teaching feminism

Music: Nine Horses: Snow Borne Sorrow (2005)

This week in my Introduction to Rhetorical Theory class I am teaching "feminism." On Tuesday my lecture was on the history of misogyny in Western culture, and today I'm lecturing on Sarah and Angelina Grimké. For Tuesday's lecture I detailed the sexism of the ancient Greeks, a few medieval theologians, and then a number of contemporary folks. After this "history," I think usually field the class for "popular" understandings of feminism. Usually one gets the "feminazi" and "butch lesbian" definitions, as well as few definitions that involve man-hating. Once these things are voiced, usually I set about to describe "feminisms" and give a short history of feminism as a social movement and as a counter-ideology (e.g., as a form of hegemonic politics).

When I got to the part when I field these stereotypical definitions from students, there was silence. So I got to saying them aloud myself. In retrospect (and with most excellent feedback from my TAs) this was a bad idea--it's better to have the students articulate the stereotypes because coming out of my mouth they could be read as an "endorsement." I regret that happened to some folks on Tuesday, so today I'm going to be careful to underscore I am against the stereotypes of feminism! A lecture on unstable irony is coming too.

In any event, when teaching classes about feminism and race, I have still have that deep-seated discomfort that comes with being a white male. I know the white male apologia is sooooo overdone, but still, I get the "I am the material source of bad things" feeling when I teach these classes. Taking "systemicity" seriously means I should embrace this affect as a guide, I think. It's hard to admit to oneself that he participates in the very misogyny he decries; such is the price of believing in the unconscious.