Phone Pranks and Gender on Campus

Phone Pranks and Gender on CampusLiteracy Weblog)

I’m at my desk, working late. The phone rings. An unfamiliar female voice says, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”

I tell her I don’t have one.

“That’s a very nice blue shirt you are wearing,” the voice continues. “It goes well with your red tie.”

I look out my window, but the buildings I can see from here are all dark. It’s a little creepy, but only a little. The student tells me her name, tells me she’s calling from a darkened classroom in the admin building, and tells someone else in the room to turn on the light. I recognize at least one of the students she is with; they all wave cheerfully, and I get back to work. Later, a colleague of mine is rather annoyed to learn of the incident, saying that even if the students had no malicous intent, they were too old for prank calls. But I can’t really get myself worked up about it; I did plenty of silly stuff when I was 20, and I don’t think it harmed anyone.

As a male working at a historically female school — one which is actively recruiting more males — I see some interesting gender dynamics at this school. Some of the upperclass female students are very unhappy about having to share their power with the male students in the sophomore and freshman classes.

Had I been a female, working alone at night, and had a group of male students called me up, made a reference to a movie that features the terrorization and murder of a woman, and made comments about my clothing, would I have felt differently? Food for thought.

7 thoughts on “Phone Pranks and Gender on Campus

  1. “without realizing the implications that in today’s society what a simple trick like this can take on”
    Or, maybe they knew you well enough to know you wouldn’t get all offended! I know it’s a shocking theory, but perhaps students are actually capable of differentiating between different professors!

  2. Agreed. I think age has something to do with it, too. They assumed you’d “get” the pop culture reference and laugh it away, given you’re hipness with internet culture and a perception that you’re youthful (perhaps only b/c you’re the new prof on the block while they’ve got a sense of ‘seniority’ even if they’re nearly a generation below you).

  3. Obviously in this case, these students like you and feel comfortable enough to play a trick on you, without realizing the implications that in today’s society what a simple trick like this can take on. But you’re most correct in keeping your guard up and not taking anything of this nature lightly until it’s proven to be just that, an innocent prank.

  4. Very perceptive.
    Kinda creepy? Very creepy.
    I’d be worried, Dr. Jerz.
    But then again, I’m a girl–I worry all the time. Do I have my Mace? Do I have my key in my hand to get in the car? Do I know karate? No.
    Yes I would feel differently.

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