1392 The Pressure to Conform

Even in writing class! Modesty Zone featured Amanda in the August issue. She writes about a college class:

"Last spring I took a fiction writing class in college in which I wrote stories that portrayed romance and faithfulness as a positive thing. This evoked brutal hostility from the other students who said my work was sentimental and unrealistic and that my character's feelings qualified them as insane. While hurtful, I could deal with such criticism from my peers but thought it was completely inappropriate when the instructor decided to join them. At one point he told me to "find something to write about besides policing men's sexual desires," and he was constantly insisting that I "revise" my stories in ways that would alter their message. When I refused to alter that aspect of my work, since I felt no teacher has a right to dictate a student's moral beliefs, he docked my grade in response. It continues to baffle me as to why our beliefs invoke such extreme hatred."

Well, because our beliefs are very threatening. They show you have a moral center, and if you have that, it probably means he didn't and then he felt naked--a more embarrassing position than the one he wanted you to take.

She gets an award for bravery from the site admin.