The Misogyny of Too Much
Call for Interview Participants | Amy E. Robillard, Professor of English | Illinois State University
“All my life I’ve been told I’m too much.”
If this is you, I want to talk with you.
In what contexts and by whom have you been labeled too much? What have been your responses to being labeled too much? What have been the effects of this label on your personal, social, and professional lives?
In Misogyny in English Departments, I outline the ways in which women in English Departments are punished for not caring enough and for not giving enough. Drawing on Kate Manne’s logic of misogyny, I detail the ways women are silenced, the ways they are expected to do more service work than men, the ways they are put in their place. What I do not attend to are the ways women are punished for being “too much.” In a patriarchy, however, women are regularly punished for being too much—for asking too much, for feeling too much, for using too much language. Women think too much, they read too much, they talk too much, they write too much. Women feel too much. Indeed, there is too much joy, excitement, anger, pain, sadness, anxiety, and those around us do not know what to do with it. Keep it in, they want to—or they do—say to us.
To the burgeoning literature on misogyny in English Studies, I want to add a consideration of the misogyny of too much, paying specific attention to women’s first-hand experiences with the label and the effects of that label on their personal, social, and professional lives. There are so many ways in which women are marked as being too much; what are the most prominent ones for you, and how have they affected your self-image? What is the tipping point past which one becomes too much? What is allowed and by whom?
I am seeking participants to engage in one- to two-hour interviews about their experiences with too-muchness. The interviews will, with participants’ permission, be recorded on Zoom. If you are interested in participating but do not want to be recorded, you may also respond to written interview questions.
All participants’ names will be kept confidential in the research and publications that derive from these interviews. This research has been approved by Illinois State University’s Institutional Review Board (2023-209).
How to participate: contact me at aerobil
I am also happy to answer any questions you may have about the project. Just send me an email at the above address.
Please feel free to share this call with others who may be interested.