In my english 354 class we're discussing the problems about talking and discussing race and gender in the classroom. It was quite an interesting discussion, because we found out after a week of discussing problems with learning and talking about different races, we hadn't spent any time on problems with gender within our society.
My teacher looked around and asked why it was so hard to come up with anything to talk about, or make any safe arguments with one another. My teacher also noticed that once we got the gender discussion going, not one male in the class said anything, he joked that if there was any time in which the females would stop talking if the men would say anything regardless, and there was silence.
Why is gender so hard to discuss in class, and not the safe women like to shop, and men like football comments, but why is it so hard to truly discuss what makes us different? Is it that we don't want to step on eachother's toes and hurt any feelings? I ask myself that question, so why are we so worried to have healthy discussion and confrontations about problems dealing with gender? Race, suprisingly is a little easier to discuss, why, I feel like race is easier to discuss because people know their boundaries when talkign about race in the classroom because we've been taught our discussion boundaries in which not to cross, and everyone usually knows what they are. Is gender different to discuss because growing up in the classrooms we've never been confronted with the problem of gender and not know how to talk about it? From a male point of view, I was brought up not to complain about anything unless it hindered my direct safety, so I really just choose not to discuss when it comes to male gendered probelms in our classroom, why? I think its because I honestly don't think it affects me personally on a high enough level to bother me. So I guess after this long winded explanation, my question for discussion is, Why is the topic of gender so often a females topic to discuss, and why don't males get more involved? Is it because men genuinely don't care? Is it because females feel there are the only ones experiencing hardships? You tell me....
4 comments:
I think it is difficult to discuss gender in class because it is such an ambiguous topic. There are so many cliche comments that are involved with the concept of gender. Even in our class I have noticed that many of the "gender differences" that the class brings up do not relate to everyone. For example you spoke about women loving to shop and men liking football. My boyfriend loves to shop and even likes to help me pick out outfits. He is into fashion and completely straight. On the other hand I know many girls that love watching football. In fact i am looked down upon if I don't want to participate in girl's Monday night football...I think this all goes back to a word I said in the last sentence, "Straight". There are so many gender stigmas that people are afraid to violate them. Somewhere along the line someone in history has made a list of what is considered feminine and what is considered to be masculine. If these actions are violated then they are violating norms. I think the reason why we have difficulty talking about such issues in class are because we are afraid to say something that violates the norm. For example I might be afraid to raise my hand and talk about football because people might think that I am not feminine. This list of masculine and feminine items is never ending and seems as though it is almost irrelevant in our society....yet we still follow it...
Perhaps it is due in part to the imbalance of men in the classroom compared to women. Or quite possibly some of us have very strong thoughts or beliefs associated with gender, but because we know these beliefs are not "the norm" we are hesitant to share our thoughts out of fear of offending or coming across as intolerant or close minded. Just some possibilities.... what do others think?
I took this class as well. At least I took English 354 and it was called the writing of literacy so I’m not quite sure if we are talking about the same class. Anyways, from what I remember we got into a huge discussion about our school system and how we learn to read and write. One article in particular discussed some of the topics we talked about in this class. The article’s thesis was basically showing how both boys and girls are disadvantaged in the public school systems. It focused mostly on how boys cognitively develop later than girls and that boys are more apt to be born with learning disabilities or are geniuses. For instance, when boys are IQ tested there is such a huge variance between those at the top, meaning genius, and those at the bottom, meaning mentally disabled. On the flip side, girls tend to all test somewhere in the middle. It’s interesting to consider that these disadvantages for boys are not gendered, but rather biological meaning it’s a deficiency in their sex rather than gender. But when I started to really think about it I realized that boys are disadvantaged due to biological reasons, but girls are disadvantaged due to lack of support from teachers, parents, and coaches. It’s interesting because while sex makes a difference for boys, gender makes the difference for girls. We have all read the research that says school teachers are more likely to call on boys rather than girls because they need to be kept on track than girls. And this is for good reason, biologically speaking boys do have problems focusing and developing those skills at that age. But why are girls being pushed to the side? Obviously this is where the argument for single sex classrooms should come in. Is it more important that girls and boys are separated so they are able to develop cognitively rather than socially? If boys are girls were required to be separated would these gendered stereotypes still be around? Or would they disintegrate? It’s an interesting concept.
I think gender can be difficult to discuss because men usually are out-numbered. I also think both men and women are fairly aware of how society expects them to act. It is a bit unnerving to speak up about gender roles if you do not hold the same beliefs. Imagine if a man said that he enjoyed shopping or knitting. He would not be accepted by his peers. I think men don’t want to discuss gendered-problems because most media sources tell men not to talk about their feelings. “Only women talk about their feelings”. Men don’t talk about pain or concerns… they’re just supposed to inflict it.
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