Eric D. Snider

The Feminine Mistake

Snide Remarks #542

"The Feminine Mistake"

by Eric D. Snider

Published in EricDSnider.com on May 14, 2007

I took some film-studies classes at Portland State University in 2005 and 2006, my first academic experience since graduating from Brigham Young University in 1999. PSU and BYU are very different from one another, obviously. At BYU, you can be expelled for smoking marijuana. At PSU, the school mascot is Cheech.

Another significant difference is that every PSU professor I had was liberal, compared to the conservative instructors I had at BYU. Some people at BYU talk about certain professors there being liberal, but the BYU version of "liberal" really just means having a mustache.

The most hyper-liberal, super-P.C. professor of my life was the instructor of a Portland State class I took called "Writing About Film." We'll call her Jackie. She was about 50 years old, married with children, always impeccably dressed and coifed. And to her, no matter what a movie was about, it was REALLY about women's issues. It always came back to that with her. "Rashomon"? Women's issues. "Casablanca"? Women's issues. "Happy Gilmore"? You better believe that's about women's issues.

Portland State University's mascot.

For a class called "Writing About Film," we did very little writing about film, or about anything else. Mostly we just talked about film. Actually, mostly we just talked -- or, more exactly, mostly we just listened to Jackie talk, occasionally about writing, occasionally about film (though rarely the film we were supposed to be talking about), but mostly about other subjects altogether. The syllabus proved to be a fanciful, unreliable document bearing little resemblance to what we were actually doing in class every day. Considering I was taking the class because I was already doing a lot of writing about film and was hoping to learn some techniques or skills that could help me improve, all of this was a disappointment.

Adding to my frustration was the fact that if you ever disagreed with Jackie about something, you were wrong. Oh, she talked a good game. She would SAY that she was open to other viewpoints, and that so much of art was subjective, and so on. But then if you expressed an opinion different from hers, she would explain how your opinion was based on faulty logic, or how you were letting your emotions decide for you, or how you were missing key information that would have shaped your view into something else (i.e., more like hers). So while in theory it was possible to disagree with her and still be valid, in practice this was never known to occur.

There was also Jackie's habit of jabbering rabidly about matters of political correctness. This often dovetailed with her always-rightness. It made it easy to predict what her opinions would be, so that you'd know what to say to make sure you were "right" (or, what to say to make sure she'd argue with you, if that's the kind of person you were). Whatever the most P.C. point of view was, that was sure to be Jackie's.

One time she mentioned Spike Lee for one reason or another, and then she asked, "How many of you are Spike Lee fans?" Only a couple of hands went up. She tsk-tsked and said, "Another sign we live in a racist society."

Now, I thought she was joking. It was a funny thing to say, and I chortled. But I was the only one. She continued on with whatever she was talking about, and I never knew for sure whether she was kidding or whether she really did think that failing to be a Spike Lee fan was indicative of being stuck in a racist society. Did she believe that in a world entirely devoid of racism, Spike Lee would have legions of fans, and that the only reason he's not as popular as Steven Spielberg now is that The Man is keeping him down? Really? I mean, there are plenty of white filmmakers I'm not a big fan of, too. And don't even get me started on the Asians!

We students didn't usually argue very extensively with Jackie. We knew it was pointless. She tended to get worked up and emotionally charged when someone disagreed with her, and she wasn't always very tactful about expressing her dissension. So we tended to let her say whatever she wanted, and then we'd make fun of her in the hallway after class.

I had only one confrontation with her, and it was over the movie "Thelma & Louise." This film actually is about women's issues, of course, so it's no surprise that we watched it in class, analyzed it, and wrote papers on it. It was the topic of discussion for many days, several days longer than the syllabus (which by this point we had given up on altogether) had said it should be.

