Why do people who know better stay silent in the face of damaging behaviors? Through engaging stories, this article in the journal Studies in Symbolic Interaction discusses how the angry expression of power over others is enabled through the silencing of those with lower status who witness its expression. Status silencing uses the fear of reprisal for speaking up with different viewpoints and/or about inappropriate behaviors. Gendered roles associated with leadership and power can create forms of toxic masculinity. Thus, status silencing and toxic masculinity are reasons why bystander intervention does not always occur when it should. As the authors note, patriarchy works best when it goes unrecognized; this article may help individuals better recognize these harmful dynamics when they happen on campus.
Today’s feature was shared with us by the ADVANCE PI team. If you have an article you think we should feature, please email it to advance-mtu@mtu.edu and we will consider adding it to the ADVANCE Weekly Roundup.
The ADVANCE Weekly Roundup is brought to you by ADVANCE at Michigan Tech, which is an NSF-funded initiative dedicated to improving faculty career success, retention, diversity, equity, and inclusion. These articles are available on the ADVANCE Newsblog (https://blogs.mtu.edu/advance/). To learn more about this week’s topic, our mission, programming efforts, and to check out our growing collection of resources, contact us at (advance-mtu@mtu.edu) or visit our website: www.mtu.edu/advance.