What do male teachers do in the Alexander world?
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Luke Ford
Dec 20, 2011, 11:02:47 AM12/20/11
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I've noticed that female Alexander teachers seem to outnumber males by
about two to one.
about two to one.
The organizational Alexander world seems particularly full of estrogen
and tends to run along the lines that women do things (democratic
decision making, trying to make everyone feel safe, supporting and
nurturing each other, sharing feelings, non-violent communication,
etc).
So how do the male Alexander teachers react? Those who are more used
to violent communication. Do they chafe? Do they feel like they
surrendered their balls when they went Alexander? I suspect that many
male teachers are more comfortable with hierarchical arrangements
rather than nurturing collegial ones. Do they carve out their own
niches where they can be king? Robert Rickover has his online kingdom.
I have my blog. Joe Boland has Yosemite. We'll always have Paris.
With my female students and my more sensitive male students, my
primary concern in a lesson is to make them feel safe and supported.
With my more manly students, my primary concern is to make learning
the Technique an adventure.
Rex Alexander
Dec 21, 2011, 3:47:11 AM12/21/11
to alex...@googlegroups.com
Wed 21 Dec 2011, 3:34 pm
The internet is opening traditionally "collegial" (some might say cloistered and insulated) approaches such as AT to unprecedented scrutiny and frank discussion. My hunch is that many such systems will simply wither when exposed to that intense light. "The Emperor has no clothes!" is a powerful declaration.
"Cloistered" systems provide both advantage and danger to teachers and practitioners. On the one hand, they force the teacher to actually use whatever it is he or she is teaching in order to maintain integrity and credibility. That's all to the good. On the other hand, if the mojo stops working, it can be very tempting for a teacher to keep "talking the talk" while no longer "walking the walk" due to the professional, financial and ideological chaos that might result from, for lack of better term, a crisis of faith. Speaking from personal experience, continuing to "talk the talk" while no longer "walking the walk" can lead to significant neurosis!
Nick Mellor
Dec 21, 2011, 4:18:25 AM12/21/11
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Hi Luke,
I hope what male teachers are doing is finding ways to make Alexander
Technique accessible and explainable to men. Actually, Alexander
Technique teaching is far less heavily tipped towards women
practitioners than many other health professions. I'm married to a
homeopath, in which women outnumber men more than 10 to 1.
However, my training felt quite feminine and, without knowing very
well how to explain this, I had to shake off what I couldn't use in my
own teaching in order to find my own teaching persona. Perhaps some of
your slightly risque "full of oestrogen"-style remarks come from a
similar experience? :-)
I do, at this moment, prefer teaching men and I think they're a part
of the market for Alexander Technique we're not reaching particularly
well.
When teaching men, the differences are subtle. It's perhaps more to do
with gender dynamics (teacher and student of the same or different
sex) than a simplistic "men are like/prefer this" and "women are like/
prefer this." But without stereotyping men or women, perhaps the
following are worth thinking about:
- keep language straightforward and everyday. No "fluff" (as defined
by the male sex.) Always keep the language and examples relevant to
male-preferred activities. It's possible men will be less patient with
you if you *seem* irrelevant for a time
- working with a builder I do my best to make the work instantly
useful by asking them what movements they find difficult *before* I
start teaching them anything else. You could say, that's just being
student-led, and I'd agree with you that it's a good principle no
matter who you're teaching
- give talks at places that are bastions of maleness: tradies, sports
clubs, some kinds of businesses
I'm part of an alternative health centre for some of the time and try
to encourage the practitioners (12 women and me) to value male input
into the healing and teaching process, not least so men have a chance
of being encouraged to choose a male practitioner if they want to.
Especially if it's either that or seek no help at all (a good strong
male pattern!)
Best wishes,
Nick
I hope what male teachers are doing is finding ways to make Alexander
Technique accessible and explainable to men. Actually, Alexander
Technique teaching is far less heavily tipped towards women
practitioners than many other health professions. I'm married to a
homeopath, in which women outnumber men more than 10 to 1.
