Comment on Community roles: teachers and auxiliaries

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:08:39 GMT

I was about to say that the whole point of the "Punch a Woman in the Face Day" was that it's an unrealistic example, and that we don't actually do anything that would exclude women for non-stereotyped reasons. But then I actually thought about it for 30 seconds (Yay! I successfully applied the "think about it for 30 seconds" technique!) and realized that there's still some "exclusion from the intended audience" style discourse, which is probably subtly discouraging women. I should be doing a better job gently pointing that out when I see it, instead of just noting it internally and moving on.

It is really hard to point out stererotypes or unfounded assumptions about something as political as gender without coming across as an attack, no matter how collegial one's intentions. Recipients of such criticism should interpret it charitably bearing this in mind.

It is also hard to engage in such criticism without actually meaning it as an attack. Those engaging in such criticism should make sure they criticize in a charitable way, and think about their motives when they are inclined to use emotionally loaded language.

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