“Men In Literature” Course Cancelled; Why? Penises, Of Course

by JASmius



One lit course.  One little, lonely lit course that didn't obsess over and glorify a minority group or vaginas or any other politically-favored "right tribe" entity.  One teeny-tiny, isolated lit course that didn't glorify the convex gender but simply studied its contributions to Western culture.

One egregious affront to the leftwingnut academic leviathan that must be purged from existence with extreme, raging prejudice for its unforgivable sins of giving men a voice and, you know, Western culture:

Springfield College recently cancelled a “Men in Literature” course on the grounds that its inordinate emphasis on [the "wrong"] gender creates a “hostile environment” for women.

I almost don't have to quote any farther, do I?  But I will, because ain't no way I'm going to suffer this nonsense by myself.

Professor Dennis Gouws began teaching the course back in 2005, and has offered it several times since then upon the encouragement of his department chair. The course was intended to survey contemporary culture’s preoccupation with gender by specifically focusing on the male role in culture.

Rush Limbaugh used to call it "illustrating absurdity by being absurd".  The only problem I can see with it is that it may have been a better fit for the Psychiatry Department than English Lit.

Now, though, Springfield has determined that Gouws’ course is unfit to teach after the chair and dean of his department questioned the content of his syllabus, claiming that Gouws focused too much on the male’s societal function rather than his portrayal in literature.

i.e. They started taking "progressive" fire and immediately capitulated, as "portrayals in literature" reflect the "societal function" outside of subversive or "fundamentally transformative" literature, which is, of course, the whole point.  Or "a distinction without a difference".

Gouws agreed to change his syllabus to include more literary texts and fewer gender studies readings....

i.e. Defeat the purpose of the course that his department chair urged him to undertake.

....but the university still ultimately decided to cancel the course, informing Gouws with a letter from Provost Jean Wyld....

i.e. A woman.  With a vagina, presumably.

....on March 15th.

According to the letter, Dean Anne Herzog....

i.e. Another woman.  With another vagina, presumably.

....deemed the proposed revisions to be insufficient, arguing that several of the remaining reading assignments involve materials that relate more to gender studies than to literature.

i,e. She cut Professor Gouws's academic balls off.

Administrators also reviewed the syllabi for three other courses taught by Gouws, ruling that two of them “appropriately focus on literature,” but raising objections to an essay assignment in his ENGL 113 Composition Course that asks students to “write about how men are treated in their respective academic environments.”

I think Professor Gouws threw that one in as irony bait.

“You do not afford students the opportunity to choose a gender to write about nor do you require all students to write about the opposite gender,” the letter admonishes him, saying, “Such is certainly a concern from an academic and even legal perspective. [emphasis added]

Such a shock that there is no choice about which gender to write in a course that focuses on a single gender.  And Professor Gouws chose the wrong one, and if he doesn't switch back to only obsessing on women and minorities and homosexuals and gender impersonators and pedophiles and vegesexuals - i.e. "twenty-first century society's ruling elite" - then he will be jailed.  Because "Men's Studies" is sexist, "Straight Studies" is homophobic, "White Studies" is the Trump campaign, and how DARE you question fifty-eight different genders!

At this point Professor Gouws must be seriously questioning his choice of careers.  Since I can totally relate to that regret, allow me to provide him with some other English lit course ideas, free of charge:

Now that Charlie Brown is dealing with important issues, how about some "PEANUTS" specials for kids of the [twenty-first century]?:

Chuck and the Little Red-Headed Girl find out about unwanted pregnancy in, "DAMN STRAIGHT IT'S YOUR BABY, CHARLIE BROWN."

Check off the "safe sex" box.

Is Linus gay? Find out in, "IT'S A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE, CHARLIE BROWN."

Check of the homosexual box.

See how the "PEANUTS" gang deal with date rape in, "NO MEANS NO, CHARLIE BROWN!"

Check off the feminist, um, box.

Discover a father's forbidden love in, "IT'S OUR LITTLE SECRET, CHARLIE BROWN."

Check off the incestuous pedophile box.

Franklin speaks! The "PEANUTS" gang gets a lesson in Ebonics in, "IMA BUSTA CAP IN YO ASS, CHARLIE BROWN."

Check off the minority/#BlackLivesMatter box.

What goes on in the mind of a serial killer? Discover the inner of workings of Pig Pen's twisted psyche and meet his murderous alter ego, "Mr. Clean" in, "GOD CALLED THE TRAILER PARK AND TOLD ME TO DO IT, CHARLIE BROWN."

Check off the "demonize whitey" box.

Charlie Brown peddles his body for crack money while stealing Social Security checks and boosting automobiles in, "BLAME IT ON THE MAN, CHARLIE BROWN."

Check off the "Feel the Bern" box.

Snoopy deals with his shortcomings after being neutered in, "WHY DID YOU CUT MY BALLS OFF, CHARLIE BROWN?"

Okay, that one's just wrong.

...and Marcy and Peppermint Patty explore their sexual feelings for each other in, "YOU MOW THE GRASS, AND SO DO WE, CHARLIE BROWN."

The homosexual blue plate special.

And "transgenderism"....hmm, let me think....how about this:

Schroeder yearns to trade places at the toy piano in, "PLEASE CUT MY BALLS OFF, CHARLIE BROWN!"

Let's see Dean Anne Herzog cancel that.