In one of our class discussions, I said that a particular scene rang false to me, damaging what was otherwise a pretty solid movie. The scene in question goes like this:

Thelma and Louise, in their cross-country travels, have occasionally passed the same lewd truck driver, who would leer obscenely at them from his truck. Finally, the women flag him down. He gets out of his truck to come talk to them, clearly believing his attempts to woo them -- which have all involved wagging his tongue -- have succeeded and that he is going to be the meat in a Thelma-and-Louise sandwich. But instead, T&L demand to know why he's behaving the way he is, how he gets off treating women that way, and so on. He's confused. They demand an apology. He stubbornly refuses. Then Thelma or Louise (I forget which is which) pulls out a gun, points it at him, and INSISTS that he apologize. He yells, even more belligerently than before, "[SWEAR WORD] YOU!" So Thelma or Louise shoots the tires out on his tanker truck. This makes him yell and swear even more, so the woman who hadn't already produced a gun pulls one out and they both shoot the truck itself, causing it to explode.

(You can watch the scene here, courtesy of some girl's MySpace page, but be aware that it has some R-rated language and vulgarity. If you want to hear just the audio, with the swearing bleeped out, listen here.)

I said in class that the truck driver is played in such an exaggerated, cartoonish way that he's not believable. He's a one-dimensional villain. Yes, there are sexist men in the world; everything the guy did up until he got out of his truck was realistic. But I think that 90 percent of men, when actually confronted about their lascivious behavior, would get embarrassed or quiet or maybe defensive, not loud and angry the way this guy does. And I think that 100 percent of men, once a gun is pointed at them, would cease their belligerence and do whatever the gun-holder wanted them to do. There's no way a guy, no matter how sexist and piggish he is, will yell "[SWEAR WORD] YOU!" at someone pointing a gun at him. I said I thought the real objective of the scene was that director Ridley Scott wanted there to be an explosion, so he had the truck driver keep egging the women on even when it no longer made sense for him to do so.

The trucker, as hauntingly portrayed by actor Marco St. John.

Jackie, however, felt the character was perfectly true to life and that there are many men who would behave in exactly the same way in those circumstances. She then said:

"The reason you don't want to believe there are men like that is that you're a man, and subconsciously you feel guilty about the way men have treated women."

I don't know about you, but one of my least favorite things in the world is being told what I think. I am the world's number-one authority on what I, Eric D. Snider, think, and I can assure you, this movie character's lack of believability has nothing to do with my thoughts about women. It has to do with him yelling like Yosemite Sam even while someone's threatening to shoot him. Maybe a trained therapist or psychologist could get to the root of why I feel this way. Maybe he or she would discover that I really am ashamed of my gender's treatment of the fairer sex, and that it has produced a mental block wherein I refuse to acknowledge the realism of movie characters who yell obscenities at women even when their lives are in jeopardy. But that is for a trained mental-health expert to determine, not some feminism-obsessed English professor who would rather pull out her own hair than concede that someone else may have a valid, opposing viewpoint.

So I said:

"Oh, is that how I feel? Thanks for clearing that up for me."

My mom always said that not everything needs to have a smart-aleck answer, and I believe her. But I think "The reason you don't want to believe there are men like that is that you're a man, and subconsciously you feel guilty about the way men have treated women" DOES need to have a smart-aleck answer. Jackie wasn't listening, though. Once she had dismissed my point of view, there was no reason for her to keep paying attention to me, and the class discussion continued. Then Cheech came in to get us excited about that week's football game, or maybe I'm just making that up.

Comments & Reaction:

I went back and forth for a while in deciding whether to identify the professor. Everything I say here is true, and it happened in public (i.e., in the classroom, not in private conversations), so I'd be justified in telling you her name. But at the same time, it's not like very many regular "Snide Remarks" readers go to PSU and should be warned to avoid her. The only reason I'd be identifying her would be in the perverse hope that she would someday stumble across the column and feel embarrassed. And that didn't seem like a very good reason, so I gave her the not-very-creative pseudonym of Jackie instead. Believe me, her classroom tactics have been well-documented by others on the various "Rate Your Professors" websites, so it's not like the word isn't getting out.

