On "Feminist Pedagogy: The Other 'F' Word"

In a friendly, but heated, debate with a decidedly chauvinistic gentleman, he exasperated, blurted out and said to me, "You know what you are? You're a...a FEMINIST!" I laughed and said, "Thank you". And, though I've been called worse, I know he didn't mean that in a good way. Indeed, my most memorable professor, who subsequently turned out to be my mentor and friend, employs a very obviously Feminist pedagogy in her literature classes; most of which have to do with literature by and about women. As a result, no few young, male (and one might hope progressive), students routinely dropped her class. The problem being, they would suggest, was that she needed a man.

But, as I am beginning to see, it may be more than a notion to commit to one pedagogical influence, as there are worthy points made in most of what I've read thus far. I feel naturally inclined toward a Feminist focus: Is it because I am a woman? Or, because of my Alabama bred, refined, Southern-bell, ex-beauty queen of a mentor? But, as a product of working-class, black America I am also drawn to Cultural Studies, and even Critical pedagogies.

For as long as women have contributed to letters and literature, there has been some effort to silence them; to put them in a “place”. If I can teach composition in such a way that will help ensure that never happens again, then I want to do that too.