hmm, there's another thread on this somewhere...
In any case, maybe it's my liberal arts education, but I find that professors are generally a bit keener than this.
As far as "the larger academic world"... Yes, there are some complainers, but women's/gender/sexuality/queer theory, methodology, and studies have been established as real disciplines and also as important areas of studies within many other disciplines (eg, geography, where I'm at). Certainly much work remains to be done...