The class was a total bust for me. I missed a week at the beginning of the term for the Sundance Film Festival, and another week at the end -- finals week -- for South By Southwest. I was taking classes for my own edification, so my grades didn't really matter. And since I'd already given up on getting anything out of this particular class, I didn't put forth any effort to make arrangements for when I had to miss the final. Ah, well. At least I got to watch and analyze "Thelma & Louise."

This item has 46 comments

O'Mallen says:
May 14, 2007 at 6:32 am
You know, if she stumbles on this column online, she'd just attribute your distaste for her teaching style/subject matter/existance to the fact that you don't like women. Clearly you are sexist. When was the last time your reviews identified the woman's issues that are so prevelant in modern films. For example, Spiderman 3 is really a struggle of Mary Jane's opposing the feminine roles society has placed on her by telling her she can only date one man at a time...
Steve says:
May 14, 2007 at 6:59 am
OK, sure, you weren't worried about the grade, since you were taking the class for your own edification, as you say, but what about your tuition? Weren't you at least a little miffed about blowing all that money on something that was clearly not as advertised? Or are you one of those glass-is-half-full people with your at-least-I-got-to-watch-Thelma-&-Louise attitude?
Tom says:
May 14, 2007 at 8:06 am
I agree that the more believable reaction of the truck driver would have been to hold up his hands and say, "Now calm down, little lady. No need to get violent about this. I'll apologize if you want me to." But it's possible to imagine other things running through his mind: "No woman is going to threaten me! I'm no coward. Besides, I bet she doesn't have the nerve to pull the trigger. And if she did shoot, she couldn't hit me from that distance. She's just a woman, after all. Expletive her."
Brandon says:
May 14, 2007 at 8:50 am
"Some people at BYU talk about certain professors there being liberal, but the BYU version of "liberal" really just means having a mustache."

Huh, I'd say William Woodward is pretty liberal.

But maybe that's just me.
Talm says:
May 14, 2007 at 10:04 am
Ah tenure. . .what a great invention.
Justin Perry says:
May 14, 2007 at 10:14 am
"Huh, I'd say William Woodward is pretty liberal."

The reason you believe there are liberal people at BYU is that you're a man, and subconsciously you feel guilty about the way men have treated women. :P

But seriously, though, I think there are a couple of liberals (*cough* Marie Cornwall) at BYU but Eric was just using hyperbole for the sake of humor.

Not at all like Callie Khouri (writer) used hyperbole when depicting the sexist trucker who, in real life, would have won the Darwin Award years ago for swearing at people who were pointing guns at him.
Justin Perry says:
May 14, 2007 at 10:17 am
"But it's possible to imagine other things running through his mind: 'No woman is going to threaten me! I'm no coward. Besides, I bet she doesn't have the nerve to pull the trigger. And if she did shoot, she couldn't hit me from that distance.'"

Ever had a gun pointed at you? Yeah um... life looks a lot different when you're staring down the wrong end of a gun.
Paula says:
May 14, 2007 at 11:18 am
Do you mean Warner Woodworth at BYU?
Patrick says:
May 14, 2007 at 11:54 am
I am sorry, but I disagree with O'Mallen. How does him not talking about women's issues in movies make him sexist? Also, why dont you get a boyfriend that is dating multiple women at the same time, and see how you feel. It's not restrictions, it's morals. She doesn't HAVE to listen to them, she can make her own decisions. A critic is supposed to tell you why a movie is good or bad, not psychoanalyze it. I am sorry if I sound like a jerk, but that is just my view on it.
Lane says:
May 14, 2007 at 12:05 pm
"At BYU, you can be expelled for smoking marijuana. At PSU, the school mascot is Cheech."

