Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Can Well-Behaved Women Make (Academic) History?

The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 13, 2011
By Female Science Professor

How to respond to a sexist dig is a topic that always generates debate and criticism on my blog. I am referring to incidents in which someone (most commonly a man) in my academic life has treated me in an apparently disrespectful way. Many of those incidents could be interpreted as sexist, but no matter what you call them, they are somewhat (to very) humiliating.
The incidents themselves are not what generates the debate on my blog. Instead, the sometimes-heated discussion focuses on how I have chosen to respond to such slights: that is, my tendency to react in a calm, polite way, perhaps with a bit of humor or gentle sarcasm. Except in extreme cases, I prefer not to respond to insulting remarks with anger, and I try to move on with the research, teaching, or service task at hand.

Full Commentary: http://chronicle.com/article/Can-Well-Behaved-Women-Make/129738/?sid=ja&utm_source=ja&utm_medium=en

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