This class in incredibly frustrating. I was warned by friends who have taken this course before, but I clearly did not take them seriously.

The past couple class meeting have been embarrassing for me as a white woman. Another white woman asking “Can women be sexist against men?”  or “can black people be racist against white people?” is depressing. When discussing systematic and institutional racism against African Americans, several white students felt the need to share experiences where they have felt people were racist against them. How can a 4000 level student be so ignorant of their privilege? It’s inexcusable at this level of college, in an ethnically diverse state in this political climate.

This last class when discussing how women are “cut down to size” by advertising, the conversation veered into how dress codes are needed for girls and women’s protection. A few men expressed feeling uncomfortable and attacked. One man felt the need to say “not all men rape”. One woman called a man’s motivation behind enforcing a dress code for his female employees “a wonderful, wonderful thing”. What planet is this? Why are women defending patriarchy and misogyny? Why is my professor allowing this distraction?

I honestly can’t believe that these distractions from the group being discussed are allowed. Whites should not be permitted to draw the conversation on race to themselves and men should not be able to distract a class from a conversation about women’s experiences in representation.  I understand that college courses are a place for discussion, debate and disagreements. That being said, one doesn’t walk into a Biology course and say “EVOLUTION IS A LIE” and be taken seriously. Not all opinions are valid or worth hearing. This course should not be about whether African Americans live in a different America than whites. THEY DO. People should not be able to suggest that men are not privileged over women or that society doesn’t permit and encourage their dominance. THEY ARE and IT DOES. Move on.

Why are we wasting our time listening to people detract from the conversation? Why is this permitted?

In our discussion about women and advertising, we barely touched on how women of color experience this in different ways. The video talked about it briefly, but because men diverted the conversation back to them and how they felt attacked, we left out a very important part of the conversation. We didn’t even talk about how trans-gendered individuals are advertised and represented. 

My time was wasted.