American Girl in Italy Part 2 : What Makes a Hero?

As promised, I am following up my previous post on sexism and feminism in Italy, particularly focusing on my experiences in Neapolitan High Schools with my students and colleagues.

A quick Italian history lesson to get everyone up to speed: This year marks the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy into one country. The man who is most widely recognized as the leader of unification, and one of Italy’s greatest national heroes, is Giuseppe Garibaldi- a figure quite similar to the United States’ George Washington. In class, we are doing a unit based on his persona, the role he played in the unification, his relationship with the United States, and his relationship with women around the world (I’ve been informed by my cooperating teacher that he was somewhat of a “ladies man”. Not quite sure what that means yet…)

In my role as an English Teaching Assistant, I am not always in charge of creating lesson plans, thus the idea to focus on Garibaldi and the accompanying lessons are all the work of my cooperating teacher. It was during the very first lesson in this unit, that the even inspiring these blog postings occurred.

Addressing Garibaldi’s position as a “national hero”, my colleague posed the question “What makes a hero?” to the class. Great question, right? Of course, until she elaborated on the question by saying, “What qualities should a man have to be considered a hero? What traits should he posses? What should he be like?” With these words, red lights went off in my feminist brain. What qualities should a MAN have to be considered a hero? What should HE be like?!

I hoped that my students, especially my female students, would catch this and somehow add on that, silly teacher, women can be heroes too! We would all laugh, recognize the oversight and move on, including women in the hero narrative. This, however, did not happen. The students did not even seem to blink an eye and even the young women responded using the masculine pronoun “he”. “He should be strong and powerful. He should be brave and intelligent. He should be a leader”. Of course, most of the adjectives used to describe a hero were traits traditionally considered as masculine: Strong, powerful, brave- all things that women, delicate and demure, are not, or should not be.

I felt shocked, upset and invisible. I felt like screaming, but tried not to show my frustration. How could no one notice this? How could I be the only one who felt the importance of a simple pronoun and the weight of its meaning? Was I really alone in wondering if women could be considered heroes as well, or if women could even posses the traits used to describe a hero? Was I the only one thinking this because I was the only American, because I was the only feminist or a combination of both?

Now, I do realize that when speaking generally, most people often default to the masculine. This is true in the Italian language as well as English. However, I also realize that the personal is political and that we should pay close attention when choosing our words. It is our responsibility and our duty, even more so as teachers, to pay attention to our own language so as to send the right message.  A word as simple as “he” or “she” can make a huge difference in meaning and in the way people receive that meaning. This is especially true for young people who look up to us; hearing that question phrased in the masculine sends the message to young girls sitting in that room that they cannot be considered a “hero” and that they cannot posses the qualities to make them so.

I knew I had to address the issue in front of the class, yet how to do it without offending my colleague (and without coming off as the stereotypical, alienating, crazy, man-hating feminist) was a difficult task. I listened to all the students’ answers, I listened to “he should be fearless, he should be good-looking, he should be charming, he should be muscular”, with a smile on my face. When my colleague called upon me to give my opinion, I simply started with “He or she should be a role model”. Frankly, I wasn’t sure what to say, but all  heroes should be role models, right?

I tried to put a little more emphasis on “or she”, which elicited giggles from the class and a light-hearted eye roll and head shake from my colleague. Now, I’m not sure whether or not they were laughing at the idea of a woman hero or at the fact that there I was again, preaching equality and women’s rights (silly american!), but I have a feeling it was more the latter. I let it go and just continued using the “she” pronoun for the rest of my list. To be honest, I’m not even sure of the adjectives I used, but I think respectful, eloquent, and inclusive of all peoples got in there somewhere.

Now, I’m sure this kind of thing happens in the United States all the time. Defaulting to masculine pronouns is common, so why did it strike me so much in this situation? (probably from reading too much Feministing!) I don’t want my female students feeling ignored or thinking that they can never be considered heroic. I don’t want a two letter word to keep them from feeling empowered, respected and recognized. I also don’t want to force my own cultural beliefs onto another culture or to come off as a pompous, entitled American. How can I find the balance between the two? How can I reconcile recognizing every day sexism and respecting Italian tradition? Is Italian tradition in this case even worth respecting, given that it so negatively effects women? I have so many questions and so few answers! It doesn’t help that I sometimes feel like the only feminist in the city (which I know can’t be true, however, I’ve yet to meet another!).

I’m also very interested in hearing other ideas about what makes a hero. I felt somewhat at a loss for adjectives when called upon by my colleague, as I wanted to give a description that could fit both sexes and yet still be seen as “heroic” by my students. Any ideas on that front?

I hope to continue these posts in the future with more musings on Italian culture and feminism. Please let me know your thoughts!