Kearney

No.  Being a prostitute, or a sex worker, is an occupation.  Being abusive is a behavior.  Different, different, different.


-----Original Message-----
From: diversity-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Kearney Lykins
Sent: Fri 12/26/2008 12:42 PM
To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Diversity 314] Re: abusers in our classrooms
 
Karen,

Whether or not men are more violent as compared to women is not the point. Indeed, I agree that they are. But Kate makes a generalization based on fallacious reasoning.   

 
To illustrate my point, suppose I claimed that I know that in an ordinary group of women, some will be prostitutes to a greater or lesser extent.  Clearly such an outrageous remark would be condemned (rightly) as sexist.  

But suppose my rationale is the following: While most women are not prostitutes, and do not sell their bodies for sex, most prostitutes are indeed women, and most acts of prostitution, particularly those acts committed on men, are committed by women. Therefore, I am being very careful with my language and not sexist whatsoever when I say that in an ordinary group of women, surely some of them are prostitutes. 

Sound familar?



 
 Regards,

Kearney Lykins





________________________________
From: Karen Wyman <Karenw at nmcadv.org>
To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List <diversity at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 12:08:40 PM
Subject: [Diversity 302] Re: abusers in our classrooms

 
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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