dubious claims

Only Guy in Gender Studies Class Sues Teacher for Discrimination

Wongene Daniel Kim, who was once the lone man in a women and gender studies class at the University of Toronto, has filed a claim with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal suing his professor for gender discrimination. The professor failed Kim after he never attended class.

Kim says that, in fact, he did arrive on the first day of class, but when he saw that he was the only guy, he decided he was never going back to the womanly arena of intimidation, ever, not ever, not even one more time. He told the Toronto Star:

I felt anxiety … I didn’t expect it would be all women and it was a small classroom and about 40 women were sort of sitting in a semicircle and the thought of spending two hours every week sitting there for the next four months was overwhelming.

He never went back, saying that he is “a generally shy person, especially around women.” He asked the professor to waive the 15 percent of the grade based on participation and attendance. She refused, because that was the requirement. He told the Star:

I believe if you want to attract more males to these courses, you have to work with them.

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal doesn’t believe he has much of a case, as he didn’t show evidence that he was treated unequally owing to his gender. They write that “he admitted his discomfort is based on his ‘individual preference’ as a shy person,” and the gender bias was “mere speculation as he never gave the class, or the women, a chance.”

Only Guy in Gender Studies Class Sues Teacher