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[findbridge]

Hello,

I was wondering if the members can help me understand a recent experience.

I am in the field of mental health. I was taking a course in trauma at a large public university in town. I used the course listserve to circulate some articles on female genital mutilation, thinking that it was relevant to the topic. A male who was team teaching the course (one of several people) responded, saying that he thought the material was "fascinating" and that he would share it with a friend who was a cultural anthropologist. He made no other comment. I was puzzled by this response. I was wondering if it was intended as a dismissive, belittling remark. Or was I just being paranoid?

[zharkov]

Hello,

I was wondering if the members can help me understand a recent experience.

I am in the field of mental health. I was taking a course in trauma at a large public university in town. I used the course listserve to circulate some articles on female genital mutilation, thinking that it was relevant to the topic. A male who was team teaching the course (one of several people) responded, saying that he thought the material was "fascinating" and that he would share it with a friend who was a cultural anthropologist. He made no other comment. I was puzzled by this response. I was wondering if it was intended as a dismissive, belittling remark. Or was I just being paranoid?

Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke.

So don't try to read into things like that, assume the best, but cut the cards.

[crowie]

Hello,

I was wondering if the members can help me understand a recent experience.

I am in the field of mental health. I was taking a course in trauma at a large public university in town. I used the course listserve to circulate some articles on female genital mutilation, thinking that it was relevant to the topic. A male who was team teaching the course (one of several people) responded, saying that he thought the material was "fascinating" and that he would share it with a friend who was a cultural anthropologist. He made no other comment. I was puzzled by this response. I was wondering if it was intended as a dismissive, belittling remark. Or was I just being paranoid?

It doesn't sound dismissive to me at all.  It sounds like he is having a scholarly response to the material, though, rather than an emotional one (fgm is an emotive topic after all) but that doesn't mean he is dismissing it--indeed, he is saying he is interested and wants to talk about it more with his friend the cultural anthropologist.  He may even be attempting to model for the students how to respond to emotionally troubling material in a scholarly fashion.

[larryc]

I am just guessing here, but I suspect that he thought the material was fascinating and that he shared it with a friend who was a cultural anthropologist. But that is just my interpretation of this puzzling episode.

[t_r_b]

I am just guessing here, but I suspect that he thought the material was fascinating and that he shared it with a friend who was a cultural anthropologist. But that is just my interpretation of this puzzling episode.

Occam's Razor and all that.

[polly_mer]

I am just guessing here, but I suspect that he thought the material was fascinating and that he shared it with a friend who was a cultural anthropologist. But that is just my interpretation of this puzzling episode.

Occam's Razor and all that.

Yep, likely another shot of good old common sense by LarryC.

[al_wallace]

I had a colleague email me once about some ideas for her diversity course. She asked if she should assign a paper on female genital mutilation for discussion in class. I thought it would be an interesting topic and suggested that she add a paper on the health values of male circumcision as another perspective paper.  I never got a response. In hindsight, I wonder if she perceived my response as being snarky (which is wasn't intended to be).