For years women's activists have warned against using the phrase, "rule of thumb," because
of it's shameful origins in wife abuse.
Well here is the story according to the leading law school textbook on domestic violence law.
"The rule of thumb of English common law permitted a man to beat his wife with a rod or switch
as long as its circumference was no greater than the girth of the base of the man's right
thumb.
These laws established a tradition which was perpetuated in English Common Law and in most
of Europe."
Well the phrase did not originate in any law about wife abuse, nor has anyone been able
to locate any such law.
It is not largely regarded as a myth even by most feminist professors.
I mean, just Google the term rule of thumb, urban legend and start reading.
Anybody who takes the trouble to look at the Oxford English Dictionary would realize that
the phrase rule of thumb did not originate in wife abuse.
It seems to be that it came into use sometime in the 17th century.
According to one folklorist, the real explanation derives from wood workers who knew their trade
so well that they didn't have to use rulers.
Instead they could measure things, for example, by the length of their thumbs.
Even if the phrase rule of thumb is entirely innocent, what that law that a man can beat
his wife with a switch no thicker than his thumb?
Did such a law ever exist, and was it deeply embedded in English common law tradition and
American law?
The answer is no.
The myth about this phantom law has been around for a long time.
There was the occasional 19th century British or American jurists who mention the phantom
law --but it has never been found.
And believe me, people have tried.
What they came up with was an 18th Century judge named Francis Buller and allegedly he
deployed some version of this husband and stick law in his courtroom.
Well he never did refer to the law in any official ruling, he mentioned it in an off-the-record
remark.
He was then mercilessly pilloried in the London press and caricatured in cartoons as "Judge
Thumb."
The legal legend was born.
And in the hands of contemporary feminist researchers --a possible, but never proved,
off-hand remark by an 18th century judge --becomes a foundational principle in the study of law.
Reality check: the so-called rule of thumb does not occur anywhere in English common
law.
Yet the myth of the "rule of thumb" lives on.
It has been repeated by journalists, scholars and even politicians.
In 2012, the State Department warned against the rule because he said the phrase "rule
of thumb" has "historical context" could make it "offensive" to some people.
Some might think that the mistake over the "rule of thumb" in feminist textbooks is an
isolated mistake.
It's not.
The problem with a lot of research on women is not so much that the authors make mistakes;
we all make mistakes.
The problem is that the mistakes are impervious to criticism.
I had an exchange with the author of Domestic Violence Law, Nancy Lemon at Berkeley, I wrote
to her before the third edition went into print.
I pointed out several errors, including the "rule of thumb" myth.
She was not pleased with my note, she dismissed my corrections, and the book went into its
third printing with all the mistakes still there.
Too many women's studies researchers are passionately committed to the view that American women
are oppressed and under siege.
At the same time, any critic who attempts to correct the false assumptions is dismissed
as an anti-feminist crank.
As a philosophy professor of 20 years, and as someone who respects truth and reason,
the factual feminist finds it altogether unacceptable for students to be using textbooks with myths
posing as scholarship.
So I'm going to continue to follow the work of academic feminists-- to criticize it when
it is wrong, to learn from it when it is right.
If you're learned anything from this video, please like it.
And if you've heard any other feminist myths that has given you pause, let me know, let
me know in the comments section and I will investigate.
Then please subscribe to the series and follow me on twitter.
Thank you for watching the Factual Feminist.