Just a tidbit well worth sharing. The sender wishes to remain anonymous
Hi Paul.
Just keeping you up to date on the goings on in the world of academia. I just recently entered a Masters program in Forensic Psychology, in hopes of learning more about domestic violence from an unbiased viewpoint.
Fat fucking chance…
During class today we were going around the room talking about what we’re interested in studying under the umbrella of forensic psychology. Students paired up and interviewed each other and then we read to the class about the other person’s interests. I talked about how I was interested in learning about the facts of domestic violence from a more objective viewpoint for both women and men. When the girl who interviewed me read that aloud to the class, my teacher stopped her abruptly and said, “The facts? I’ll tell you the facts, it happens more to women, end of story.”
She then turns around to the chalkboard and starts spelling out her misguided definition of DV. First she states how she’s a feminist psychologist, then she goes on about the patriarchal view of why men abuse women. Power, privilege, etc…
Keep in mind that I was naive enough to believe that masters level teachers would be more objective in teaching students about DV.
Again, FAT FUCKING CHANCE.
As soon as she started going on about the patriarchal theory I raised my hand and said straight out in no uncertain terms while looking her straight in the eye “I 100% disagree with everything you just said. I do not believe in the patriarchal theory of domestic violence.”
She made some irrelevant comment and I went on to say that I believe it has more to do with the pathology of the individual. I also stated that the reason why the facts are so skewed is because studies showing that victims of DV are predominantly women can be explained by the sampling populations chosen for the studies.
When you make generalizations about DV from samples of shelter victims and men in batterer treatment programs, what kind of fucking results do you think you’re going to get? (I didn’t say fucking to her but you get the picture).
She came at me with her years of experience in the DV system and I straight out told her that her being a self-proclaimed feminist psychologist makes her biased and guilty of confirmation bias when seeking research on the matter. She went on to say that she’d refute anything I had to say.
The class was aghast by how brazenly I called the teacher out. Apparently, everyone in the room is too fucking afraid to question a stereotype and more than willing to accept the views of someone like my teacher who is so clearly biased. She basically said, no discussion, I’m right, you’re wrong, now shut up.
This one stupid bitch sitting next to me says “It’s hard to believe what you’re saying when you have a degree in advertising from [name of school edited] and she’s been practicing in psychology for so many years. Maybe you should read more research on the topic.”
I had to bite my tongue at that point because I was literally ready to blow my top and get kicked out of the school in the first week!
Paul, it’s tough taking a stand on this issue. There is no conversation on the issue with these people. They summarily dismiss your views and claim to be able refute anything you say. It’s fucking bullshit man. It really is. I can’t even take a fucking neutral viewpoint on the issue without being chastised.
My professor made this comment at the end of the day “How many of you know a woman who has assaulted a man? Can you even name one?” Again, I bit my tongue.
Total fucking bullshit….I had to vent….
