Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book TV 20120213

for someone to be saying why is it so hard to have relationships and have a professional career and why do jobs interfere so much in people's lives, and should we be thinking about how to make that more possible? at the same time unaccommodating the people who really want to, on their own, also thinking about, you know, the things that are pushing them into the situation. >> guest: i feel we have a lot of things going on here. there's no doubt that we've spent an enormous amount of our waking hours working these days. those of us lucky enough to have jobs. a lot of people are unemployed. working a lot would be a luxury for them and they are not the people who are living alone. but we have changed social policies to such an extent i think now individuals experience of this belief that they have to be able to take care of themselves. they have to invest in their own career. they have to invest in developing themselves so they can be flexible and go where the opportunities are. there's not a strong set of welfare lifetime of support. we are free aging in this respect, and i think that kind of agency culture puts a lot of pressure on us as individuals and pushes us to think about our own needs above the needs of collective and that is kind of the scary part of this change. it's one of the reasons for instance why during the recession people don't just go and get married. a lot of people thought when the economic disaster hit people would stop living alone and get through it. but that doesn't happen. people don't want to make commitments to other people when they feel so insecure about their own lives. so the marriage rates go down during times and we haven't seen the decline of living alone. there are more americans living alone in 2012 than there were in 2008. so in fact there's a lot of pressure to invest as an individual in times like this and that's something that's worrisome. i don't know that anyone has a way of thinking out a solution for this problem. the debate now isn't about how to reduce the number of hours that people are working. but that seems like the kind of debate that we need to be starting. >> i found it interesting the idea that single people and people living alone there were some ways in which they were discriminated against or maybe discrimination is too strong of a word but where the social policies and so forth work to their disadvantage. >> guest: i spoke with a lot of aspiring professionals who live alone and they experience the kind of discrimination on different levels. one thing is a familiar experience for people watching. you work in an office where many people are married and have families and there is a lot of work to do. i would love to work this weekend. i care about this project but my son has a game and i promised my wife i would do this thing so the person kind of excess themselves because they have a family obligation. and many people who are single report that in the politics of the office there's a kind of promise that the single people are going to be available to do more work and the experience a kind of discrimination they would like to have time to themselves as well. it can be worse, however. people like talk to say they literally were denied bonuses or were given a lower bonus and colleagues during the same or lesser work because the managers of their company thought the person doesn't really need the money. he or she lived alone. and they seem like they are living a pretty good life. so these kind of things enter into the world we live even though i think much of the stigma about living alone has disappeared. another thing people reported from cities like manhattan or new york city, they are hard to get into the board as a single person. they're looking for families and those are tough things. as we have come a long way since the 1950's but we probably have a little bit more weight to go. but the numbers are -- the numbers suggest maybe this isn't going to last forever. half of americans are single and a big portion lived alone it suggests maybe our ideas will come around. but for instance, there are no organizations that are working very hard to organize singles as a political bloc saying we have so many common interests maybe we can have more of an effective we did this and a democratic political strategist started an organization in washington, d.c. specifically to try to get unmarried women to the voting booth because she recognized that in the 2000 election as narrow as it was there were 20 million single women who were eligible to vote and didn't vote. she thought they probably lean democrat and of the democratic party could reach out and appealed to them it could really do well. so in the 2008 election she was working hard to make single women in the new nascar dads or soccer moms and in 2012i think we will see even more of that. it's difficult to organize singles because they don't always identified that we but maybe things are starting to. >> host: where do you plan on taking this next or are you moving away from this into some -- >> guest: it's hard to say to it when i finished the heat wave book i felt i will never touch that again. who wants to think about being alone and living alone. but again, when i kind of step back and look at the social change i thought this is something that is too big to ignore. some people ask me why are you interested in this? you are a married a guy coming to have two kids, it seems like a strange thing. shouldn't you study something but my response to that is i simply can't think of anything that is as new and significant and massive as the wise of living alone in the contemporary world. i mean, literally this is something that our species didn't do. 50 or 60 