All right, so in presentations class today, we gave group presentations regarding some aspect of the fundraising we, as a group worked on, nearly a month ago.
One particular presentation caught me off guard and I must add, here, I was quite insulted. I have since cooled off, but will post my initial feelings regarding it.
A group in the class presented their views and opinions regarding the group dynamic in running a fundraising event.
Then came the gender component that somehow worked its way into the presentation. I wrote down a few point form notes which highlight my initial feelings. At a later time I will post my follow up thoughts. I thought I would be in a position now to post my reflections, but I will have to do that in a couple of days or so.
The presenters in this group made a list of how women communicate and another list how men communicate. I failed to see how either one of those lists relate to our fundraising campaign.
These are my notes on how these lists made me feel:
- stereotypical gender profile
- drawing boundaries in a class where gender has never been an issue
- sometimes stereotypes/generalizations can help to diagnose and recognize larger social issues, but these lists made me wonder how this would apply to a class of about 20 people where sexism has never been a problem
- as a woman, I don't appreciate being placed in that category
- I don't think either list was an accurate portrayal of anyone in the class
- I am not a feminist, but the list on how women or men communicate was absolutely ridiculous and insulting, perhaps that was not the intended message/result of the presentation, but clearly there wasn't much thought about how an audience many react, even though the presenters did ask how people in the class felt about the list, I felt that I actually had to think about it, in order to avoid being angry before giving my opinion
Like I wrote earlier in this post. I will post more of my opinion once I've had more time to reflect.
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7 comments:
I completely agree with you. I also attended the presentation and could not believe that the presenters had paid no attention to how this may affect the audience. The presentation was completely irrelevant and to make up for the lack of content, the presenters decided to offend the rest of the class. How sad! Don't stir up controversy where there is none.
Thank you Michelle for saying everything that I was thinking! I was a little offended by the things that were said in the class also.
On top of everything, I had to wonder just what gender had to do with group dynamics. In fact, I'm still wondering. Maybe I should ask for clarification on Monday?
Now I am even more upset about missing class. I wish I could have witnessed this.
I am a feminist because I believe in equal rights. Although this does not make me a radical feminist, I am sure I would have been as unerved as you and the other commentators were.
I am wondering how these issues even entered into the category of group dynamics. There is a line between sexism and gender issues. I am curious to hear how these two were bridged in an irrelevant class.
P.S. This was because of my wig wasn't it? LOL
Maybe I would have had an easier time understanding how gender and communications related to the presentation in the first place, if perhaps, a reputable study was used as a reference.
After thinking about this for a few days I still don't really understand what any of it meant.
There was a reference? I must've been asleep during that part.
Loved the wig Stacey - about time someone went the blonde route! And yes, this is all your fault. ;)
No, there wasn't a study referenced, but maybe if one was there would have been more credibility to that aspect of the presentation.
I kinda think that the only study that might have given that section credibility would've been done in the early 1900s but good point.
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