That would be awesome.
Brandon says:
May 14, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Uh, yes. Yes I did. Doh!
Robert T says:
May 14, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Alright even if there were a man profoundly stupid enough to yell down the barrel of a gun, and all else were true about the scene, it still rang false, case closed. I knew this instantly when I first watched this film. There's an instinct to film viewing, and no question Eric's right, no matter the theoretical arguments. It's not there just for an explosion, but for a satisfying "revenge scene" culminating a sub-plot. Actually, his reaction to the explosion is the completely unbelievable part. How cartoonish! His character is from a different movie altogether. He's played as someone with mild retardation (seriously) so that for me, in the context of the film, the scene is not about a male-chauvinist, it's about the ignorance of a corn-fed, mentally-challenged person.
Randy Tayler says:
May 14, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I would say you could determine a lot of our society's attitudes towards women through our art and entertainment, being careful to consider directors' and writers' clear attitudes.

But this lady sounds like a hoot to talk to at a cocktail party. To say all movies are about women's issues... kinda makes you want to say deliberately sexist stuff to her to see if her head explodes.

Or her boobs.
Sarah says:
May 14, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Uh, Patrick? I'm pretty sure O'Mallen was being sarcastic, seeing as how he was paraphrasing Eric's own sarcasm in the column. But maybe I feel that way because I'm a woman and I feel guilty about the way that women have treated men. :)
Momma Snider says:
May 14, 2007 at 7:35 pm
It's actually your dad who says not everything needs a smart-aleck answer. Your mom just can't think of them fast enough.
Deirdre says:
May 14, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I thought you were going to talk about blowing up the tanker with a gunshot. That's way more unbelievable than a sexist trucker, especially when you can see the fake explosive device blowing up *underneath* the truck first.

The whole movie is a caricature. That's how it makes its point. It's also fun, and I like explosions a lot, even when the special effects aren't very good.

That said, making fun of stupid uberfeminist professors is always a worthwhile endeavor. We had a whole herd of those at my law school, and they wasted a whole lot of credit hours with amorphous "discussions" that didn't teach anyone anything. I hate to say it, since I am one myself and all, but I stopped signing up for classes taught by women. Then I graduated, and now appear before female judges. I regret to inform you that they are similarly afflicted. Together, said professors and judges have given me a whole new perspective on sexism, all right.
Em says:
May 14, 2007 at 9:06 pm
"I was taking classes for my own edification, so my grades didn't really matter."

This reminds me of something a college prof of mine used to preach.
Argus Skyhawk says:
May 14, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Um Patrick, O'Mallen was just sarcastically making fun of what the teacher's attitude toward this article would likely be.
David Manning says:
May 14, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I'd LOVE to meet a person like Jackie--just not have her as a "teacher."
Paul Norman says:
May 15, 2007 at 6:59 am
There is a bit of nutty, feminist liberalism at BYU. The details are fuzzy, but in my daughter's last semester there, she took a course from the English(?) department where she wrote a paper describing the sexist exploitation on the part of the male directors and writers of the female characters in "Desparate Housewives.' She got an A and did not believe a word of what she wrote.
Doggin says:
May 15, 2007 at 9:18 am
I'd imagine in real life the response to a gun in the face would be closer to "Expletive ME!!!" instead of the other way around....
Thoughtful Observer says:
May 15, 2007 at 9:57 am
My boyfriend's father is actually the type who would keep mouthing off even at the barrel of a gun, especially if it was held by a woman. He'd be even worse because he hates for people to realize that he's scared.

On the whole women's issues thing: I hate the fact that women who think everything is about women's issues make it hard for those of us who just think that women should be treated as true equals to ever be listened to. Everyone just ignores what we try to say, thinking we're going to go on a rant about how everything is a women's issue. Though, at the same time, often people do ignore the misogynism of our society, especially in movies and on television. Is there no middle ground?
Kevin Kress says:
May 15, 2007 at 10:03 am
Is that a song from the Happiest Millionaire I hear in the podcast? That's so nerdy! Almost as nerdy as listening to a podcast on ericdsnider.com and being able to pick out old Disney songs in it. If possible please use the soundtrack from "Monkey's Uncle" and "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" in the future!
BeeDub says:
May 15, 2007 at 10:32 am
On the other hand, men have also become the whipping boys of Madison Avenue. Just watch some TV commercials and sitcoms - who's always portrayed as the clueless oaf in any given situation?