years ago and we are developing ways to do it now, not just in the united states, not just in the west but also as i said in japan. the nations that have the highest increases in living alone now are china, india and brazil, places that have economic development and growth. we are seeing people living alone whenever and wherever they can afford to. and it's not what we expect when i collected surprising appeal of living alone. we have to expect their age will breed economic growth and affluence will lead to marriage to get something different. we find people are opting to be alone and not to be antisocial or cut off but to be connected in new ways so there's a lot more to study. >> host: some people are opting to be alone. one thing to study his for what is happening in the other class. >> guest: let's be very clear about this. people will say that in the abstract the like to be in a relationship in the right relationship but what has changed now is what is much less likely to settle for a relationship that doesn't feel like the right one and when i say opting to live alone it's because there are always other cheaper possibilities. there are always other cheaper options to be living alone is expensive roommates, parents come in nursing homes, a single room occupancy hotels. there are many kinds of living that are different from having your own apartment, and what we are seeing are people who have different choices making this choice. >> host: i really had enjoyed this opportunity talking about the book and a really made me think about a lot of different things. thank you. >> guest: yes. i enjoyed our conversation. book tv interview bonnie more is at georgetown university about her book revenge of the women's studies professor a book based on her one-woman play in the same name whose interview is part of booktv college series. >> professor bonnie more is in your book regions of the women's studies professor published by indiana university i want to start with chapter 4. professor morris, i'm sorry to bother you like this but can wet talk privately for a moment? you see i really enjoy your women's study class, i love it and i want to finish the semester but my husband feels wn differently the semester, but my husband feels differently. he thinks it's a lot of radical ideas and he ideas and he wants me to drop your class right now. he just doesn't like me going out at night to take a women's studies class, even those just want once a week and i told them over and over it does count towards the finish made business degree. you write, so i went to meet her husband and when his approval. i talk lately about camping and hiking in movies while he stared at my last over this by his tail. at the end of the mill he stood up to shake my hand, saying well that the lady, i guess i thought you would have points on your head and come dressed in a suit of armor, but i reckon you are abundant enough after all this. >> this is a true story and the book is based on my one-woman play, which in turn is based on actual incidence in my career teaching women's studies. and when i was in graduate school, was able to start teaching my own women's history courses. when i had a masters degree attack night school and the class, which has a history of lebanon work and wrote actual working women, many of whom were 36, 40. i was trying three at the time. these women were coming back to school. they were returning adults, students who had amazing stories and whatever software of what they were experiencing in the workforce. and family. what i did have a student and i could not ban at the head of the domestic and i've really wanted her to stay in school. so this was who had a stereotype and a women's history class and i knocked myself out trying to win enough of his approval that he would not keep his wife out of class. i was in and into new york. at a time as of now poverty and struggle, but his desire for many women. fortunately as now, women's studies or history it's too controversial to many people. >> what is women's studies. >> edison effort to fill in the blanks of what we are not thought about in terms of how women have contributed there simply absent. the founding fathers were men are seen as the private side and people are respectful of the family is private. sometimes it's not seen as important. so because women are also traditionally portrayed as modest or hidden, bringing attention to what women do or how women have returns to the question of the body. people object to women's studies is only about, birth control, abortion and it's about women in politics, women in law, women working on farms prime minister. and my job is to write down this year many people have. what goes on in the women's studies classroom. and she said in a circle humming so i students come seeking the class that will be radically easy. and they are horrified. they can actually font women's studies. as the courses become mainstream, i now attract people who just want that humanities credit and you think this'll be my easy class while i take my premed spring. and many of the sad faces in my office. how could i possibly earned a b.? you know, you really need to know the names of some of these mothers. and now you really didn't get that in high school, so you have to read the book. and one of the things i else to do the same errata for the ap u.s. history exam and every june i read about 1100 ap assays. and we do have content that my sister that's part are the standardized testing is that not everybody has to know more women's history than they used to do because tittered an honor student and can't advance credit. that's elevated the status upon this history, but that has not eliminated the kind of questions and nervousness i encounter every semester with a lot of people. >> host: