You're doing a PhD? Let me tell you how stupid that is!

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In the past week, as I have wrapped up my nine-to-five job in Communications, I have had a lot of discussions about my next adventure. Namely, my embarkation on a PhD in Gender, Feminist and Women's Studies at York University here in Toronto.

Now, as a feminist and queer woman who blogs about the troubles with the world and has generally engaged in queer activism, I am used to people saying stupid shit to me. However, I have been floored by the level of disrespect and pure ignorance I have met with this past week as I discuss this transition with former colleagues, neighbours and general acquaintances.

Firstly, no one seems to know what a PhD is. "How long will that take, a year?" has been a common reaction. Most people have been insistent that having a PhD is just the same as having a Master's degree (actually, no. It's really, really not.), "and we all know Masters are worthless these days." No one seems to understand this is vocational training, similar to training to be a lawyer or doctor, and certainly of a similar length to the latter.

People also seem to have selective amnesia about my decision. After a company-wide email congratulating me on my acceptance into a PhD program, plus several discussions in the kitchen, people at work still wanted to know more about my Master's program. In a culture that devalues being a student, women and especially -- duh -- feminism, I interpreted this as a semi-conscious attempt to undermine me and my achievements.

People also found the name of my program confusing. In fact, as soon as I started the phrase "Gender, Feminist and Women's Studies" I could see their eyes begin to glaze over. The word that seemed to stick out from that title was, obviously, "feminist" and, instead of respectfully asking me what I was going to work on, most people took this word as an opportunity to rant about feminism. Whether they were telling me feminism is unnecessary, asking me if I believed in gender equality (what do you think?), or saying something surprisingly sensible about our obsession with masculinity as a culture, nobody actually wanted to engage with me about the topic. People were using my statement as an opportunity to sound off about whatever random opinion they had about feminism. Nobody was listening to me or wanted to hear what I had to say.

This is a pretty disrespectful attitude. Although I do imagine that many professionals are subjected to people's rambling associations when discussing their vocation with people outside the field, I do think that the fact I mentioned the words "feminism" and "studying" spoke to a double-whammy of disrespect that we have as a culture, both for women and women's rights (e.g. feminism), and for students. Please, do take my vocation as an excuse to tell me why you think what I'm doing is worthless. Please do. I can't wait to hear all about it.

All this has left me wondering how to react. Although pursuing a PhD is very different from an undergraduate degree, I am loathe to try and distance myself from undergraduates in order to get more respect. Students should be respected no matter their level of study, and I don't want to get into an "I'm-not-one-of-them" structure of proving my worth.

Right now, I don't know how I am going to deal with the bullshit people will say to me over the next six years. Maybe I need to come up with a few stock witty repartees, or work on developing a thick skin. How about you, dear readers? How would you prove the worth of your life choices in one simple sentence, or would you not bother and leave these idiots to fester in their own stupidity?

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