Teaching gender: Australian first-year university student views of “Ms.”

Negative “push-back” from a group of first-year undergraduate sociology students during a class discussion of gender and feminism included rejecting personal use of the title Ms. Teaching team members asked themselves: how general is this response among other student groups in the same one-semester subject? A short in-class survey checked personal attitudes towards Ms. that might reflect shifting views towards feminism and gender among contemporary Australian “middle-town” students. Results showed this to be a specific dissenting cluster of students. The survey indicated some generational changes towards using Ms., but responses to Ms. were more complex than lack of student knowledge or interest, part of socio-cultural changes in play for these students and society generally.