Lately I have been trying to get to the root of why some of the people who happen to be male in the Physics department at my university have such a difficult time interacting with women students and academic peers on the regular level with which they would conduct conversations with their male counterparts. They find it easy to accept the credibility of one another's ideas, remember each other's names and treat each other with a general decency and familiarity. Yet when it comes to women, they offer put-downs, make subtle remarks peppered with blatant misconceptions, discount ideas without testing their credibility, and totally fail to address you by your first name despite knowing it!
As angry as some of these people's ignorant behaviour may make me sometimes, I realise I always make the same mistake whenever it comes to thinking about these matters. The fundamental emotional immaturity that some boys and men struggle with. Unlike the female, who is given much opportunity, in this patriarchal world that typecasts women as emotional, to explore this "softer" side. It is allowed of us but not of boys. As a result, they spend their entire lives being unaware and not fully comprehending the emotional responses of others and of themselves. In seeing how little they understand these complexities, I need to acknowledge that they are emotionally immature and this patriarchal world has much to do with this.
On top of that, there is a man in my department who ogles me every time I sit in the tea room. It actually really pissed me off because he is not the only one who has done this. Staring is just rude. They need to learn some respect these idiots!
As angry as some of these people's ignorant behaviour may make me sometimes, I realise I always make the same mistake whenever it comes to thinking about these matters. The fundamental emotional immaturity that some boys and men struggle with. Unlike the female, who is given much opportunity, in this patriarchal world that typecasts women as emotional, to explore this "softer" side. It is allowed of us but not of boys. As a result, they spend their entire lives being unaware and not fully comprehending the emotional responses of others and of themselves. In seeing how little they understand these complexities, I need to acknowledge that they are emotionally immature and this patriarchal world has much to do with this.
On top of that, there is a man in my department who ogles me every time I sit in the tea room. It actually really pissed me off because he is not the only one who has done this. Staring is just rude. They need to learn some respect these idiots!
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