Why I DON’T (or should not) teach PolS 356, Part II


From my appearance, students in 356 initially perceive me as a male professor, and secondly, as a Black professor. On the first or second day, I always try to “sneak in” that I am a cis gender straight male. Whether relevant to the conversation at the moment or not, I want students to have this information before they decide to keep the class.


As you are now aware, I created this class, and I am the only professor in the Department who has ever taught it.  Because many of my students have already taken several courses with me, I hope that those prior experiences suggest that I am an ally. Despite this advantage, my presence in this space (PolS 356) poses several problems.
 As a male professor, I face distinct dilemmas and advantages in teaching about gender inequality from a position of male privilege.


1. My academic credibility is an advantage. I have been teaching con law for 36 years. I have a PhD from Washington University—St. Louis, a top PhD program in the country, and a Post Doc from Stanford University. I have decades of rigorous academic study, research, publication, and expertise. My teaching evaluations are consistently among the highest in the Department, and I have won every teaching award available. I created this class, and I am the only professor in the Department who has ever taught it. However, despite my academic training, my presence in this space (PolS 356) poses several problems.


2. I lack the lived experience that is crucial to teaching 356 effectively. PolS 356 explores systemic oppression and social justice issues in the context of constitutional law. As a male scholar, I have mastered the theory, jurisprudence, doctrine, and law, but I lack the personal experience of living as a woman in a patriarchal society. My total and complete lack of experience limits my ability to connect with certain aspects of PolS 356 fully. I am “teaching what I am not.” Furthermore, because much of WGS rests on the premise that personal experience is the basis of feminist pedagogy, I am aware that some may feel that ‘‘only those who have experienced gender oppression have the knowledge and right to speak about it (Storrs and Mihelich 1998, 103). In short, I have no street cred.


3. Teaching PolS 356, as a man, creates a bizarre, complex classroom dynamic. For some, there is great unease when a man stands up in front of a WGS classroom. For example, because gender inequalities that benefit men are pervasive in academic employment, WGS has been one of the few academic spaces devoted to women’s advancement and offers processes of academic mentoring and support for female faculty. Some might be pissed that I am taking some of that space.


4. Male teachers are often assumed to be more objective and unbiased than women in relation to teaching GWS courses. Because I am male, I am sometimes “graded up”—evaluated by male students as less biased. I am acutely aware of this because I have fought against these similar assumptions—about race–in my 358 class for a lifetime. “Blacks can’t teach or write about race objectively because they are biased.” I am sure that is what some students assume in my PolS 358. These assumptions are at play in 356, but in reverse.


5. It is problematic for men to teach about gendered oppression and marginality from a position of perceived and actual privilege. Teaching from privilege can reinscribe conventional, sexist hierarchies.
 For some, maybe the fact that I am Black reduces that perceived privilege a little, but I still operate with male privilege.

6. Race and Gender are the two subfields of constitutional law that interest me the most. As soon as I finish my book for 358, I plan to write a book for 356 with a heavy emphasis on Black and Brown women. In 356, I strive to employ a pedagogical approach that fosters a respectful and inclusive learning environment that acknowledges diverse perspectives and experiences. There are days when I will make mistakes; hopefully, we will learn together.

7. Oh, and also, for the last 36 years, I am all you’ve got.