Marina, sorry to hear about your bad experiences at gyms.I'd like to recommend the Orinda crossfit gym if you are still looking. I only went for a month when a friend bought me a trial membership, but I remember that it was owned and operated by a woman and attendance and leadership was gender-balanced and this seemed to flow directly out of the collegial spirit that Tom is inspired by. I never observed and cannot imagine there men disrespecting women on a gender basis or anyone disrespecting anyone on any basis for that matter — it was to the core a gathering of peers. I favored the power lifting classes and they were not exceptions to any of this.
I hope that if morning math continues to be inspired by athletic collegiality it will be in the tradition of gyms like this one that don't view physical exertion in terms of gender stereotypes as being a distinctly male thing. I also hope that we don't perpetuate such stereotypes in sudo room.
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 11:14 PM, Marina Kukso <marina.kukso@gmail.com> wrote:
hey tom,***wall of text incoming***i had no idea though that these were the social norms in boxing gyms - everything that you shared is really instructive and definitely broke down a lot of my misconceptions. it's entirely possible that boxing gyms aren't at all like my image of them, that many of us women have unfair misconceptions about what they're like, but if you use this metaphor, you'll have to battle against that expectation. additionally, it's also possible that your experience of the boxing gym space is shaped by your experience as a man and that a woman might experience a boxing space differently. i honestly have no idea whether that's the case and would love to learn more about your experience with boxing gyms.
this is so cool and i really appreciate how well-thought-out and well-written your proposal is for creating a safe math learning environment. have you heard of the berkeley compass project? they work with physics freshmen at berkeley to help create a learning support network in a program that's famous for serving a weeding out function. also, if you are interested in readings about inclusive math pedagogy, just let me know and i'll be happy to shower you with pdf's.
while i love some of the principles that you've outlined as being productive social norms for learning based on the boxing gym metaphor, my suggestion would be to consider not using the boxing gym metaphor in the name of the group. my own perspective (and the perspective of many women i know), is that boxing gyms are pretty heavily coded "MALE - do not enter unless you want to be looked up and down, humiliated, and judged.". they're up there with free weight rooms, mechanic shops, lumberyards, and hardware stores. (to give a free weight example, when i was in college, it was so bad that a friend and i would only go to the free weight room at the gym together because the judging, humiliating looks and patronizing smiles were just too much. we actually couldn't even focus on figuring out how to use the machines because we were so preoccupied with the eyes on our backs. women's bodies are subject to so much scrutiny by strangers all the fucking time (i was harassed twice in the first 15 seconds of a run yesterday!) that it was just not worth it to have to experience this degradation in order to use this part of the gym, so after a couple times we never went back).
i wonder if others have similar thoughts about the boxing gym metaphor and also ideas for other metaphors that might let people know that "this will be a study group that supports you in your learning" (although you could just call it "math study group" and list the "ground rules." or just go full hippie: "inclusive math study group.")
- marinaOn Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 9:57 PM, Thomas Fitzpatrick <fitzsnaggle@gmail.com> wrote:
If there are no objections, I'm reenstating Morning Math. I think a new name is in order and would like to field a couple - Math Gym, Visceral Mathematics, Romancing Methods...
Sessions will start at 7:30 AM. I will be staying and holding up the torch until 11:30. Participants are free to come and go as the please between those times on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday (no pressure to show up on all days, but I will be there) with the possibility of more days.
All levels are welcome - there will always be something to do. The vision is that despite skill levels and relative experiences, we can all benefit from contact with each other as Mathematicians.
My favorite learning environment is a boxing gym and I think that is where our social norms should be derived from.
* Many different styles of boxing and training - trainers are free to take on students, students can go to new trainers, or you can have no trainer and get bits of advice from many people
* People arriving and leaving at dispar