First Post: Isolation - I’m not feelin’ it... are you?

It is somewhat surprising to me that I am writing a blog about being a woman in philosophy. When I first started to think about the issue, my initial reaction was “oh right, I guess there aren’t a lot of us...” For me, being a philosopher and being a girl have never been in conflict. My experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Still, as I began to think about the issue, I began to notice many interesting facets of my life that emerge from living in this male dominated world. Some are negative, some are positive, some just are. It seemed to me that as women in philosophy, we share an incredibly specific experience and there might be something fascinating and useful about sharing it. This is especially true since the majority of us do not have many female philosophers to share it with.

So, hi! I’m Emily. I am a girl and a philosopher. Let me address the girl part first. As much as I try to gracefully mature into calling myself a woman, I still think of myself as a girl. Some days I braid my blonde hair into pigtails and don a pink sundress before biking over to school, and the word “woman” just doesn’t seem to fit that, so I will stick with girl for a little bit longer. Maybe forever.

I am not a typical girl but I am a somewhat girly girl. I love to dress up, go shopping, dance, watch romantic comedies. I cry when I’m upset. I have strong maternal instincts to watch over my friends. I think babies are cute.

I don’t want to start stereotyping other women by saying that these things are feminine. There are a million ways to be feminine. Those are just a few that seem particular amusing to me when I find myself sitting in a room, with a group of guys, discussing some intricate detail of possible world metaphysics. Because, let’s face it - philosophy is not only dominated and overpopulated by men, it is chock full of male stereotypes.

I’m sure all of these will come up in due time but let’s skip the list for now - today I want to talk about the issue of isolation.

My attention was particularly caught by the discussion of isolation when I was scrolling though the sporadic articles and blog posts about the state of women in philosophy. The recurring statement was that female philosophers may feel isolated because there are no other women around. “Hmmm...” I thought to myself “Do I feel isolated?” For me, the answer is a resounding “no”.

I spend the majority of my time with philosophers. In school and out. And, almost all of them are guys. It is not uncommon for me to be hanging out in a group of nine or ten philosophers, of which I am the only girl. Still, it is rare that I think about it in those terms. These are my best friends, I am not “one of the guys”, but I am one of the philosophers, and I never feel excluded or alienated because of my gender. In seminars and colloquium, at conferences, at social events with colleagues, I feel confident and accepted. This is not to say that no one notices the fact that I am a girl. It is not even to say that they don’t treat me differently because I am a girl, it is just to say that I don’t feel isolated - I feel like one of the pack.

This is especially true when I compare my interactions with philosophers to my interactions with non-philosophers. Although I have many good friends, both men and women, who do not belong to the crazy philosophy world, I have never met so many people that I clicked with than I have since coming to grad school. I get philosophers, and they get me. In some ways, we all speak the same language. It is a rather annoying language to non-philosophers but it’s ours and there is something comforting about conversing in it. With philosophers, no one gets offended when I play the devil’s advocate, no one thinks I am being argumentative because I disagree, and any mundane issue can morph into a three hour philosophical debate. It might be a debate about whether a burger is a type of sandwich, but it is an extremely rigorous debate.

To me, being isolated is being around people that just don’t get me. In undergrad, I felt isolated. My friends were awesome people, but most of them didn’t get me and I probably didn’t get them. When I imagine moving into another field, perhaps one with more women, I immediately fear going back to that isolated state. Isolation is not having any philosophers around.

Still, having felt isolation, it concerns me that women in philosophy may be suffering from it. How do you feel about the issue of isolation? Are you feelin’ it? Please share your thoughts or stories! :)