The F-Word

No, not that F-word, the other one- FEMINISM. I wasn't sure how to tie all of this together- but here are some random things I have been thinking about lately, the common thread is feminism.

My nieces got a Wii for Christmas, so I've spent the last couple days playing Wii Sports (I am especially good at Wake-boarding, sadly I do not think this skill will translate to real life. On the other hand, I am a horrible Wii golfer- which would likely translate to real life). I also have been spending a lot of time reading stuff for the Women's Studies class I will be teaching next semester. So between playing the Wii and reading feminist theory I have had some odd dreams including one where the Wii games were rigged so that female characters (I believe they are called female mii's) could not preform to the same level as the male mii's. I was incredibly mad in my dream but woke up before I did anything about it- perhaps my mii character could have staged a sit-in on the virtual table tennis court.

I have been irritated with commercials for a long time over the way they portray women as the only people capable of using cleaning products. Like those horrible paper towel commercials where a man and his son debate the number of paper towels it will take to clean up a spill and a woman steps in and uses one paper towel to clean up the mess. I'd like to think this commercial would annoy me as much if I were a man (though it's doubtful) because the commercial is basically calling men stupid (seriously- who gives that much thought to the number of paper towels one might need for a given spill? Is it that hard to simply clean it up? Are men really so dense that they have to debate such a mundane issue?).

But my annoyance at the paper towel commercials are nothing compared to my annoyance over the new Swiffer commercials. I think I am going to have to stop using their products. Who thought it was a good idea to show women (itty-bitty women) lying on the floor dreaming of the day when a worthy mop will come by and pick them up? Seriously Swiffer- it was bad enough that only women clean floors or dust in your world but this is a new low. Am I the only one who finds this type of commercial offensive? Am I being overly sensitive? It may seem like a little thing but it adds to the over-whemling message our media is sending to us about how the only things women think about are finding good cleaning products (so we can all be perfect wives and mothers- the only real roles for women) and how much we hope and dream of finding the right man (again so we can become perfect wives and mothers).

While it clearly doesn't take much to get my ire up it does sometimes sadden me that I can't turn off my feminist filter. I recently saw Tangled with my sister and nieces and found it rather difficult to simply enjoy the movie (though I have to admit I did like it). I found the message the movie sent about older women to be very off-putting. It demonstrates how our popular culture is constantly trying to pit older women and younger women against each other and shows how much we value youth (especially in females) in our society. While Disney's images of women (girls really) has certainly improved over the years- they now have several movies where the mothers of our heroine live past the first 5 minutes; feature women, such as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, who are intellectual; where women can defend themselves- like Mulan, and like Rapunzel in Tangled who welds a frying pan; where female's have dreams beyond getting married- as in the Princess and the Frog, where the heroine aspires to be a restauranteur, but at the end of the day the Disney heroines are all young, are all beautiful (even Belle our 'smart' heroine has to also be the most beautiful girl in the village), are all ridiculously (impossibly) thin, and only find 'true happiness' after they meet the right man. What message does this send to girls and boys who grow up watching these movies?

So, what do you think?

Teaching online vs teaching in person

I am in the middle of teaching my second online course. I am teaching the same class again, which is nice because I can start to think about what works and what doesn't and tweak things. I am also working on some syllabi for classes I will be teaching at WIlliam & Mary. So I have been thinking a lot about teaching and the differences between online classes and the more traditional classroom setting.

I am really grateful to have the online teaching experience- for better or worse it is going to play a part in the future of teaching in universities as more and more schools offer online classes. Frankly, I have mixed feelings about this. I have very little control over the assignments and readings for the online classes I am teaching- so I feel more like a facilitator than a teacher. I've felt a little more confident the second time around, so I'm sharing more of my knowledge of history instead of just sticking to the textbook. But sometimes I still feel like a glorified grader and I don't think I can have the same kind of impact on my students. When I think about the kind of professor I'd like to become, I think about teachers and professors who've had an impact on me- and I'm really not sure an online instructor can reach students in the same way. But I'm trying to anyway.

Unlike my classes at William & Mary, the majority of my online students are older than me- many of them have children older than me. And many of them are women. I've had a couple (female) students who have told me they had doubts about their ability to succeed in college and who have been told that they would fail by family and friends. This saddens me more than I can say. And I am incredibly impressed with their determination to try even though they lack a lot of confidence and support. This also makes me want to be a better teacher- to not only facilitate but to actually have an impact on my students' lives. To not only teach them history, but also to help them become better writers and to hopefully make them feel more confident about their abilities. So, in this way I am glad that online courses are available to students who would otherwise not be able to attend college or who might be more intimidated by the typical college classroom.

At the same time I worry about the impersonality of the online classroom. I have had several students plagiarize- to varying degrees (and have taken responsibility for their actions to varying degrees). I think this has something to do with the availability of information (or a multitude of places to plagiarize from) on the internet. However, I wonder if it is easier for students to break the rules when they don't ever have to see the instructor. But maybe I am just being naive- maybe someone who intentionally and repeatedly plagiarizes would have no problem looking their instructor in the eye after being called out for it. Fortunately these students seem to be in the minority.

At the end of the day, I'm just grateful to have the opportunity to work with students- whether it be online or in person.