Centering the Conversation: Patriarchy, Academic Culture, and #MeToo

In this space, perhaps similar to that of a therapist's office or even a confessional, writers often disclose the traumatic experiences they suffer in academia: the L2 learner who just "can't write"; the doctoral candidate with an abusive and controlling advisor; or a young woman who experienced sexual assault on campus and has no one to confide in. Even in academic conversations about the #MeToo movement, the focus has been on overt experiences of sexual assault, and white women have dominated the conversation, as seen in the WPA-listserv (WPA-L) conversation, "We have a Weinstein problem." Writing centers often aim to be "safe spaces" on campuses (and I am aware that there is pushback in the writing center community regarding this term) and I believe both the space and term are feminized and seen as inferior, weak, or less than because of accepted patriarchal practices of marginalization and exclusion which fostered an environment of sexual harassment in academia.