However, my training felt quite feminine and, without knowing very
well how to explain this, I had to shake off what I couldn't use in my
own teaching in order to find my own teaching persona. Perhaps some of
your slightly risque "full of oestrogen"-style remarks come from a
similar experience? :-)
I do, at this moment, prefer teaching men and I think they're a part
of the market for Alexander Technique we're not reaching particularly
well.
When teaching men, the differences are subtle. It's perhaps more to do
with gender dynamics (teacher and student of the same or different
sex) than a simplistic "men are like/prefer this" and "women are like/
prefer this." But without stereotyping men or women, perhaps the
following are worth thinking about:
- keep language straightforward and everyday. No "fluff" (as defined
by the male sex.) Always keep the language and examples relevant to
male-preferred activities. It's possible men will be less patient with
you if you *seem* irrelevant for a time
- working with a builder I do my best to make the work instantly
useful by asking them what movements they find difficult *before* I
start teaching them anything else. You could say, that's just being
student-led, and I'd agree with you that it's a good principle no
matter who you're teaching
- give talks at places that are bastions of maleness: tradies, sports
clubs, some kinds of businesses
I'm part of an alternative health centre for some of the time and try
to encourage the practitioners (12 women and me) to value male input
into the healing and teaching process, not least so men have a chance
of being encouraged to choose a male practitioner if they want to.
Especially if it's either that or seek no help at all (a good strong
male pattern!)
Best wishes,
Nick
Franis Engel
Dec 21, 2011, 4:29:24 AM12/21/11
to lukei...@gmail.com, AlexTech Mail List
Hey - I didn't know it was two to one, women to men. Why are there not more female writers here? Rather obviously, male teachers seem to, more often than not, end up speaking for the females in representing the Alexander Technique to the world. It's a cultural thing. (Not in my own case, rather obviously...)
Hey Luke, you might be happy for that. At least you have many candidates to choose from who might consider you as a co-hort, if they can come to appreciate your rather oddly twisted sense of humor and being made the butt of jokes about them on youtube. At least you seem to have a sense of what makes people pay attention to whatever you have to say. Why did you train to teach A.T, Luke? - (yes, I'm also asking the same question to other male members here.) The guys I know who have trained to teach A.T. did it as an extension of another interest they had been developing for some time - as I did. But some came "into the fold" from having A.T. work rather well on a physical challenge, as is what happened to many of the women. |
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Tim Kjeldsen
Dec 21, 2011, 5:00:40 AM12/21/11
to Alextech list
Hello list
I may not have much to contribute to this thread, but I’m answering emails at the moment and this thread has just begun to roll, so I might as well chip in. My student base is about equal male and female and, although I’ve thought about it a lot over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that there aren’t any important differences between them so far as learning the AT goes.
I do kind of think that most of my students are clearly not highly gender-polarised i.e. very macho or extremely ‘feminine’ (whatever that exactly means). I probably lose most of those pretty quickly. And that leads me to think that a reasonable blend of stereotypically ‘male’ and ‘female’ qualities lends itself best to learning this work: the ability and willingness to think rationally and logically combined with a sensitivity and openness to experience. I don’t suppose either of these are particularly male or female qualities, but people who have a reasonable balance of them are the ones who are most able to learn the AT, at least the way I teach it!
Tim
I may not have much to contribute to this thread, but I’m answering emails at the moment and this thread has just begun to roll, so I might as well chip in. My student base is about equal male and female and, although I’ve thought about it a lot over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that there aren’t any important differences between them so far as learning the AT goes.
I do kind of think that most of my students are clearly not highly gender-polarised i.e. very macho or extremely ‘feminine’ (whatever that exactly means). I probably lose most of those pretty quickly. And that leads me to think that a reasonable blend of stereotypically ‘male’ and ‘female’ qualities lends itself best to learning this work: the ability and willingness to think rationally and logically combined with a sensitivity and openness to experience. I don’t suppose either of these are particularly male or female qualities, but people who have a reasonable balance of them are the ones who are most able to learn the AT, at least the way I teach it!
Tim
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