Gender is a social construct

So said the professor leading the workshop in gender communication, which had been organised by the Women in Leadership (WIL) club. After the last WIL debacle I had been cajoled into attending this by the promise that I would not be the only man. Thankfully that was true - every female attendee had to bring along a male associate. Sound exciting? Sadly not.

It started with a questionnaire. What kinds of topics do you discuss with women friends? With men friends? Are there some words you would never use talking to a man? Were you ever teased for behaviours others thought innapropriate for your gender?

By the time we'd moved on to questions about what careers we aspired to when young, and I had to confess that I'd failed to become the stuntman detective that I had aimed to be aged six, I was beginning to doubt the academic rigours of the process. The two hour session could probably have been truncated into the questions "were you ever a teenager?" and "did you grow up in the 80s?" I longed for some ants to cover me so that I could run screaming from the room. Alas not one made itself available, and perhaps that's the moral of the tale.



Bring muffins and students will follow.



The club president introduces lecturer Bill Sonnenschein.



I have a dream...



Group discussions. Group hugs were avoided.