Talking Point #9 - Orenstein

Premise:

• young women
• self esteem
• confidence
• hidden curriculum
• sexual harrasment
• sexism
• women studies
• change
• gender-fair
• classroom

Arguement:

Peggy Orenstein argues that girls are victims of sexual harrasment as a hidden curriculum in schools across the country everyday. She believes it is both genders responsibility to take action to enable girls to feel more comfortable in their schools.

Evidence:

"I feel safer if i wear big clothes... I buy clothes three sizes too big. It's the fashion, but it makes me feel better. My mom says i look like a freak, and i say, 'Mom, dude it's because I don't want people commenting on my body. I have to dress like this.' As a girl, you can't be accepted unless you wear big clothes. Then it's like, 'Oh, a girl,' not like, 'Oh, a body.'"

"We have to be careful not to assume that all boys engage in this behavior. And we have to be careful that boys feel that they can take an active part in changing this kind of behavior, in changing the behavior of others. Because it's not just a female job to change it, but a male job as well."

"The hidden curriculum is all the things teachers don't say, but that you learn in class anyway. Sometimes, the hidden curriculum is what you learn the most. Sexual harrassment is part of the hidden curriculum for girls, and for boys, too, because they learn whether it has anything to do with them or not."

Comments:

I thought this article to be very interesting and an important read. I really admire how Ms. Logan conducts her classes, and is able to bring up issues that are seldom talked about in the classroom, such as sexual harrasment.