Where men and women differ in this regard, however, is that men don't form themselves into organizations to protest how they're portrayed. We've been programmed by our society to take whatever beatings we get without complaint. Men are the last group in America that it's perfectly OK to bash and belittle.
Sarah says:
May 15, 2007 at 11:01 am
I agree, sadly. Although, blaming white males for everything was the source of a very funny running joke that two of my (white male) friends had during my undergrad years at Oberlin College. They began every sentence with "I'm so sorry..." for several days on end when the anti-white male sentiment on campus was especially high.
David says:
May 15, 2007 at 12:09 pm
#23: Duh, it's from "Mary Poppins!" Didn't Eric once say that was his favorite movie or something?
Kevin Kress says:
May 15, 2007 at 12:33 pm
#26 Darn you're right. I got my disney musical classics messed up. You win this round, but I'll be back!!!
Binky says:
May 15, 2007 at 6:08 pm
BeeDub said: "Men are the last group in America that it's perfectly OK to bash and belittle."

Men, Christians and fatties. (Which would be a good band name: "Live, from The Gorge, it's 'Men, Christians & Fatties!'")
Binky says:
May 15, 2007 at 6:10 pm
@Kevin Kress -- I have "The Monkey's Uncle" on cd. It is a lyrical and haunting theme...and unmistakably about women's issues.
Eve says:
May 15, 2007 at 10:45 pm
As a woman (from Portland, no less), I recognise the ugly way women have grown accustomed to treating men and I *am* sorry for it. Guys, take heart. There are some of us left who realise just how absurd feminism can be, and who greatly value masculinity's contributions to our society.
Sydney says:
May 16, 2007 at 11:39 am
Just out of curiousity, I did a google search and found the PSU class titled
Writing About Film: Race and Gender

Maybe you didn't read the full class description, mmmm?

Funny column, nonetheless, and I can picture really disliking this Jackie fellow.
Eric D. Snider says:
May 16, 2007 at 11:47 am
Nope, mine was definitely just called Writing About Film, period. Perhaps they've updated it to reflect the way it's actually taught.
Jeff says:
May 16, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Eve, you only feel that way because you've been conditioned by our patriarchal society to believe that men have value and that masculinity has anything to contribute to society. Throw off the shackles of your mind and rise up against the oppressors!
Cafe_Au_Lait says:
May 16, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Weren't there a bunch incidents a couple of years ago where men dared their wives or significant others to kill them--and the women had weapons aimed at them at the time? And then the men got killed or at least seriously hurt? I seem to remember a Snide Remarks column mentioning something along those lines.

Which is to say, I think it wouldn't be much of a stretch from that to the possibility of there being at least one person out there who really would go on ranting in the face of certain death. On the other hand, yeah, not really believeable.
Queen of Everything says:
May 16, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Jeff: YOU throw off the shackles of YOUR mind and rise against your oppressors!! Can't you see that men can fit in skirts too?! And wear CHEERLEADER'S outfits?! And sparkly PINS in their hair?! C'mon, men can be pretty too!

Lol, just kidding. My true sentiments are thus: Women got the pants, the jobs and the vote, what else do we need? Seriously. And don't bother to point out the politically incorrect sentiments, I know. I know. I'm just a WOMAN, after all. Hehehehehe...
and someone who can be cocky at the wrong end of the gun probably deserves to be put in his or her place, right?
adam palmer says:
May 17, 2007 at 9:47 pm
teachers like jackie make me BOIL
jb says:
May 19, 2007 at 5:44 am
Fun stuff Eric.

