Conforming to Your Superiors

October Blog Post

Conforming for Your Superiors

Kylie Jones

Discussion about women’s role and experience in the military is not only a difficult topic to unpack, but also a taboo one. In the article, Making My Narrative Mine: Unconventional Articulations of a Female Soldier, written by our very own Professor Manda V. Hicks, she unpacks her own experience as a female solider. The article starts off with Dr. Hicks trying to interview other female soldiers about their experience. Dr. Hicks starts off by asking, “Can you tell me what it is like to be a female soldier?’ The answers are more along the lines of, “I don’t know”, or they would say, “It’s different”. Dr. Hicks then decides that she will use her own personal experience to answer these questions so she can retrieve more in-depth and honest answers.

A phrase that really took me by surprise in this article is when Dr. Hicks says, “Being a female soldier is listening to the Colonel that works in the same room chortle about sexual harassment allegations involving Arnold Schwarzenegger, crowing ‘That ugly bitch is lucky he touched her!’” I could only imagine myself being in that situation and calling my Colonel an array of curse words. But, then again I probably would not just as Dr. Manda Hicks probably wanted to, but did not. Dr. Hicks made a subtle reaction and was scolded to never glare at him again. Dr. Hicks then says “Yes sir”, because that is her superior and she has too. This phrase makes me think about my own life, with my own superiors who I would not question. For example, professors. If a professor says something that I do not entirely agree with I usually speak up and we have an intellectual conversation about the subject. However, there have been instances where professors believe so strongly in something that I feel like when I speak up I am immediately shot down. This is an example of passive listening. I listen silently to my professor and then nod in agreement even if I do not entirely agree or understand.

I was always told that college is where you find yourself and can express yourself creatively. I took that into consideration coming into these undergraduate classes. I started the year off with asking lots of questions, being very active in class, and sometimes playing the devil advocate to get conversation stirring. Nevertheless, as the weeks passed I could tell my professors were seeming to get annoyed with me. I felt as if my questions were now not answered to the fullest extent. This reminded me of Dr. Manda Hicks and how she had to conform to what her superiors wanted her to do. For me this was obeying my professor’s wishes. I would ask questions now, but not too many. I felt as if I had no power in my own education. I was paying to take a class from a professor who instead of teaching us the material, but not unpacking it with us. I read articles, but did not fully understand them because there was no conversation afterwards. I felt as if not only my professors had let me down, but my whole college institution.

Dr. Manda Hicks does not test her superiors or undermine them in anyway. Dr. Hicks followed the rules to get through her situation. Much like this I have to conform to what my University wants me to be and not challenge those who are above me. The communicative world is socially constructed to create meaning and knowledge from our own experiences. In this case Dr. Manda Hicks might have a negative mindset on the military from a female perspective. While I had a negative perspective on my position as a traditional college student. It is important to understand that our own experiences shape the way we see the world and how we become active members of society. Overall, my creativity had been shut down by an institution that was supposed to create young learners, advocates, researches and develop enlightened human beings.