SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

Teaching the Oppressor: Issues in Feminist Pedagogy at the University of Alabama

Room 221, DiGiorgio Campus Center (DiGs)

Teaching Women's Studies requires a constant awareness not only of how well our students are learning, but also of how what we teach plays out in the classroom. Usually, this leads us as feminist educators to be hyper-conscious of the experiences of our minority students, but what about the oppressor in the classroom? This paper will explore the consequences and methods of teaching Women's Studies to the oppressor: namely, the white, heterosexual male. Especially in introductory courses, we have a unique opportunity to teach directly to the oppressor, even as we strive to create a safe space for our oppressed students. How important is it to make the Women's Studies classroom a safe space for the oppressor? What teaching strategies can we employ to engage these students, and how do they affect the rest of the class? This paper will answer these questions drawing from feminist pedagogical research as well as the author's personal experience teaching Introduction to Women's Studies at the University of Alabama.