Male Sexism within Teaching

Please, please, please take a moment to check out this link.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/mmmmmmmm#.ks0OVDO86

Titled '13 Really Hot Teachers That Will Have You Begging For Detention' and captioned Yes, Mr. Smith, I'll gladly stay after class.  This post shows that its not only females who are sexualized in their role as a teacher but males as well.  I'm not to sure what the person was thinking who posted this on Buzzfeed, but seeing as it is a 'top post' shows that teenagers are interested in 'hot male teachers'     As learned in law class, just assumptions of teacher student relationships can get the teacher into a pot of boiling hot water.  Even if nothing happened.  This topic makes me really sick so I'm not going to go into much more detail in student-teacher relationships.  I just wanted to address following my last blog that is not only female teachers whose roles are sexualized.  As the Buzzfeed post shows men are also sexualized in their roles as teachers.  Why do students feel its okay to post something like this?  Why would they take time to dedicate a post about 'really hot teachers'?Who knows; maybe its the fact that female students aren't used to seeing younger male teachers, the fact that they are more relatable to the students, or even that they just like the way the teachers dress when they teach the class.  That being said we as new teachers need to address sexism in the classroom, this needs to be done in order to create a safe place for both the teachers and the students.

Back to males being sexualized in the classroom, who here has heard of the stereotypes of male primary school teachers?  Good not just me.  Why is there a difference between a primary teacher who is male versus one who is female?  Why is it strange that a male wants to teach primary school?  Just to name a few sterotypes there are; men aren't as nurturing as women, men carry on sexual mistrust stereotypes in a primary level classroom, and the fact that men are just too rough.  As doing more research on the stereotype I stumbled across a very interesting article from ABC news called; The Mistrusted Male Teacher (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5670187&page=1). This article addresses the stereotypes that male teachers face, why these stereotypes are in place, and why this is a dangerous career for men to enter.  The article states that the main reason why men do not want to become teachers is because of the highly potential accusations of sexual abuse.
--I feel like were forgetting about the big picture here and what really matters.  Its not gender that makes a teacher 'good', its the teachers personality.  "What matters more then anything is that its a good teacher and the teacher loves to teach." (ABCnews, 2015) For the sake of the males within our community, we owe it to them to break these stereotypes and allow them to do what there passionate about; teach.  We owe it to them to be able to teach in peace.

Sexism is a problem that males AND females deal with everyday in and out of the classroom.  In the classroom we have a chance to make a difference in the students lives.  Curriculum is obviously very important but we also have the chance to teach life skills to these students, and sexism/equality for all should be one of them.

What even is sexism?

My title is a little bold, we all know what it is and how it effects our day to day life.  But how many people know the definition like the back of their hand?  Therefore I went right to the great source of google, as any great Canadian would in order to get the most straight forward, user friendly definition that I could.  Sexism or gender discrimination is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex or gender.  Sexism can affect any gender but it is particularly documented as affecting women and girls.  Why is this important you may ask?  Maybe because its the 21st century and men are still being paid more then women, maybe its because women jokes are not funny but actually kind of cruel, or maybe its because being catcalled at while walking down the street gets a little old after a while.  Those examples being said, I know that I looked at it through a women's eyes and that men have a total different set of arguments; but as a women this is what I see.  People should not be treated differently because of gender, let alone those who are struggling with gender identity.  As a teacher I strive to leave the sexism at the door, and create an inclusive classroom for all.

Now I'm going to address sexism from a female teacher stand point.  I know that it is an issue that I am going to face as an educator, I'm addressing it now to become more adware of the diversity issues that hit our society in the face daily.  Personally I can think of a handful of examples from film where female teachers are viewed in a derogatory light.  Tina Fey in Mean Girls,  Gwytenth Paltrow in Glee,  Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher and the latest Jennifer Lopez in The Boy Next Door are all prime examples of teachers being sexualized through film.  Sexualizing teachers is a part of our current society portrayed by the media. Views change from men to women teachers, which is the same for every career.  This has to do with sexism.  Therefore in a classroom it is important to address sexism and really teach students what it means and how it will affect them .  Stereotypes come from lack of knowledge about the subject, and with teaching the subject (sexism) directly it will allow students to become knowledgable and hopefully deteriorate the stereotypes that we are living with in the current society with women  as teachers and women in general.

This being said, I don't mean that all female teachers should wear boxy dresses or attire that clothes that cover them from head to toe and refrain from showing any feminine traits at all.  But how awesome would it be for teachers to be able to wear whatever they want (as long as its acceptable of course) and not be sexualized in the society that we live in. That our gender should not reflect on how were are treated, rather everyone within a school be treated equally regardless.

Gender

I decided to be very broad with my post title.  There is a reason for this; throughout my next ten entries of this blog I am going to be looking at gender- for those of you who crave some more specific information; I (we) are going to be looking at sexism and heterosexism in a more detailed light.  Growing up in a small town in Southern Ontario- there was no question about gender.  Boys played with cars and tractors and dreamed of following their fathers footsteps; taking over the farm.  While girls played with their dolls, helped their mom in the kitchen, and wore really pretty pink dresses.  This may see a little outdated to you, but this is the experience I had growing up in St. George, Ontario.  Therefore there were no questions about gender roles, let alone conversations of hetersexism existing in the community.  People have their roles in society and everything else is hushed under the rug.  Growing up I always knew this was backwards, that my father wasn't homophobia; it was just his generation and that the area we grew up in wasn't accepting or welcoming to anyone who didn't fit the 'norm'.  There it is- some back ground information as to why I want to look at sexism and heterosexism in a more detailed light.  They are issues that happen within a school and my goal as a teacher is to have an inclusive classroom, where everyone feels welcome and leaves with a warm feeling of exceptance.

I also understand that sexism and hetersoexism are two totally different things.  That being said they do go hand in hand; which is why I decided to label this post gender.  Gender is 'the state of being make or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather then biological ones).' From just reading that definitions you can see an endless possibility of topics and ideas to discuss regarding gender.  I'm going to cover variety of topics in my blog that are very much so relevant to gender in our classroom that include issues around sexism and heterosexism. To start this blog out with a rocking jam as well as a thinking piece, I would like you to take 4 minutes out of your day to watch this lovely music video pro formed by the beautiful Miranda Lambert.

There's a verse in the music video, I will share a line with you 'Thomas was a congressman with closets full of skeletons and dresses that he wore on Friday nights.'  This is the beauty of life, everyone is different and that is what makes it beautiful. From the wise words of Miranda Lambert, it takes all kinds of kinds.  This line really hit home for me,  sure I grew up in a backwards, one stoplight kind of town; but I am different.  Im accepting of everyone, I care and want the best for those I meet and teach, I want to do whatever I can to help every child succeed not only in education but also in life.