In real life I'm a patriarch, though not a Mormon. It's actually a pain-in-the-butt to be Caucasian AND a patriarch. But that appears to be my assignment here on earth.
Oh well.
RedPenGirl says:
May 23, 2007 at 9:11 am
This made me snort right out loud because my husband has told me that on more than one occasion (even at BYU), it has been made perfectly clear to him by certain of the fairer sex (and even a few especially evolved men), that there's nothing worse in the world than a white, heterosexual male. Except maybe a white, heterosexual, Mormon male, but we'll watch the presidential campaign to see which way the wind blows on that one. Thanks for the laugh!
f*bomb. says:
May 23, 2007 at 10:43 pm
You're right. But mostly I just hated that movie.
Pat says:
May 25, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I've met several women like the teacher and can't stand the type. They automatically accuse anyone who disagrees with them of being sexist and therefore wrong about everything. Kind of like how Eric accuses anyone who doesn't spell check of being an idiot and therefore wrong about everything.
Shel says:
May 26, 2007 at 10:22 am
I remember an incident at BYU in the 80's....a male friend of mine had been asked for a ride home from a study group by a female student. A couple of times as they walked from wherever it was they met to his car, he opened the door for her, something he just does unconsciously (for everyone, I might add, male or female). Twice, she said, "I don't need you to open the door for me, I'm quite capable". When he opened the car door for her, she glared at him. As they were driving to her house, it began to rain. He stopped outside her apartment complex and waited for her to get out...and she asked "aren't you going to walk me to my apartment". He said he looked at her for a minute, and then couldn't resist, "I'm sure your perfectly capable of finding your apartment on your own!".

My boss used to joke that every problem in the world was his fault because he was a white middle-class male.
Bickmo says:
May 31, 2007 at 11:16 am
I am certain my head would explode if this Jackie were ever my professor.

I've had ultra-opinionated professors before, both liberal and conservative, and I always struggled to refrain from baiting them in class. So much fun!
f*bomb. says:
June 4, 2007 at 2:37 am
Your boss is right. The world would be sooo much better if not for those middle-class white men. DAMN THEM!
Jim says:
June 17, 2007 at 6:11 pm
When women can play baseball and basketball like men, I'll start paying attention. Until then...for all women who try to be like men...it can't be done. Duh.
Tammy says:
August 4, 2007 at 1:50 pm
As someone who went to PSU for five years, I can tell you that this "Jackie's" behavior doesn't surprise me at all. I never had an openly conservative professor, or even anyone I suspected could be a conservative. Conservative viewpoints are openly bashed by students and professors in classes. This is why I stopped giving my opinion. I felt like I constantly had to "explain" my supposedly misguided ideals. Portland is a beautiful city, but it has a lot of people with "liberal" opinions and they control the universities. My boyfriend went to law school at Lewis and Clark (also in Portland) and experienced the same sort of professors there. It's part of the culture and I don't think Portland is unique (in comparison to other large cities).

I have also noticed that commercials and TVs shows depict men (usually white men) as lazy idiots. It is a running joke at our house that when we see an example of this, one of us says something to the effect of "Men are stupid because the TV said so."

Ridiculous.
LadyBarrister says:
October 25, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Hey Eric,

Loved your story about your tribulations with Professor "Jackie". It had me screaming with laughter. You poor man. Unfortunately, people like this professor plague (and dominate) university campuses all across North America. Had a couple of them when I was in law school. They even managed to turn tax law into a course about post-modern, politically correct women's issues. I am an unabashedly androcentric woman who comes down strongly in favour and sympathy of "all things male"--I am a gleeful member of the only co-ed professional FRATERNITY in the world. These pin-headed professors always looked on me with suspicion as a "traitor" to my gender, because of my irritated and annoyed refusal to participate in the man-bashing fest.

Best regards

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