professor morris, if you teach a survey class, how many men are not class? >> guest: that's a good question. i would say it's about 10%. it depends on the gear. sometimes in a group of 100 i will have 17 men, 12 men. they are great. the guys are often some of the best students. i can also say interestingly i tend to have a lot of international male student. i think many of them has been pretty upfront about wanting to look at gender issues. they come from the middle east or korea, pakistan. i had students who have told me deliberately they want to take this class because it is the only time they'll have a chance. they want backend by rain. i have also had guys who are very up front about being raised by single moms. they are terrorists but full of what women have done historically or to keep families together. i also just have really smart guys who are political science majors or who intend to pursue careers from every game from justice to love. >> do you have that male student in the class to bbc's bias as -- has more nefarious -- >> guest: sure. i have guys who raise their hands and a judge. i have, but not any more than women actually. as more conservative women than i used to impart because this deal has been mainstream. we have people like kay bailey hutchison writing women's history textbooks. so it is no longer considered a brand of radical feminism to do with this history research and that is a whole other topic. but it is also true that a lot of people are just shocked by what they are learning. they never learned that women couldn't do this until 19 whatever. they didn't know that women were forbidden from serving on juries or attending princeton until 1958. so the result is a lot of folks say wait a minute, where u.k. not. and that is a natural reaction. but i would also say that once in a while, we look at somebody who is just very comfortable because the subject matter is painful. it is painful to look at the history of exclusion and assault. and so what i have to do as an academic is to say, in the discussion section, please feel free to respond as personally or angrily or emotionally as the readings in the view. in the written work you submit, you have to be professional, scholarly, empirical, reasonable. and so, that is the deal. you can say whatever you wish. all political opinions can lead to na. you don't have to have one view, but it will evaluate your writing taste on a good scholarly style. and so, i teach many athletes. i also teach a women's sports history. and sometimes the athletes will use a little bit of street slang and i have to read in the margin, let's find another word for this. so it's really about teaching folks to write about personal history in a way that is professional and not so much people challenging me because they are horrified by this subject wanted. >> what does one do with abundant study nature? >> that's a very common question. to the question is law school. most of the students i have worked with who have been miners come in meters and studies go to law school. they do very well. a lot of women and men to work on women in development, often in africa, southeast asia, south america. they build women's shelters. they rent agencies. many go to work for nonprofits, ngos. some do website design for women organizations or become direct heirs. lots of students who do internship with different groups in d.c., whether it is planned parenthood are working for a little bit of international focus, to. there's also a lot of students have a minor in women's studies and they combine it with a health degree. they are going to be nurses, doctors. there's a lot of folks who are looking at the impact of more access to education. growth in women in the rest of the developing world and these include students who will go work the world bank. they have a background on gender, which is this then and how you plot programs and assist families. >> host: when did the women's studies at the beginning who are the foremothers? >> guest: well, first program was at san diego state university in 1969, so we've had like a 40 year anniversary for a couple of years now. this was based on obviously the feeling at the time are bringing real topics into the university, whether it was the peace movement for black studies, but there was an obvious lack of coverage of women's issues and women still were not welcome at a lot of schools. so what is funny is if you look at a book like who is who in women's studies métis and 74, a lot of the first classes were deemed todd by nuns at catholic women's college is and it titles like women in society. those are very much part of sword as the act of his sons, post-vatican ii feelings. in terms of women's history, one of the main proponents is gerda lerner, who was an amazing historian refugee from germany. my particular mentor and one of my years in grad school was also a refugee from the holocaust. so a lot of the women who started women's history had amazing stories of their own to tell and are also persons who knew very well but it is late for history to try to make people invisible and that's an important side note. you couldn't really do a doctorate in women's history in too many places until the late 80s and when i started grad school, it was one of about software places in the u.s. and the big change has been that women's studies programs have been offering degrees that range from a minor in a certificate to a masters at washington university where he also cheats has the oldest and a program in public policy in the country and the focus here in d.c. obviously has more on women in government, but other programs around the u.s. you might dimorphic focus on women and literature, women in psychology and and a lot of the programs bring together faculty students