I have a professor with a clear agenda. What should I do?

[blackbird]

I have a female professor with a clear feminist/man hating agenda. The semester is ending, and I can't believe I've lasted in the class this long.

The class is Anthropology. But the way she teaches it, you would think the class was called "Women's Studies." I've got to do something about it. I'm just not quite sure what to do yet.

To cover herself, the work she assigns is related to anthropology, but it's all about the struggle of women! It's not right, and it is terribly biased.

To sum, the class had to watch two documentaries. Both documentaries were about women. We also watched a movie. The three main characters in the movie were women, and the movie was based on a true story. We also had to read two books, both written by women, which were both about the struggle of women.


How can I stop this injustice from continuing to happen? I'm only one of a few guys in this class, so I think I'm one of the only ones who notices...

Injustice??? You can't be serious with this hyperbole.

You hated a class. I'd hardly categorize that as an injustice.

Do you have examples of her "man-hating" other than the reading list? Because that's some weak evidence to a serious accusation.

One more question: is the study of women - one half of the world's human population - not relevant to Anthropology (a/k/a the study of human beings)?

[screwedupmaniac]

You should give her an accurate rating on www.ratemyprofessor.com so that other students who are considering her class can at least have the potential chance of avoiding the misery you have encountered this semester.

Other than that, there's not much you can do about it...unfortunately. 

[screwedupmaniac]

I have a female professor with a clear feminist/man hating agenda. The semester is ending, and I can't believe I've lasted in the class this long.

The class is Anthropology. But the way she teaches it, you would think the class was called "Women's Studies." I've got to do something about it. I'm just not quite sure what to do yet.

To cover herself, the work she assigns is related to anthropology, but it's all about the struggle of women! It's not right, and it is terribly biased.

To sum, the class had to watch two documentaries. Both documentaries were about women. We also watched a movie. The three main characters in the movie were women, and the movie was based on a true story. We also had to read two books, both written by women, which were both about the struggle of women.


How can I stop this injustice from continuing to happen? I'm only one of a few guys in this class, so I think I'm one of the only ones who notices...

Injustice??? You can't be serious with this hyperbole.

You hated a class. I'd hardly categorize that as an injustice.

Do you have examples of her "man-hating" other than the reading list? Because that's some weak evidence to a serious accusation.

One more question: is the study of women - one half of the world's human population - not relevant to Anthropology (a/k/a the study of human beings)?

It's relevant, but it certainly puts a damper on the material being learned if it isn't balanced out by also learning about the other 50% of the population.

[barefacedmonk]

It seems this lady goes out of her way to find "interesting" stories and triumphs about women. That's what I have a problem with.

What is wrong with that? She talks about the achievements of women...how is that wrong? Unless she is making up stories or wants you believe that Wonder Woman is real, I don't see any problem with that.

[Kwhit10]

Whatever you do don't do anything until your grade is finalized.  There should be an anonymous evaluation you can fill out, but most of the time the only one who sees those is the professor herself so that may not help either.

Although I'm glad I was in a field where most of what is being looked for is a finite answer and not subjective.

[JohnBagleyValueMeal]

Um, setting aside the question of whether being a feminist is some horrible thing:

Every professor, every professional, every person in the world has their own "agenda," politics, or whatever. Scientists too. Usually you don't notice it unless its considerably different than your own. But that's not unfair or unjust...it's actually exactly what education is good for.

So what should you do? How about trying to learn something? Or not, whatever, it's your money. I've learned plenty from people with very different values than my own. It won't kill you to try. And honestly, if the worst thing that happens to you is that you get a bad grade, your life is probably pretty good.

[Neurotic Guy]

Human history has traditionally been written from man's perspective.  In fact, American history has typically been written from the white man's perpetive.  It's possible that she's trying to balance that out -- and perhaps going too far in trying to 'enlighten' her students.   Start by presuming positive intent, rather than man-hating or woman-glorifying or a malicious agenda, and it may change what you think of her and allow you to address her with rational commentary rather than emotion. 

She may have a lot to offer in providing a different perspective -- and expanding your learning should be the bottom line.  On the other hand, she may be providing inaccurate information based on a biased agenda.  But, before jumping to that conclusion, consider that she may be poviding a world view from woman's perpective much as generations of male professors and authors have provided students with a world view from only man's perpective.

[nickagneta]

Not sure why such a class wouldn't be interesting. An anthropology class geared towards the study of women, or in other words, half the population on the planet would seem, to me to be a prerequisite for every male college student in America.

My opinion is if the professor wasn't negligent in teaching you something, if she came to class, gave lectures, assigned homework, graded fairly and presented definitive subject matter within the parameters of the course description, she hasn't done anything wrong. On the contrary, I might deduce that the problem lies with you and your attitudes towards women. Anthropology is not the study of men, it is the study of human beings, of which women make up half.

