subcultures

I have a class with a eccentric American teacher, who's apparently dabbled in porn (as an actor), is a script doctor, writes sociological inquiries about high-class SM practices and owns a crumbling villa in Morocco. He wants us to write a presentation on a subculture, and he gave us a handout about some of the themes already done in his previous classes:
Pro-ana, gothic lolitas, steampunk, gay skinheads, transsexual Iranians, pedophiles, neo-vampires, dykes and lipstick lesbians, trekkies, nerds, frats etc.
On the whole I don't find it an uninteresting topic and I'm thinking of writing about Furries. But what got me ticked off was the way he described some of the subcultures he supposedly "studies". For someone who's worked in the porn industry, he's pretty narrow-minded, describing transsexuals as people who have to work through their issues and mocking the Amish. Excuse me? Yell about pedophiles all you want, but no one is hurting anyone by wearing Spock ears and nerding out at conventions. GAHHHH. At one point he told a student that queer was a synonym for gay. No context, no detailed explanation. I wonder if I'm overreacting.

Maybe those who belong to a subculture can be even more intolerant than mainstream people. As a sociologist, he has no reason to let any judgement enter his field of work. So, shut up, teacher. Or rather, shape up and open your mind.

Entrepreneurial classes and feminism

I am currently following graduate courses on green energy and sustainable development. Just for the fun of it, I've added a bizarro course on entrepreneurial skills to the mix. Yesterday was my first class and it did not disappoint. Imagine two hundred gung-ho young people dressed up to the nines banging on their computer while checking their Blackberries; I mean, these are students. They take themselves way too seriously. Adding to the ridiculousness of the situation was the "teacher", an entrepreneur who went to Harvard Business School (it was mentionned several times during his power point presentation) and peppered his pep talk with "Cash out when you can", "What's the deal?" and other Americanisms, all delivered in a terrible French accent. Regularly he would question us on "freedom", or "perfectionism", and one of the suits in the room would follow up with a hysterically earnest declaration on how "being your own boss is like being the president of the world". One of them said his entrepreneurial god was the creator of Virgin, then failed to remember his name. WELL PLAYED! And that would be Richard Branson, you Blackberried fool. Next time read The Economist instead of spending hours on the choice of your suit.

Equally hilarious to me was the dialogue between one of the women attending the class and the "teacher". In French every word is gendered and usually masculine: so if you were to say professor, or organizer, it would have to be followed by a precision that this also includes the ladieeeez. Unfortunately our Harvard Business alumnus did not really soak up any political correctness from his time in Boston, since he refused to do this (simple) task. Thankfully, one woman in the front row kept correcting him and he grew noticeably annoyed.

He introduced us at the end of the class to a remarkable young woman of African descent who without any help has started a beauty salon empire in Paris. I was happy to see that he was less macho that I had envisaged, until he introduced himself as "her guide" and "her mentor" in the "complicated area of entrepreneurial management". This would have not pissed me off if he hadn't shown me previously how narrow-minded he was-he is much older than she is and has more theoretical knowledge than she has, so it's not absurd to talk about mentoring her-but he did it in such a way that I left the class with a bitter taste in my mouth.

I sense great amusement and cringing in the future.