Kellian Clink

Kellian Clink Oral History Interview, 2013 (Part 1)

Kellian Clink Oral History Interview, 2013 (Part 2)

Kellian Clink Oral History Interview, 2013 (Part 3)

            Kelly Clink’s 2013 interview provided numerous insights and reflections into her college experience in 1977-1980.  While some of these experiences were exclusive to her, there were experiences and trends that she mentioned that correlate with what we know to be national issues during this time period.  Perhaps one of the biggest of these issues was the overt sexism in academia.

            Just from some passing comments made by Kelly, we are able to see that, not only did sexism occur, it was not too uncommon for that time period.  “He was really sexist, you know, so that Trudy, who was his secretary, he referenced her as a ‘bimbo’ which was not so good.  But you know what, it was like a really different time, and, um, she and he had had a really combatitive, but like a really even-stevens relationship, in that she was his secretary and he had all these doctorates and stuff, but she gave as good as she got, but definitely his behavior, in regards to her, very problematic.”[1]  Not only does Kelly provide a specific example of sexism occurring in the realm of academia, she goes as far as to make the claim that this type of thing is not uncommon.  This claim, sadly, seems to be well founded, since according to a 1977 study, forty-percent of female graduate students reported experiencing sexist attitudes from male faculty members.[2]  While this study focuses on sexist attitudes directed towards students, it seems likely to assume that if a professor is sexist towards a student then he would probably also be sexist towards his secretary.  While the idea that sexism could have occurred regularly on college campuses during the late seventies is unpleasant, Kelly’s interview, as well as Linda Clark’s study, seem to suggest that this culture of sexism was, indeed, an unfortunate reality in the realm of academia.  Unfortunately, as we see in Norton’s A People & A Nation, we see that this sexism wasn’t just limited to the academic world.  Indeed, traditional gender roles had been resurfacing along with the rise of the religious right.  “More than half of married women with children under three worked outside the home—many from economic necessity.  The religious right’s insistence that women’s place was in the home, subordinated to their husbands, contradicted the gains made toward sexual equality and the reality of many women’s lives.”[3]  The real question, however, is that now that we know that sexism occurred back then, can we be sure that this kind of sexism isn’t still occurring today?

Essay by David Bishop