I would suggest what others have. give the professor what she wants and keep your mouth shut or suffer the consequences, at least until you have received your grade.

I might also suggest some self reflection to try to understand why the subject matter bothers you so much. As Shakespeare once wrote, sometimes "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within our stars but within ourselves".

[JT11]

It seems this lady goes out of her way to find "interesting" stories and triumphs about women. That's what I have a problem with.

What is wrong with that? She talks about the achievements of women...how is that wrong? Unless she is making up stories or wants you believe that Wonder Woman is real, I don't see any problem with that.

I don't think it's that she talks about the achievements of women ... I think it's that she only talks about the achievements of women, thereby restricting the material the OP is learning in the class.

[Fan from VT]

It seems this lady goes out of her way to find "interesting" stories and triumphs about women. That's what I have a problem with.

What is wrong with that? She talks about the achievements of women...how is that wrong? Unless she is making up stories or wants you believe that Wonder Woman is real, I don't see any problem with that.

I don't think it's that she talks about the achievements of women ... I think it's that she only talks about the achievements of women, thereby restricting the material the OP is learning in the class.

Thus, it may be a good class in which to step back and think about what it was like for women to study objective classic "history" for the last...2000 years. Frustrating, i'm sure. Think more "meta..." as in Can you see value in what you are learning? Why does it seem like a class that focuses mostly on women requires a professor "digging" or "going out of her way?" Because I can guarantee you that an anthropology/history course that features mostly men would not require extensive digging for information, which may be a key to gaining something from this class.

[BballTim]

I have a female professor with a clear feminist/man hating agenda. The semester is ending, and I can't believe I've lasted in the class this long.

The class is Anthropology. But the way she teaches it, you would think the class was called "Women's Studies." I've got to do something about it. I'm just not quite sure what to do yet.

To cover herself, the work she assigns is related to anthropology, but it's all about the struggle of women! It's not right, and it is terribly biased.

To sum, the class had to watch two documentaries. Both documentaries were about women. We also watched a movie. The three main characters in the movie were women, and the movie was based on a true story. We also had to read two books, both written by women, which were both about the struggle of women.


How can I stop this injustice from continuing to happen? I'm only one of a few guys in this class, so I think I'm one of the only ones who notices...

  Obviously an aside, but if the class is populated almost entirely with women then there's a chance that much of the class knew what was going to occur in the class while you didn't. I'd look into where they got their info so this kind of thing doesn't happen to you again.

  As for your current situation, when you say you want to stop the injustice from continuing, I'd ask, continuing for whom? Future students, or are you worried about your grade/treatment?

[KungPoweChicken]

Not sure why such a class wouldn't be interesting. An anthropology class geared towards the study of women, or in other words, half the population on the planet would seem, to me to be a prerequisite for every male college student in America.

My opinion is if the professor wasn't negligent in teaching you something, if she came to class, gave lectures, assigned homework, graded fairly and presented definitive subject matter within the parameters of the course description, she hasn't done anything wrong. On the contrary, I might deduce that the problem lies with you and your attitudes towards women. Anthropology is not the study of men, it is the study of human beings, of which women make up half.

I would suggest what others have. give the professor what she wants and keep your mouth shut or suffer the consequences, at least until you have received your grade.

I might also suggest some self reflection to try to understand why the subject matter bothers you so much. As Shakespeare once wrote, sometimes "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within our stars but within ourselves".

I have no problem with women. My problem is that I don't feel the course is balanced.

Let me give you an example. Say you were taking an introduction psychology course. In this case, you would want to learn about the most important psychologists, whether they were male or female.

However, you have a feminist psychology professor who doesn't balance the work. Therefore, you don't cover the most important psychologists in history, like Freud, Skinner, Piaget, Erikson, Pavlov, etc.

Instead, for four months you cover Karen Horney and Anna Freud. It's okay that neither of them did anything close in importance as Skinner, Erikson, Pavlov, etc., but they're women, so your professor is giving them precedence.

Does that sound like a balanced education to you? That's what my anthropology class is like.

[tgreanier]

Walk in wearing black t-shirt with PIMP printed on the front.

[PosImpos]

Where is the injustice in a teacher choosing to teach about women for once instead of focusing entirely on men?

[cdif911]

agree with the contrarians; this is education, as long as you aren't being treated differently because you're a male, you really have no recourse.  You could have dropped the course if you didn't like the content.  Trust me there's a ton of professors out there who don't give a darn about what they are teaching - if she's passionate and exposing you to new viewpoints take that as a good thing.  As long as she isn't discriminating (I took a women's studies course in college where I and the other male were made so uncomfortable for being male we dropped the course, which was sad as I was very interested in the content)