A few weeks ago, I was doing a bit of research online for an article that I was going to put together. I was going to write an article about how women are being conditioned to see themselves as victims.
During this time, I came across an article titled: ‘Victimhood narrative’ taught in schools fuels anxiety in young women, academic claims’. In this article, Dr Joanna Williams had been asked to share her views on one of the ways in which children are being indoctrinated at school.
Nailed It
I thought that what Joanna said made a lot of sense, and I soon came to the conclusion that this was someone who seemed like a balanced human being. I was also surprised that a publication had given her the chance to share her views.
The reason for this is that this was a woman who wasn’t willing to go along with the dominant cultural narrative, whereby all women are seen as victims and all men are seen as perpetrators. I came away thinking that this is someone who is far too sane to be given a platform like this.
Another Shock
I was also surprised to see that she was a lecturer in higher education at the University of Kent, with this being somewhere that is not too far from where I live. I ended up going onto her website to find out more about her work.
There were a number of articles that piqued my curiosity and I saw that she had also been on TV. After watching some of these videos, I got the impression that she was down to earth, mentally balanced, and approachable.
Three Books
There were also the books that she had written. The first one she wrote, ‘Consuming Higher Education: Why Learning Can’t be Bought’ came out in 2012; the second one, ‘Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity: Confronting the Fear of Knowledge’ came out in 2016; and the third, ‘Women vs Feminism: Why We All Need Liberating from the Gender Wars’ came out in 2017.
A Number of Factors
Taking all this to account, along with my interest in current affairs, and the articles that I had written about free speech, amongst other things, I thought it would be great to meet her. Initially, I thought that the best way for this to happen would be to see if she had any talks coming up.
I soon changed my mind, though, and thought that I could see if she had the time to meet for a coffee. I didn’t think this was likely to happen as she clearly had a lot going on, but I soon came to see that I was wrong.
An interesting Interaction
When I met Joanna, it could see that how she came across in her writing and when she was on TV was a reflection of what she was like. Thus, the reason she came across as down to earth, authentic, and mentally balanced, was because that is what she is like.
I admired the fact that she was someone who had the courage to speak out, instead of just going along to get along. And, due to the amount of pressure there is for people to go along with the dominant cultural narrative, this takes a lot of strength.
Final Thoughts
I believe that the world needs more people like Joanna; people who not only have a balanced perspective, but who have the courage to speak out and to share their views with the world. There are plenty of people who are not balanced or mentally sane, yet they are given a platform to share their views.
When people like Joanna do this, it can make it easier for other people to do the same thing.