As a person who is very femme, and expresses her gender in a very colorful and overtly feminine way, I am often not taken as seriously within professional settings.

The first thing a person notices about me when they see me in person is that I have pink in my hair, wear colorful makeup and am almost always wearing dresses. I like to relate my experiences to that of Reese Witherspoon’s character Elle Woods in Legally Blonde: much like her I am immediately written off in many professional contexts due to both being a woman and not looking stereotypically academic. The assumption is that a woman who chooses to present herself in a highly feminine way is somehow more frivolous; she cannot care about physical aspects of presentation while also being a studious and focused academic. Of course this is untrue, but women are held to a higher standard and constantly critiqued over what they choose to wear and how they choose to wear it (Reporter, 2018). This does not change in academia, nor in the field of education.

Physical issues related to my gender is always tied to the constant looming threat of physical violence by men. I’m sure by now we all know how dangerous it can be as a woman to just walk down the road; not only do we need to carry mace, hold our keys between our fingers, but we also text our friends and family our locations frequently just in case. I have experienced physical violence as a student by men on campus: unwanted touching, being followed at night, sexual assault and many other things. Being a woman in society means you are socialized to be more sensitive and aware of others, you are cautious in every situation especially if it involves a man (Johnston, 2020)

References:

Johnston, L. cleveland.com. (2020, September 26). What women know and men don’t: Women have an ever-present fear of being attacked. Cleveland. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/10/what-women-know-and-men-dont-women-have-an-ever-present-fear-of-being-attacked.html

Reporter, G. S. (2018, September 24). Female academics: don’t power dress, forget heels – and no flowing hair allowed. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/oct/26/-sp-female-academics-dont-power-dress-forget-heels-and-no-flowing-hair-allowed