Obviously They Were There, But…:’ Men’s Presence in Women’s Studies – An Israeli Perspective

This article focuses on women students' perceptions of and responses to the presence of men in a Women's Studies (WS) classroom. Like other feminist scholars (Bignell; Sethna), the authors feel strongly that it is necessary to incorporate students' perspectives into the theory and practice of feminist pedagogy. But although the issue of men's presence in WS is a familiar one in feminist research, only one study has focused on the perceptions of women students (Philips and Westland). This current study further develops this approach; by focusing on the impact of their socio-cultural background, it deconstructs the category of "women students." More precisely, the authors compare the perceptions of Israeli-Palestinian women to those of Israeli-Jewish women, bringing a fresh perspective to this issue. (Contains 9 endnotes.)