Molding Me in Their Image

Abstract

This chapter examines how the paternalistic nature of academia shaped the author's development as a graduate student and as a young professor. Overcoming the oppression of a paternalistic culture is challenging for any woman, but even more so for women of color who are assumed to need even more steering, shaping, and molding. It is ironic that the discipline in which the author chose to pursue advanced studies, sociology, is a discipline that has a core goal of examining and challenging inequality. This, however, does not make it impervious to perpetuating inequality. This chapter examines how long it took to take control of shaping the author's own image and to learn to navigate a culture that is still heavily influenced by patriarchal standards.