omrades, extra assistance as beginners,
and special courtesy as women.

The contrary occurred. Women were barred out, discriminated against,
taken advantage of, as competitors; and as women they have had to meet
special danger and offence instead of special courtesy. An unforgettable
instance of this lies in the attitude of the medical colleges toward
women students. The men, strong enough, one would think, in numbers,
in knowledge, in established precedent, to be generous, opposed
the newcomers first with absolute refusal; then, when the patient,
persistent applicants did get inside, both students and teachers
met them not only with unkindness and unfairness, but with a weapon
ingeniously well chosen, and most discreditable--namely, obscenity.
Grave professors, in lecture and clinic, as well as grinning students,
used offensive language, and played offensive tricks, to drive the women
out--a most androcentric performance.

Remember that the essential masculine attitude is one of opposition,
of combat; his desire is obtained by first overcoming a competitor;
and then see how this dominant masculinity stands out where it has no
possible use or benefit--in the field of education. All along the line,
man, long master of a subject sex, fought every step of woman toward
mental equality. Nevertheless, since modern man has become human enough
to be just, he has at last let her have a share in the advantages of
education; and she has proven her full power to appreciate and use these
advantages.

Then to-day rises a new cry against "women in education." Here is Mr.
Barrett Wendell, of Harvard, solemnly claiming that teaching women
weakens the intellect of the teacher, and every now and then bursts out
a frantic sputter of alarm over the "feminization" of our schools. It is
true that the majority of teachers are now women. It is true that they
do have an influence on growing children. It would even seem to be true
that that is largely what women are for.

But the male assumes his influence to be normal, human, and the female
influence as wholly a matter of sex; therefore, where women teach boys,
the boys become "effeminate"--a grievous fall. When men teach girls, do
the girls become -----? Here again we lack the analogue. Never has it
occurred to the androcentric mind to conceive of such a thing as being
too masculine. There is no such word! It is odd to notice that which
ever way the woman is placed, she is supposed to exert