Academic Woman Amplified

The solitary nature of writing can perpetuate the image of the “typical” professor, a lone (male) figure, doing it all alone. But writing together, as womxn, is a radical act! The image of a typical professor is usually as a lone (male) intellectual, head down, wrestling the big ideas of academia all on his own. And academia perpetuates this vision. We are socialized to be toxically self-reliant. Not a lot of value is placed on asking for help, sharing your wisdom with a community, or making sure the voices of others are heard. There’s an unspoken implication that if you aren’t “smart enough” to figure it out on your own, maybe you shouldn’t be here.   Writing itself can encourage the ‘lone wolf’ academic ideal. After all, it’s your brain, your ideas, and the blank page. Even if you’re co-writing a piece,  it’s usually a back and forth kind of collaboration, not an in-person activity. And sometimes all this solitariness can make it difficult to keep dates you set with your writing. So my team and I decided to