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Write Like a Man

The first class I ever taught was an Intro to Political Science course at Howard University.  It stands out because of a conversation I had after class with a few of my female students.  “So tell me,” I asked, “what’s one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned this semester?”

“Write like a man,” the first one said.  “Yeah, don’t be scared to say what you think.  Be bold,” the rest agreed.

I was grateful they got the message about writing, but disappointed it came off like that.  That ‘saying what you think’ was a lesson they had to learn, and they perceived it as male.  After that, I noticed in my classrooms that there was a confidence barrier between my male and female students. They guys talked freely about their politics and opinions, but the girls were stingier with their commentary on policy.  They had opinions; they just had to be goaded into sharing them.

One year it all changed.  I had a student who, in person, was the embodiment of everything my Intro girls had learned.  She was bold, assertive, and aggressive on every topic, in every class.  She would never call herself a feminist, but on issues from foreign policy to healthcare, she wouldn’t let you forget she was a woman either.  The guys would routinely chat me up secretly, on some, “Why she always gotta bring up the woman thing?”

Because it was always relevant.  As a class, we could not escape that women, 50.8% of the world’s population, experience the world differently than men, and should not be ashamed to express that.  But, as policymaking goes, it seems that probably the opposite is true.  Too few of us express that.  For example, nowhere on Earth should transvaginal ultra sound be a considered thing, and nowhere on Earth should a fetus have more legal rights than a woman.  That we disguise such invasions of personhood as other things –ideology, religion, etc.—is distraction.  After all, there hasn’t been a bill yet that frowns on male masturbation, and that egregious disregard for conception…

The lesson I learned from both those was experiences was this:  do not be afraid to tell your story.  For women, there is not only room for our perspective; there is a place reserved for it.  Legislation that affects women, like most do since we are 50.8% of the population, needs bold ideas championed by assertive women who tell it like it is.  Imagine if a state legislator declared in an op-ed that, when she was in high school, no one cared about the money her state funneled into abstinence-only programs when his or her crush was cute and willing.  Sex education would’ve been a smarter investment.

In hindsight, I think what my Intro girls meant with “write like a man” was that they’d learned to harness the courage to express their opinions with conviction.  In the language of patriarchy, we call that “having balls.”  I get it now.

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Monique A. Gamble is a blogger and Doctoral Candidate in the Political Science Department at Howard University in Washington DC.  She is also an Adjunct Professor teaching Political Science at the University of the District of Columbia.  Monique remains passionate about her love of family and friends, politics and conversation, and the exceptional meal.

Email: moniqueagamble@gmail.com | Website: moniquealicia.wordpress.com