How to Tell If Your Professor Is a Misogynist

While the vast majority of college professors are all for women's equality in the classroom and the professional world, there are still a few out there who believe men rule the roost and that female students are not equal to their male peers. If you are a female student, the last thing you want is to get stuck in a classroom with one of these guys at the helm. Here's how to recognize the bad apples in the bunch.

What is a misogynist?

A misogynist is, simply put, someone who does not like or trust women. Unfortunately, your professor's misogynist tendencies won't always be as obvious as outright hatred, particularly in a college classroom. Most professors with misogynist tendencies know enough to try to keep it under wraps in an academic setting, so the best way to identify and appropriately deal with a misogynist professor is by recognizing patterns of behavior.

Recognize a misogynist professor by how he speaks to the women in the class.

Does your male professor refer to female students as "sweetheart" or "darling?" Does he tease female students about their clothes, hair, or alleged behavior outside the classroom? If your professor does any of these things, he obviously doesn't have qualms about being overly familiar and may not being showing his female students the same respect as his male students.

Recognize a misogynist professor by how he leads class discussions.

Does your professor routinely call on male students and ignore the female students who raise their hands? Does your professor outright dismiss women's opinions as "silly" or "trivial?" Does he talk over or interrupt female students when they try to speak? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, you may have a misogynist professor.

Recognize a misogynist professor by his treatment of women in the material.

Assuming your professor is not just a lowly TA or lecturer and makes his own syllabus, what's the ratio of male to female authored readings? Are the accomplishments of women in the field completely overlooked or given only a token glance? If it's a literature class, does your professor examine the female characters as closely as the male characters in the texts, or are they all just mothers and whores to him? While this may not mean that you will be personally mistreated in the classroom, it does mean that your misogynist professor is not giving you the well-rounded education you deserve.

Recognize a misogynist professor by how he distributes grades.

This one is the worst by far. Heaven forbid a professor lets his personal quirks influence his grading, but it can happen. Do the men in your class consistently receive higher grades than the women? If you have questions about why you received a certain grade on a paper, test, or other assignment, you owe it to yourself to find out why. Ask the professor during office hours about the evaluation criteria and why you received the grade you did. If he can't adequately explain his methods, and it seems like other women in the class also feel slighted, you have reason to suspect that your professor may be a misogynist.

If you can't get a straight answer about a grade from him, go to the department head and ask the department head to find out what sort of criteria your professor is using to evaluate student work. An inquiry from the department head might be taken more seriously by your professor than by a student.