and administrators every year through something called the national women's study association. for women's history there's something called the berkshire conference and not as once every four years a big gathering of women's history expert, male and female. these are a wonderful offense, where you see the range of topics everyone is interested in and it is everything from the renaissance to female pirate. i don't work on jewish women's history and immigration, when it spores, women and poor, women in rock 'n roll. and it fills a niche with hunger to go to these events to really meet your colleagues. >> professor morris, is women's studies a u.s. phenomenon for u.s. movement? and has been internationalized? >> guest: is pretty global and one of the things i have learned is that his son at the same challenges exist internationally . ipod mini program called semester has become a very popular with undergrads. 1993 and 2004. on each occasion it's a 100 day voyage and you take about 400 students around the world on a ship, 12 countries, 100 days. what day is this? what is the currency were using? has a very different kind of teaching. at any rate, not only is there a semester at sea, but because they took this one-woman show, two different sites including israel and new zealand and ireland and ice land, i encountered women's studies, faculty and students and at least 20 different countries. they'll have the exact same story. everyone is made fun of for pursuing research on women. everybody has to spend more time art everybody has to spend more time articulating why do you want to look at women than talking about what they have learned. we're all wasting a lot of time defending her choice of subject matters. on the other hand, there is a fantastic to work. the internet has made it possible for me to connect with women's studies, faculty all over the world. the first program i really got friendly with online within mongolia. these women were incredible. hi, want to start a program. we have two books. could you send us more. we know we will not fail. we are the daughters of genghis khan. i show that you to my dad and i said no self-esteem problem there. those women are going to survive. like ship every book i have to mongolia. when i did my presentation in iceland, very different peer female prime minister, women's building, everyone in government came to hear me speak. i had to prepare a welcome speech and icelandic because everyone there spoke english and i wanted to try. and they are comic even with all of the gender equality that is very unique to that community, there is a sense of how you present information on women in a way that is not overly sexualized or that doesn't market women. there is just different issues in every country. and new zealand, the big question was indigenous women's rights. they are, the land rights of maori women were very confrontational with me. whether you're doing to reach out to native american women. that was the kind of question you would not have had in a different context. circling place to place with the same presentation has been very useful for me to broaden my range frankly. >> what was your meeting with fidel castro? >> okay. so first of all state department permission and all paperwork in hand for a semester at the two talk in havana as an education group, we thought we would spend three days touring havana and meeting some students that go into a baseball game. that said. on the last day of work came out fidel castro is going to speak at the university and you are invited. for quite a few people from the ship actually said no thank you. i don't care to. with strong feelings about him. i will do some of the faculty and students. we had headsets and he spoke for four hours without stopping. he hauled across the water and never took a sip. so at the end we were invited to have no he goes upstairs and it was an out of body experience. i thought i'm having a motive with the.castro. but here is what is interesting. i was one of the few women and i was swearing at bright yellow dress and for whatever reason i struck his fancy, came over and grabbed my arm and said if women ran the world. he nowhere. the maternal instinct is strong. do you not agree? bessette actually, i don't agree. i mean, look at the warlike women leaders we've at least women who've had to have some knowledge about armaments and i started talking about margaret thatcher. so it was wonderful. i sent off in a mall that night to my parents. i had drinks with fidel and of course they said sure you did good and the photographs followed. so that's not going to happen again, but that was a chance to debate stereotypes about female power with unknown to readers. so wow, that was an unusual day. when you teach about margaret thatcher, how do you approach them? >> well, just having seen meryl streep in the iron lady and i love maryland. that was an amazing film. one of the things margaret thatcher is known for it's of course not been so much an aficionado of feminist legislation, she is a very good example of a woman who had to be more or less accepted as quoted honorary man in order to be taken seriously on the world stage. and that is a very good crossing point for students to talk about to what degree have we made everyone mail and said now we have a quality and have moved over into evermore opportunity was available for men. sports blog from a military government. not the priesthood, but okay. we've done to women having attractive men to it traditional women's work, which is still very devalued. take care, et cetera. so there's general cultural anxiety that women have had to break into the old boys club or at least imitate public prestigious aspects of strengths that somehow de-feminized on. and boy, my students are really