In Jennifer Schuessler’s article, “A Star Philosopher Falls, And a Debate over Sexism is Set Off”, Colin McGinn, a philosopher at the University of Miami, willingly left his tenured post after being accused of sexually harassing a graduate student. This issue became public to philosophers all over social media and blogs. Mr. McGinn tried defending himself on blogs by noting a difference between suggesting a relationship or just entertaining it. His post also included an “alternative meaning of a crude term for masturbation” (Schuessler, “A Star Philosopher Falls, And a Debate over Sexism is Set off”). Mr. McGinn described his relationship with the undergraduate student as an “intellectual romance” (Schuessler, “A Star Philosopher Falls, And a Debate over Sexism is Set off”). However, the student’s boyfriend, Benjamin Yelle, said he saw many e-mails and text messages of Mr. McGinn speaking flirtatiously to her. Benjamin Yelle noted that in May of 2012 Mr. McGinn asked the student to have sex three times over the summer.
Mr. McGinn’s case highlighted an old issue on discrimination against women in the culture of philosophy. Since philosophers like Aristotle and Kant, it was questioned if women were capable of reason and thinking. There are many reasons women have fallen behind men. The problem is that women don’t speak up to defend themselves when sexually harassed. However, a blog called What Is It Like to Be a Woman in Philosophy?, features anonymous stories of women being harassed. Mr. McGinn’s case is also encouraging women to be less ashamed and start publicly speaking about harassment.
What struck me while reading this article is the fact that the environment in philosophy has been women-unfriendly for a long time. There are many debatable factors in philosophy that imply sexual discrimination. The article mentions a lack of female mentors, difficult methods of arguing for women, and “highly technical nature of much contemporary Angle-American philosophy” (Schuessler, “A Star Philosopher Falls, And a Debate over Sexism is Set off”). Women struggle on finding the right way to argue because if they argue too much, they’re shrews, but if they hold back, they’re considered as poor philosophers. Many events have tried to make philosophy an equal environment for women and men. A gathering known as the Bellingham Summer Philosophy Conference aims at eliminating the sexual discrimination in philosophy by establishing an informal “be nice” rule. Also, the Gendered Conference Campaign, created by the blog Feminist Philosophers tracks all male-conference lineups. Even citations in leading philosophy journals show that women make up less than 4 percent. The chairwoman of the philosophy department at the University of Sheffield in England, Jennifer Saul, wrote an essay on the discussions of Princeton faculty members. Members would sort graduate students into groups, such as smart and not hard-working or stupid. Mrs. Saul said they categorized women as stupid, which made them scared of taking risks in philosophy.
SCHUESSLER, JENNIFER. “A Star Philosopher Falls, and a Debate Over Sexism Is Set Off.” NYTIMES.COM. N.p., 2 Aug. 2013. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/arts/colin-mcginn-philosopher-to-leave-his-post.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
Jender. “What Is It like to Be a Woman in Philosophy?” What Is It like to Be a Woman in Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. <http://beingawomaninphilosophy.wordpress.com/>.
Its upsetting to think that even in progressive, modern times, it is still possible to discredit a person’s philosophical arguments on the basis of their gender. However in my opinion inclusion of the Miami professor’s incident is not really related to this social issue because he seems to be just at fault for harassing someone and not idealogically discrediting them.
I was very surprised that there is such a gender divide in an academic area, let alone philosophy, a topic in which those who study it focus on being reasonable. The content in the early part of the article about the professor and the student was downright creepy, and the fact that women only make up around four percent of the field of philosophy is truly shocking. The story about women being inherently grouped in the “stupid” pile of essays is ludicrous. It was very upsetting to read about gender inequality in this day in age, especially from a group of people who claim to be logical.
I’m honestly not surprised that sexism runs rampant in the philosophy field. I follow a number of blogs that accept submissions from women recounting their experiences with sexism in all aspects of life, but primarily academia (http://mansplained.tumblr.com/ is one of them). Based on what I’ve read and heard from other women, I get the impression that men in highly respected, historically male-dominated fields tend to look down on women in the same field, believing (even subconsciously) that they aren’t as capable, or should be held to more rigorous standards in order to prove themselves “worthy” of being in the field, when no one would even think of doing the same to a man. Of course, this doesn’t apply to all men, but it certainly seems to apply to enough of them.
Because of this sexist attitude, a lot of men seem to feel entitled to making inappropriate sexual comments toward the women in their field, as well as entitled to sex with these women. It doesn’t help that this entitled way of thinking is encouraged by societal standards. Overall, I don’t see sexism in philosophy–or any other academic field–going away for a while yet.
It is not just the philosophy field that harbors resentment and discrimination against women, numerous others do as well and oftentimes such prejudice is rampant in entire higher education systems. A recent article by the New York Times titled; Harvard Business School Case Study: Gender Equity (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/education/harvard-case-study-gender-equity.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), brought to attention the obstacles women often face in a “male-dominated” academic environment. This ties into the issue you brought up, Adona, in that in a field as traditional and elitist as philosophy, beliefs that stereotype and belittle women are bound to arise. Philosophy has largely been a male-dominated field along with higher education and the need to exclusively limit access to people who are “subordinate” is expected. Women who want to break through are often seen as too “assertive” (Harvard Business School Case Study: Gender Equity) or, as you mentioned, shrew. Sexist views such as this runs through nearly all aspects of academia and the fact that administration has had to forcibly intervene (Harvard Business School Case Study: Gender Equity) is extremely upsetting.
Women have faced a really tough time solely for the sake of being a girl. It has been an issue in history and even current times, although now it is rightfully diminishing. I think all people, men and women, can be on the same intellectual level and deserve to be heard solely because of the fact that they are simply human beings.
50 years ago if you were to say there would be a women who can have an influence politics you would probably be laughed at. They to were looked at as “stupid” or not fit for the job. Currently, in the race for New York City mayor, Bill De Blasio is influenced immensely by his wife, Chirlane. She is helping him with every step in his campaign. When she was in grade school she refused to talked because she faced a ton of discrimination and hurtful words. Now, her thoughts are influential to many people and especially her husband.
In my opinion women deserve to be heard in all matters/professions. They have the same right that men due to participate in the job of their choice. I hope in the future there will be more women who partake in a philosophical job if they so desire. Mr. McGinn deserves to be jailed for his actions and needs to realize that women can and will be just as successful as he may have been.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/nyregion/once-alienated-and-now-a-force-in-her-husbands-bid-for-mayor.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0