Too *Masculine*

is a bad thing, right?

I had an interesting experience this week at work. I had submitted a PowerPoint presentation for my executive colleagues to review. It was an important presentation that I was developing for the university’s governing Council. I was unsure about how to present my ideas, especially as it is my first time presenting as an executive to a governing board.

What’s more, I knew it was totally rushed and undercooked but I had no time to refine. So I just sent it in and hoped for a good discussion.

Which is what I got. The discussion was helpful and everyone took my half-baked presentation in the spirit that it was intended.

But there was one interesting moment. At one point in the presentation I included some ideas that used the words “larrikin”, “rebel” and outlier.”

One of my colleagues - very respectfully and graciously - objected. These words, she said, are problematic when used to describe a university. They were problematic, in her view, because they are “masculine.”

Immediately, I could …