interested in those issues. how do you negotiate. does a woman have to be wore a light? how does one bring in a sense of difference? should there ever be acknowledged if it's between men and women if you advocate for maternity leave, are you going to see knauss somehow lowering standards, but anyway you can get all of that just by talking about the roster of female prime minister's who've had to function as often the only woman at a power meeting. >> bonnie morris come he also met with president bill clinton. >> guest: that is a gross stories. i met him twice. he was christmas shopping and i was in the mall and that was fun. but finally we met at a basketball game in my first year i was teaching george washington and he brought chelsea to a game and first it was a men's game and many women's game. not scheduled like that anywhere. but in 94, the president that insured on demand and win the women's game began and he got to leave. and i thought okay, what you cannot do. so i just charged into the bleachers, where he was very comfortably shaking hands with pretty approachable secret service man come out of hiding to meet the elements that had mr. president. in the women's studies professor here. and i really encourage you to stay and watch the women play. it would show your support for title ix law and be a really good message for your daughter here and we have this great team. what you say. he survived last year, but i have a meeting at the white house at 3:00. a set of books i watch and i said well, you can watch the first 20 minutes. we said down? at that well, i've just given a tractor to the president of the united states. and he sat back down. so, he sat down, watched the women and he became the first u.s. president to telephone congratulations to the winning women's team in the ncaa that your. so i'd like to think i is something to do with that. but you have to have a certain kind of confidence to just jump in and say hey, this is not fair. or look at what this symbolizes. i'm living in washington, and teaching at the white house. i live in an embassy neighborhood and i'm really aware of how we showcase who is in charge, what is power, where women are perceived as as nondrinkers about with a small example, where he did have a chance to say, gosh, don't you like women's sports? i do. i teach these women and they not only can really do those plants, they are a students and they are here on scholarships, just like the guys. don't you want to applaud them? i do. so i think now we have more fathers and daughters who are in sports. with more men advocating for that, too. that was another day that's not going to be repeated. >> host: bonnie morris, where he faced? what your parents do? what is their attitude? >> guest: i pretty much have everything to myra and roger. i was born in los angeles in the 60s and raised by parents who were very liberal. in fact, they had a very unusual romantic intermarriage. they were cautioned not to marry. as a jewish mother and and a father was a surfer and everyone thought at the time that that was a big deal. now it seems not really anything to write home about. they expose my brother and i told the social issues of the 60s and my father in particular gave me every d- when i was as young as nine, which included black power of literature, "to kill a mockingbird," langston hughes and alice walker, although she didn't didn't know he was in that volume. and we went on many peace marches and then when we moved to the east coast, i went to a quaker school, carolina fans, which is very progressive and also had a women's study curriculum, so is able to start taking women's history in a formal classroom setting, but a school that encourage learning at your own pace. when i was 12. and i was able to soar to pursue the subject that interested me because i had been, you know, captain and pronounced gifted at an early age. so a lot of teachers were very interested in mentoring me working with me. so i had all of that as a kind of privilege. i had the knowledge. and my studies class at friends who were really simultaneous immersion and how do we get to vote when there first women of three conferences in an 18th century. and also, we looked at some of the issues of the day, and equal rights amendment and arguments about female equality and time. and still in touch with all of those teachers and all those folks, but clearly it had a huge impression on me. i went from taking women's studies at 12 within 10 years actually. >> or some other personal heroes? >> guest: should've crammed for some of that one. well, boy, right off the top of my head, early on in life it was prevent writers lake louise fitzhugh road. the spy and of course harper lee who wrote "to kill a mockingbird." those really shaped my life. i was very affected by billie jean king. that was a famous tennis match and 73 that i watched. shirley chisholm. my mother took me to hear her when she ran for president in 72. i heard her speak at the university. i was very much aware that a black one was running for president is very frosted they could not out yet. later on i was very impressed by the emerging doses, authors. but also i had globally in terms of jewish women who had been resistance fighters in the holocaust and the memoirists who wrote about the struggle for women to tell their stories in a female voice and nationally i majored in jewish history as an undergrad who lived in israel for a year. some kind of all over the place in terms of survivors, those unafraid to speak. those who were able to use the written word the way a hope to one day. >> host: contemporarily, who are some of your heroes? >> guest: and again he would have on the wall of my office click donna brazil who is my office mate. georgetown. certainly, hillary clinton i admired