Near the end of the class today, a discussion arose out of Laurie's A for authority in her four points of feminism in academia. I was very intrigued by the assumption that I initially agreed with that male teacher= stern and female= gentle. Where do these sexist stereotypes come from?
Perhaps they might be connected to another point we made in discussion the role of violence in gender roles. If males are more likely to express violence overtly in a physical sense, while females would express violence covertly in an emotional sense, does that differentiate between how different sexes control (something I'm beginning to see is closely related to violence) a classroom? And if the different sexes are wired to express control in different ways, is it even possible to expect the gentle female to be effective teaching a class in a stern manner and vice versa?
Please tell me if this makes any sense at all...I'm trying to formulate some thoughts for that paper looming ahead next week...
2 comments:
Your post made me think of the difference between how my parents used to show anger. My mom would give the silent treatment or retreat to her room; while my dad would yell and stomp around. Believe or not, I preferred the tantrum by far. Why? Because my dad yelled what the problem was, I reacted, and then things were resolved. It was much harder to have arguments with passive-aggressive mother. From this, I conclude that I wasn't so much grateful for my father's violent temper as I was for the frankness it produced. He explicitly, abeit loudly, articulated why we were fighting, so it was much easier to get to the heart of the problem and move on. I think there lies the answer: women can be direct, explicit, and clear without having to worry about adopting male affect and personality. Delpit reminds us how much more students respect the clear instruction giver compared to the "pal" teacher who downplays his or her power. We can have power without needing "male" power. haha..."girl power!" Remember the Spice Girls? Anyone? Yikes.
I dont think it is this simple. In my family almost all the women are volatile: yelling, stomping etc. The men however are all quiet and calm. But now that we are discussing power relationships, I do feel that my father has the power in the family because of his calm persona. He almost seems powerful because he doesn't have to make a lot of noise to show he is in control. Maybe the women in my family feel a power inequity and so they try to revolt against it through tantrums? I dont know. Does some of this relate to cultural identity?
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