I have been dancing my whole life. I am currently attending Stephens College, and I am in its male apprentice program. I am pursuing a three-year and two- summer bachelor’s degree in the fine arts. In high school I was involved in dance and I had never heard about Stephens College or the fact that it accepted men since it does not display it on its website. Instead I heard about it from one of the performing arts faculty members during one of her recruitment trips. I was excited at the potential of furthering my dancing career at Stephens College and upon further research decided to attend there. In order to apply, I had to send in the traditional transcripts and letters of recommendations, but I also had to audition in person for the school. I was very relieved when I got accepted due to the fact that they only let very dedicated and skilled male dancers into the program because it is very intensive. Although it was strange to be attending a women’s college, I found it very comforting being on campus where everybody knew me; it made it very easy for me to make friends. When I questioned why Stephens even admitted men, I realized that as chairwoman of the dance department, Carol Estey, says, “it is important to have male apprentices in the program so that women become comfortable dancing with men, which they no doubt will be required to do when entering a professional dance company” (Karstens Columbia Missourian). Overall being at Stephens College has prepared me for success in dance, but there are some times that I question whether it was a right choice to attend here.
Although initially the attention was nice, I have come to realize that it is bothersome at times. There is a lot of gossip and scandal surrounding me that involves my personal life. Just because people recognize me, they think that they know me. I also find it unfair that Stephens believes that its majors are not appealing to males, as stated in the 2007 North Central Association Accreditation Report (Karstens Columbia Missourian). If that were the case, then what am I doing at Stephens? And what does that say about my interest in dance? Am I not “man” enough according to Stephens' standards? Another thing that I find bothersome at Stephens is their use for the male apprentices in such tasks as moving dance floors. They do keep it to a minimal with their first priority being our health and making sure we do not get injured, but I find it problematic that they do not feel that woman can help with such tasks (Karstens Columbia Missourian).
-Conner
I find it fascinating that you sometimes feel the same amount of sexism that I face at the school, especially since you are a man and I am a woman. I find it very unfair that the men are pushed differently than the women at Stephens. For you it probably feels unfair because you have to work harder than women to get accepted into the school and once you are admitted all eyes are on you to do really well. This whole scenario also seems unfair to me because I don’t feel I am getting the recognition I deserve for the hard work I put in while attending Stephens. Just because they don’t push me as hard, does not mean that I do not strive has hard as everyone else.
ReplyDelete-Claire
Isn’t it also strange that a woman’s college even brings up the idea of sexism? From the very creation of the school, there have been signs of sexism. For one thing, the school was created by men to provide for the education of their daughters ("Stephens College : About Stephens – History”). As a woman myself, I resent the fact that there has to be a separate establishment built for my education. Why can’t their daughters be educated in the same place as their sons? I understand that at that time there probably wasn’t even an option for women to be educated, which is why they established the academy, but then why tarnish that original tradition by even admitting men into the school later on?
ReplyDelete-Kelsey