‘You’re actually the problem’: manifestations of populist masculinist anxieties in Australian higher education

Abstract

In 2016 the world witnessed a consolidation of a western brand of political ‘populist authoritarianism’ that is anti-globalisationalist and creates ‘shared objects of loathing’ in the popular imagination. This article engages with the implications of this affective and masculinist ‘post-truth’ era for higher education and analyses the narratives of teacher educators who teach compulsory classes based on inclusion and diversity. The article uses the work of feminist, Indigenous and queer theorists to explore gendered responses to pedagogical encounters recounted in the data. We offer a reading of these experiences that links white male objections, particularly around the teaching of gender and race, to the growth of neoconservatism that precipitated the contemporary rise of populist authoritarianism. The pedagogical encounters we explore reflect the notion that the Australian white male is a figure who is brought undone by allowing the subaltern to speak.

Keywords:

• Aversion
• feminism
• pedagogy
• politics
• masculinism
• right-wing masculinities
• whiteness

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge that we work and live on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation in what is now known as the city of Melbourne in the state of Victoria.

Notes

1 The Stolen Generations refers to several Australian acts of parliament from 1869 to 1971 that allowed the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families. See https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/stolen-generations-timeline

2 ‘Reals before feels’ is a colloquial term used in the manosphere and elsewhere online to denote the privileging of masculine rationality over ostensibly irrational feminine feeling, defined as follows: ‘feels before reals … specifically refers to how a woman will not act according to the reality of her situation, but rather will act according to her feelings. The two often go hand in hand’ (ASKRPR 2016).

3 Last accessed 9th October 2018, See https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/did-educator-say-ask-babies-permission/