General News Body hair is apparently a big deal when roles are reversed

Interesting, although to me personally it is worrying that this was described as an "extra-credit" exercise.

Surely that would have increased pressure on students to participate in what is at the end of the day an uncomfortable exercise - plus with the added peer pressure I doubt students would have the opportunity to say no.

As such it does seem quite inappropriate for the teacher to go about this in this manner.

 

From the article, this professor does offer multiple chances for it.

I can't really agree with your sentiment on this. This is an assistant professor of gender studies, doing this when teaching those types of classes. There is no more appropriate time to offer up an exercise like this, than when studying those very behaviors. Making it extra credit in this case is more for the sake of giving folks an out if they are too uncomfortable, while still encouraging that these students get an idea of this stuff first hand rather than through books alone.

It'd be a different story if this was extra credit in a math class. But I don't see this as any different than making a dissection extra credit work in a biology class.

 

I suppose it all depends on how it was set up. If the teacher just said "hey, if anyone wants to try this experiment just see me after class" fair enough.

I'd be cautious in thinking just because the end-goal is positive the whole thing must be. For example on an ironically similar note, a particularly hirsute colleague of mine had a mob pressuring him to be waxed for charity. Hey, charity fundraising is a good thing and its only hair so it must be all fine, right? Well not really, it became akin to bullying in their persistence and that was unpleasant. To be honest I dislike the use of "ritual humiliation/pain infliction" as a fund-raising tactic, but thats another story I guess. :lol:

It is just hair, but as the study demonstrated it is kind of a big deal in society at present (both men and women can experience great negativity from having too much/no hair). Now it great if people want to either voluntarily break barriers or experiment with this, but at the same time it isn't for everybody and so with peer pressure involved it is a concern. Plus I don't think you necessarily have to experience concepts in such a first-person to understand them or appreciate them. For example, non-black people do not have to black up to understand the idea of racism. Male gender/women's studies students do not have to dress as women to understand the concepts. It might help a few, but I think its far from compulsory.

 

From the article:
“It’s interesting how peer pressure within the class can create a new norm,” Fahs said. “When practically all of the students are participating, they develop a sense of community and enjoy engaging in an act of rebellion together.”

Hmm interesting.

I haven't shaved my legs in about 2 years (though admittedly, they are rarely seen bare anyway, I'm not going to shave them just for the sake of it). But when I was in school my go-to reaction to any kind of peer pressure was to do the opposite of what was expected so I could enjoy watching said peers get all annoyed. So if I was a student in this scenario, my method of rebelling against pressure would be... shaving my legs? But then it would seem as if I was conforming to the pressure of society instead. Damn you Professor for making it difficult to sufficiently piss everyone off! I guess I could go half-way and just shave patches or patterns into them.*


*And yes, I have done this before. Get it right and it looks pretty impressive.

 

Just reading that article and the thought of not shaving made me panic. I really admire them for what they did but there is no way I could participate in such an experiment. When you've been a victim of bullying for so long you develop a defence strategy and do everything you can to avoid going against societal norms and the consequences that are inevitable.