October 28, 2008
When Class Discussion Goes Sexist
So in class today, we were talking about the end of Twelfth Night. It’s kind of a bad play. It has so much potential in looking into gender relations and it squanders all of it with stupidity and a much-too-quick ending.
But anyway, we were talking about why Sebastian goes along with Olivia, who is spouting crazy talk about how she knows him, and marries her. And I’m just like “Come on, hot girl with lots of money falls into your lap, why wouldn’t you go along with it?” Because that really seems like Sebastian’s motivation, combined with a little naivety of youth. Then, someone in the class, pointed out that that was a very “male” point of view, and that she doesn’t think that’s the right reaction at all, because she’s a woman.
Ugh.
And then, immediately following the bad taste that left in my mouth was a discussion about how everyone in the class “can so clearly tell if someone is a Tranny.”
Ugh.
I mean, I had a lot of problems with some of the discussion in class anyway, since it seemed to me that a lot of the interesting things going on in the play were based more about power relationships than gender relationships (of course I admit that those things were very much tied into gender back when the play was written and that it is still the case to some extent today) and so there was a lot of throwing about of characters not being feminine and whatnot just for showing some initiative. But man, that kind of stuff just made me want to drag the class to a halt and throw a little fit. I didn’t, of course. I’m not an ass or anything. I just seethed for awhile and eventually got over myself. But just… dammit. So much of this shit is just a cultural illusion and meaningless. It’s fine that you disagree with me and think that’s because of how you were raised as a woman. It’s even fine if you think I think a certain way because I was raised as a guy. But dammit, I don’t have a “typical male response” to anything. I’m me. It’s my response. It’s the same reason why I dread being in lit classes where most of the class is female, because at some point during the semester I will get turned to for a “male” perspective and will have to shrug that off to my satisfaction and the awkwardness of the class.
Anyway, I guess that’s about the only interesting thing that happened today. Well, thus far. The day is still young and whatnot.
I’ve found that when people call any response typical (typical male, typical conservative, typical martian, etc.) it’s just a way of saying they don’t like your opinion, but don’t have anything concrete or useful to say, or a way to actually rebut.
So much for the enlightened ivory towers of academia, eh? Besides, your response wasn’t “typically male”. It was calculated and logical. And when you consider the time period of the piece, where arranged marriages for material gain were common, it’s a view point that fits very well with the work.
Then again, I hate it when people try to force a work to be viewed through current mores and judge it on how well it lines up with modern sensibilities.
Comment by Cris — October 31, 2008 @ 9:42 pm