Would you call me “girl”?

Experiment: Deconstructing a word like a radical feminist. The word “girl” seems to be following me. NPR recently published this article highlighting how the term is being used to sell suspense and mystery books about women. One of the authors interviewed, Sarah Weinman, explains the usage that “the girl insignia is trying to tie it into this…

Individuality versus Individualism in Feminism

  Experiment: Find the “bright line” between two public figures who agree. In the past few years, I’ve watched too many TED talks. Here are two that I highly recommend: Roxane Gay – Confessions of a Bad Feminist Sheryl Sandberg – Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders Gay’s talk really speaks to me and…

Women’s Work

Experiment: Analyzing the elephant in the room (This picture is one half of my family. I’ve realized that in my family, of 8 people trained to be teachers, all but 2 are female. My great grandmother and my grandmother were teachers, they were groundbreaking! . . . but why so few men?) Discussion of the…

Being Okay with Not Knowing

Experiment: writing about the connection between philosophy and my own view on research. At the end of a long day last week, I encountered a particularly challenging section of a book. I left myself this note, so that I would remember that it was not just a normal bookmark. Having totally forgotten about it, I opened…

The Invisible Work of Teachers

Experiment: Integrate feminist economics and education Teaching is a highly visible position. As a former teacher, I was a “minor celebrity”. I would be recognized in random shopping malls by people I had never met. Every time I left the house I would see at least one student. The job itself involves presenting to a group…

We are the same

Experiment: Writing philosophically about a tough subject Today was a bad news day. Terrible events took place. People murdered other people based on ideology. I read too many articles today around the subject of the attacks. Philosophers lashing out about how even kind words of world leaders paint a picture of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Some wonder…