Dear Kearney, 

I have to disagree that Kate's comment is sexist. While most men are not
abusers and are not violent, most abusers are men, and most acts of
violence, particularly those acts against women, are committed by men.
It is not unreasonable, inaccurate, or sexist to conclude that "in any
ordinary group of men that some will be violent to a greater or lesser
extent." I think Kate was being very careful not to be sexist with her
language and word choice. 

 

Also, I'd like to suggest that students are not in classes to "handle"
their classmates; they are there to learn. It is the instructor's
responsibility to create an environment in which that can occur, and
that often includes being aware of potential problems before they happen
and intervening on behalf of the safety and wellbeing of all students. I
think it is an interesting assumption to think that these hypothetical
students are necessarily "non-feminist."

 

I think that privilege is an important piece of this conversation that
is being left out. I believe that, in addition to confronting racism and
sexism, we also have a responsibility to interrupt male and white (and
other kinds, too) privilege when it rears its head. I wonder if that
might be an interesting discussion: what can we do to confront the use
of unwarranted privilege in our classrooms? How can we interrupt those
conditioned behaviors that come with that privilege? Male privilege is
one of the many tools that abusers employ to exercise power and control
over their victims, and there are a number of ways in which we, as
educators, have the opportunity to either challenge or reinforce that
privilege.  

 

Respectfully, 

Karen

 

 

 

 

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