Law Schools, Sexism

Wonder Woman And Academia

There is so much one can learn about academia from watching the subtle (and not-so subtle) sexism in this movie.

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(Photo via DC Entertainment)

I’m always a little late to see newly released movies due to my hectic Twitter schedule.  I finally had the opportunity to watch Wonder Woman this weekend.

The movie was awesome.  Sure, it is the best DC movie ever.  But that wasn’t the reason.

I then read this blog post from a father who was writing to his two sons after watching the Wonder Woman movie.  It got me to thinking about how well the movie was directed, true-to-form of the many slights women experience on a daily basis.  That made the movie very real, despite its premise.  But that wasn’t the reason I enjoyed the movie, either.

I enjoyed it because the first thought in my mind when she entered a room full of men was, “Oh, it’s like she’s joining a law school faculty.”  Of course, she wasn’t.  But the way that portion of the movie went reminds me of so many job talks.

She turns out to be an expert at languages, a point rejected by the men.  The men actually don’t initially believe her, and there seems to be a point where they are flabbergasted that they do not know more than her.  That’s like many of the job talks I’ve seen or heard described to me, usually ending with the candidate’s demise because “she couldn’t possibly know more than me,” right?

Wonder Woman’s mere appearance is subject to question, and the cover story is she’s a secretary.  That makes her seem more plausible in the world of men.  She could not be their equal or their superior, but only their secretary, someone below them.  If you’ve ever watched the dynamic of a female dean or female committee chair and a male colleague, you’ll get the gist of that interaction.

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Without spoiling the movie, Wonder Woman takes on a leadership role, producing results.  Her heroic efforts to lead are at first met with reluctance. But, thanks to the assurance of a man, others quickly rush to have her back.   Quite frankly, I’ve seen this, too.  The group was stuck, and Wonder Woman’s fresh perspective was quickly rejected as ludicrous.  Until it worked.  The idea was hers, but had to be backed by a man to get it off the ground.  Frustrating to watch on the big screen, but worse in real life.

I suppose I could stretch the analogy further.   The whole notion of Paradise Island, where there are no men, is the fiction of Wonder Woman.  Yet for the bulk of academia in the United States, it has been exactly the opposite, a club nearly exclusively for white men.  As the blog post I mentioned above says, it makes the opening scenes more jarring to those used to privilege, and welcome to those who lack it.

The mere notion that to get society to accept Wonder Woman is that she has to be way more amazeballs than any male counterpart is also something that appears in academia.   Be on more committees!  Help with admissions to show how diverse we are!  Be on hiring committees for the same purpose!  And don’t forget to write (articles)!

In short, you should see Wonder Woman, if you haven’t already.  It is brilliant.  There is so much one can learn about academia from watching the subtle (and not-so subtle) sexism in this movie that I’m going to have to see it again.

So that got me to thinking about Black Panther….

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LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here.  He is way more funny on Twitter (@lawprofblawg). Email him at lawprofblawg@gmail.com.

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