How My PhD Professor’s Irrational Remark Reeked Of Misogyny In Class

While I was still drowsy due to last night's struggle with sleeplessness and nightmares, my professor managed to open my eyes wide with his irrational comment. He said, "The relationship between a PhD candidate and their advisor is that of a husband and a wife." Yes, you heard that right. The lecture I was attending was about research methodology and Plagiarism in PhD thesis. But out of nowhere, my professor managed to bring in an offensive discussion on what relationship PhD candidates and advisors share. 

The discussion was about having a research partner. I was forced to question myself, after what he said, do I need a research partner or a research husband? It sounded funny to a lot of my peers but, to me, it's outright disturbing. Although the professor stated that he shouldn't be taken wrongly, his usage of words put him at risk. 

Calling the relationship between PhD candidate and advisor a husband-wife relationship is wrong on many levels. Why should a PhD candidate treat their advisors, who are professors, as their husbands or wives? Isn't a husband-wife relationship an intimate and private one? Doesn't this legitimise, on some level, the sexual harassment that can be undergone under the pretext of such relationships? 

The Paradigm Of PhD Scholar And Supervisor Relationship

Many research papers have been published examining the relationship between PhD candidates and advisors. And many have proven that sexual harassment or the exchange of sex for work is common in this relationship. For example, as per a report, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani submitted a report which stated that in the year 2013-14, 25 cases of sexual harassment were reported were JNU alone. It was the only the highest number among 104 other institutes where women were being sexually abused by the professors supervising them. 

If ideas like considering PhD scholar-supervisor relationship as the husband-wife relationship are propelled, it will automatically make many permit sexual relationships within its paradigm. And coming to what my professor said, aren't we still done with husband-wife jokes?

Difference Between Private And Public Life

My professor could have simply used the term student-teacher relationship to intensify the seriousness and piousness of the bond shared by PhD scholars and supervisors. However, his wrong usage of words clearly showed the entrenched fault in our mindsets. 

Just because one has to work closely with professors while completing PhD thesis, it doesn't imply they are bound to that relationship. A PhD candidate has a life apart from being a student under the supervisor. Painting that relationship as a husband-wife relationship clearly shows an attempt to mingle the private and public life of a PhD candidate. 

The relationship between a professor and student is a pure bond of exchanging knowledge and wisdom. It need not be painted with friendship, marriage or any other sort of relationship. We need to get over the days when we drooled over the romance between teacher and student as shown in films. While I couldn't raise my voice in my classroom, I hope my article helps other people realise the faultlines in student-teacher relationships and raise their voices against them. 

Views expressed are the author's own.