If you are a woman who has endured sexism from a teacher or a professor, we want to make this a safe place for you to speak up and share your story. We understand that sexism can impact people of all identities, but today, we'd like to take a moment to let women speak up about the unjust actions they've endured in the classroom.
Perhaps you had a college professor who consistently invalidated your work. He'd get combative every time you spoke up in class, invalidate any experiences you'd share, and frequently referred to your opinions as "cute." You were in a predominantly male class and noticed that no male students were ever treated this way. It was an excruciating semester, and when your grade started to suffer, you had to talk to the dean about your professor's inappropriate behavior.
Maybe during your senior year of high school, you noticed your female English teacher largely favored the boys in her class. They'd come in late, miss homework assignments, and skip class for football practice and games. She babied them to no end, let them get away with everything, and showed overt favoritism. You and other female students felt like her behavior was both gross and deeply sexist. She was consistently stern and inflexible with female students and made no effort to even feign pleasantness with you all. She was downright obsessed with the boys and, frankly, acted jealous of you and her other female students.
Or, perhaps you were a TA during grad school. The professor you worked with made it abundantly clear that you two would be working "rather closely" together. He found many excuses to poke fun at you during class and made too many remarks about your appearance. His comments escalated to the point where you felt downright harassed, and when you confronted him, he offered up a bland apology, called you a "sensitive woman," and said he wanted to take you out to dinner to make it up to you. You demanded to be transferred from his class immediately.
