macho no es macho

I've been teaching a class this semester about gender and ethnicity. I have 31 students enrolled, 2 of whom are men, both Mexican.

I've grown fond of one of the young men in my class, J. He's always in class. He is generally inquisitive, seemingly good-hearted, but he doesn't take pains to be politically correct. Especially at the beginning of the semester, he would make comments that would indicate he'd forgotten he was in a room full of women.

For example, one class period we were talking about the Chicano movement and how Chicanas wanted not only to push for racial equality, but also for gender equality. J raises his hand and asks, "Why couldn't they just wait until they took care of the bigger issues and THEN deal with feminism?"

J usually sits in the back of the room. Several women turned around slowly to glare at him, mouths agape. Several of them raise their hands and launch into a discussion about the importance of women's rights, feminism, etc. One woman says, "If we waited until we had achieved racial equality before dealing with women's issues, we'd still be waiting!"

Nevertheles, I like J. He's a nice guy. He calls me "ma'am," for which I'll forgive him.

Yesterday after class J is one of the last students to leave the classroom. He thanks me for responding to a question he had emailed me. Then he says, "I have to give you props, ma'am, for talking about all of this feminism stuff."

I laugh. "What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well, I have to admit, at the beginning of the semester, I was like, feminism! Que feminism ni que nada!"

"Why did you take the class then?"

"Because I needed to take it for my major."

I nod.

"But I've really learned a lot! I feel like I've changed!"

I laugh. "Well, I hope that all of your future girlfriends thank me."

"Yeah," he says, "I'll tell them that they have Professor N to thank."

I wonder if I want that much credit! ;)

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