her struggle. i am very impressed by all of the women who have broken through in women's sports and who have managed to articulate to the next generation that that is a possibility. olympic airlines. i am a big fan of the women who had done a lot of work building a national women's history museum. we're trying to establish and d.c. and that ceos job wages, but streep is for not spokeswomen. it's a virtual museum right now. i am also a person who is a fan i guess you could say that some of the women who work in graeme mcdowell and it should not assume from being vilified for coming out to be loved by millions. and just an amazing person. allison back down, cartoonist for the same reason. kate clinton, comedian for the same reason. and i also think certainly alice walker for really establishing attention to the literature women of color in a way that made space for many other authors, but of course she was instrumental when i was in grad school. >> this photograph and reap bigger ginsberg, all of the supreme court by men. elena kagan, since they are. it's been incredible. it went from zero to several of my lifetime. though it will be nice. i guess you have to have half a person. i worked on the film's if women ruled the world trek to buy richer cars and shot in the capitol rotunda. we have a dinner party with the man who had achieved in prior to the filming there is a sort of tail reception. i was able to meet sandra day o'connor. i also met betty for dan and various women who repaired part of the dinner party. i have sandra day o'connor who she admired and she sent me a hand because the american women had just won the world cup. i was delighted that she advocated for greater attention to women's sport. that was a thrilling occasion and i was definitely one of the less famous people in a room full of high achievers. but my role was to sort of represent the women's history persons and part of the stomach to his students students on the trolley around d.c. and we pointed out how easy it is to imagine women as justice and liberty. we have obviously the statue of liberty and women holding up scales at the supreme court, but we don't have any actual women castanon delivers a whole controversy over how the model statute was actually in the basement of the capitol for many years until it was went upstairs and the complaint was so heavy and dusty. yeah, so is women's history. bring it out in the open. i think it's great. i support those who assert sojourner truth should be part of it. i think a lot of what i do in the classroom is saying who is not here? where are black women, slave women, serving girls in this overview, and this time period, what we women doing? in fact, and really fraught with one of my midterms but if you don't knowledge that we have this double standard in the 20th century come women are delicate and shouldn't be sports, we also have slavery. you're not going to get paid. you mentioned that. you have a shot of the night. but no one will get and i bet they say women were not allowed to work hard in the 19th century. that is just inexcusable. so what surprises some old when the white women's history professor develops so much time talking about the history of nonwhite women. but the biggest drop is to have one of two straight equal white women's history and that is no different than other kinds of exclusions. i wish i had more time and a semester to cover the communities that still are not well represented. and more and more latina women with disabilities or what have you. but there is also students who are sown the fit their background is mentioned at all. it is astonishing to get e-mails and cards and monitors from students who are for the very first time after caring about someone who represents their community. maybe they've been in goal from age four to 20 and they find they are hearing about not just the female, but one who is latino worked out for or any army or or whatever it might eat. >> host: have any of your views changed since he's been teaching the history of sitting on its history? >> guest: yes, they have. i am much struck her. i used to be easy grader and i really need now. i am horrified by the lower standards of reading and writing. i don't want to get into who we plan. i don't want to get into who we plan. i don't want to get into who we plan high prof, want to get into who we plan high prof, how were you? and i went to school and i was that it be this mellow person, but no. so, i give out pages of single spaced etiquette guides. don't address me like that. even though i really approachable and informal. but you will need to write a letter to the editorial monday. i am also, you know, more cautious about being too open-ended people come into my office hours and i'm burdening personal relationship drama. i have to be a little more detached because occasionally i am not the right person. i am not aired his story of rabbi. i am not a spiritual advisor. so i guess i know more about my professional applications and limitations are. and here is what is really strange. i have all of out. i am old enough to be my student's mom. so they don't see me as their generation, which when i started, my students are older than me, so that was -- evening out and now i'm a mom figure. so i come from a time but the cultural literacy that includes the warranty at and when people first started to have computers and cell phones. so my film and literature reference this have to be a gated. that is a whole extra job to the current. on the other hand, is it not reached person i am able to be supportive and loving pat on the back in a way that matters in certain scenarios, somebody who is really finally achieved, i can be a substitute parent. i have a lot of students far from home. but the other thing, connecting