#monosyllabic

Imitating white male swagger can help women understand its durable power and sway. I know, because I tried it.

A few years ago, my sociological imagination awoke when watching Friday Night Lights, the once-popular teen drama about football in Texas, in response to the figure of Coach Taylor, a handsome, mostly angry, but putatively good-hearted leader.

Coach Taylor and I could not be more different. He is a short-tempered, unilateral man of few words, who doesn’t believe anyone deserves an explanation. As a professor, I explain my decisions, grading, data and assigned readings to a fault. In seminars, I ensure each student is heard, and has a full chance to participate and be part of the scholarly conversation. If students seek my counsel, I follow up with more readings or questions to make sure I have helped them.

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Imagine then, my puzzlement watching a leader whose monosyllabic brevity accrues such respect. Paper and pen in hand, I observed Coach Taylor, making note of his phrases. In coaching meetings he would end conversations with the sentence, “We’re not going to do that.” He responded to student concerns with “Nope. Not gonna do it” or “You’re better than this!” “Stay away from dumb, gentlemen,” and “Don’t quit.”

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[While trying to effect male power in an experiment,] I noticed many things. I wasn’t co-operating, I was dictating, and I used a lot less energy. No one asked followup questions, there was less negotiation, and I didn’t lose time wondering if everyone was OK with the decisions. Students were more productive, and I was more effective at getting what I wanted. I will never forget that my colleagues, with PhDs and argumentation in their bones, dropped a proposal after I uttered five words. Adopting white male southern swagger was pretty darn effective for getting my way.

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I was reminded of my experiment watching Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh speak in favour of his own confirmation. Kavanaugh was a lot like Coach Taylor: rageful, monosyllabic, sentimental about alcohol, and used to being in charge. Kavanaugh was incredulous, imperious, sneering, prideful and monstrous in his unilateralism. He interrupted Democratic senators, he rolled his eyes, sobbed, raged. He failed to exhibit judicial temperament, but he also failed at basic collegiality and respect.

poem- Walking the plank on a sinking ship

Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Step. Pause. I hear the wedding march. Step. Pause. Step. Pause. This isn’t going to go well. Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Step. Splash. Nope. Not well at all. Blub. Blub. Blub.