annoyed and this website is only a few hours old. The newly inaugurated? initiated? appointed? (I don't know what the verb is for the when the First Lady becomes the Frist Lady) First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS to those of us who are her friend or are currently craving flautas) is a doctor.


I wouldn't think writing that the Ph.D. having First Lady Dr. Jill Biden is in fact a doctor would be controversial, but apparently to Honorary Doctor Joseph Epstein, a reminder was required.


For those of you who might still be unaware of the "controversy" (its more like an older white guy throwing a tantrum in the Wall Street Journal). Joseph Epstein wrote an op-ed the Wall Street Journal where he chastised the First Lady for using her honorific "Dr.". He said that since she was not a medical doctor, usage of the "Dr." was ingenuous and "a touch comic". He compounded the insult by opening his opinion piece with the line,


"Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden—Jill—kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the “Dr.” before your name?"


The article maintained that patronizing tone throughout and seems more than once to create a false equivalency between Dr. Biden's earned doctorate with the author's honorary doctorate (a recognition often received in honor of one's contribution to a field or institution but not a degree earned via tedious study, attendance, and research). He also made sure to take time to minimize Dr. Biden's dissertation, Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students' Needs, suggesting it was both "unpromising" and poor scholarship. Because accessible education and student-centered education shouldn't be a priority for academics of... education? Right?


So who is Joseph Epstein? He is an American writer. He edited The American Scholar in the previous century. During his tenure as editor he received criticism for anti-lesbian and anti-feminist comments he made. He was also regularly accused of creating a one-sided culture that provided platforms to conservatives like Dinesh D'Souza while offering little to no alternative or counter argument. Eventually he was fired from his position as editor by the Phi Beta Kappa senate, which cited his problematic comments, the magazine's one-sidedness, and wanting to increase interest from a younger audience as their reasonings for termination.


Notably in 1970, Mr. Epstein (I say Mr. because his Honorary Doctorate is not denoted with the "Dr." honorific) also wrote another article that was stirred up controversy. Titled "Homo/Hetero: The struggle for sexual identity", Mr. Epstein blatantly uses the n-word when describing homosexuality, called homosexuality a "curse, in a literal sense", said he "would wish homosexuality off the face of the earth", and portrayed gay men as sex-obsessed and dangerous.


In the interest of creating a fair sided discussion, Mr. Epstein did years later repent and said he celebrated the fact the world was growing more accepting of homosexuality. In fact he found he preferred gay art and hoped he wouldn't be remembered as an avowed homophobe (so make sure y'all forget that, ok?).


So did this post just kinda turn into a decently well-researched roast of Joseph Epstein and less of a defense of Dr. Jill Biden? Yes. But that is because Dr. Biden shouldn't need a defense. As a college student I can say anecdotally the most brilliant, formative, and capable professors I had the honor to learn from were women who overcame so much to earn their Ph.D.s


To disrespect the extra academic effort, emotional literacy, and dedication required of women to earn such degrees and respect in their fields is both insulting and a signal that there is still so much work left to do.


I, for one, am so glad a doctorate is in the White House. After years of vilifying academia and sowing doubt in facts, scholarship, and research, it is both practically and symbolically important to have a teacher and an educated woman within those hallowed halls.

Tonight's selection pairs well with a dry and citrus-y Chardonnay



 
 
 

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