up from your question, how perhaps have my views changed? i understand. i don't like it, but i understand that if this generational to reject what your parents did come the students who reject feminism or whose the women's history is part of fairmont area of women's lib, i understand that comes from the need to detach yourself from which her parents generation day. so when i had students who make find of women's history or who want to begin a sentence of what i meant a feminist but my mom was, that is a function of time passing. it is not so much an oppositional ideology. the way of learned where the student is trying to define herself a difference from him, but probably agrees a lot of the same things. and the funny thing that shows up as many of my students don't want to be identified as women. they are taking women's studies are women's history, that they identify as girls. they say women now as a term that represents their mother, their mother's generation, women's rights, women's lib. i am woman, hear me war. they also are in this terrible economic moment when they don't expect to own a home or have that kind of settled family life, maybe as early as another generation hoped. so they see women symbolizing some soccer mom who owned her house and has amended and is more subtle. they don't think they'll be won until they are at least 30 and have an advanced degree may be their first house. bars in my day we identify in 12. so it's really changed. also young women enter puberty earlier. they have were much longer adolescents. let's say you are capable of having a child at times, but she will do a marriage until you are 30. well, you get others to grease. that is a twenty-year adolescents. so, that is the conflict reaction controversy about how we teach women's history is also affect did i do a age groups have shifted around folks wanting to distinguish themselves from those who came before them. anxiety about really been a grown-up and what that means financially. i have to lightning rapidly make all of these calculations. where's the student coming from an air crash in in further stereotyping about women's history. visit from their family heritage, their desire to get ahead, their sense of a feminist is ugly, i better not identify as one. i'm the only way to break down all of these theories is with her mad because it is exactly what people want to project does this image at the women's professor is a scary on a chart gave him off with an ax. so when i come in and i'm fairly cheerful and california girl and can talk about body surfing or whatever seems on and can talk about body surfing or whatever seems on and can talk about body surfing or whatever seems on and can talk about body surfing or whatever seems on some kind as humorless demon. then we talked about why those stereotypes exist. >> and finally, when revenge of the women's studies? >> i am so not a vengeful, by a person. >> well, when i first started thinking, i wanted to talk about all of these issues. why are students afraid of taking women's studies? vitae some faculty advisors discourage students or their parents say you shouldn't take this class is? they worry about 15 turning point in my own career were people had been rude or shaming in ways that all summed up this is in a field? .. women's studies including that husband who didn't want his wife and my class, so i thought it's almost like revenge of the women's studies professor and my modus lubber on diane life isat when i've been in salted or finn themes thatal are offensive i often turn it into a short story. first i will write in my journal and then i will turn it into an essay and that is a way ofing tn getting that kind of insult outt of the body and into public literature so there's that samea the addition best eaten cold ton a reflective and thoughtful way that will convince people what you want to say, and so revenged. here i am i going to tell you what happened as i try to become a be the good professor and how i got to all of the belittling that happens to such a person, and i'm going to meet you laugh but i am also going to have the last word and that is the only reason shy really want to show the stereotypes are funny that they can hurt and a student should never be discouraged from looking at the history of their mother. >> region of the women's studies professor, a professor here at georgetown and at george washington university is the author. coming out of very shortly probably by the time this interview airs the book will be held. women's history for beginners. >> that's right. that book number eight and it's coming to be out on the the 14th of february, valentine's day. that is a good introductory textbook which starts with the first woman and goes from there. that's part of the whole series from the beginners press economics for beginners, einstein for beginners, so it begins with why don't we know more about women's history. who is interested in your not going to the economy and then it goes through the walking tour and not so famous women and lots of resources. i have a wonderful illustrator, and that is intended i hope for high school as well as college classrooms. and again a cheerful approach to women's history in a way that should not intimidate but instruct to reduce the liquid is this illustration in your book? >> the illustration where women have been kicked out of public life because a woman out alone in public is assumed to be somehow unchaste and one reason we don't know about women's accomplishments is a good girl is not supposed to be known by anyone but her male relatives. there's a lot about the emphasis in scripture that women be hidden from other men. very hard to become famous if that is equated with a modesty

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