Breaking Down Patriarchy Keep the Damned Women Out: The Struggle for Coeducation, by Nancy Weiss Malkiel
May 18, 2021
Christie Skousen, pianist, teacher, and founder of Peery Piano Academy, joins to reflect on Nancy Weiss Malkiel’s Keep the Damned Women Out. They explore the struggle for coeducation and hostile backlash at elite colleges. Short takes cover tokenism, classroom silencing, Dartmouth’s resistance, and how language and representation reshape power and belonging.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Continuously Question Institutional Support For All
- Keep asking whether institutions support both men's and women's flourishing and insist on diverse leadership making decisions.
- Christie advises sustained questioning and inclusion because institutional norms shift and need continuous reassessment.
Thermodynamics Excuse Used To Dismiss Women
- Male students argued women would 'be a drag' in class and distract men from subjects like thermodynamics.
- Amy and Christie point out such lazy stereotyping reduces women to social annoyances and excuses exclusion from serious study.
Tokenism Requires A Tipping Point For Voice
- Tokenism and group dynamics silence marginalized members unless representation reaches a tipping point.
- Christie cites research: women need strong majorities (e.g., four women to one man) or unanimity norms to avoid being ignored or interrupted.
