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David has been teaching Women’s
Studies at Shoreline Community
College since 1999. Her classes
include Gender Violence and Social Change, which is taught almost
every quarter; Gender, Race and Class; and Women of Power.
David says that much of her interest in the subject came from observing her mother. When David
was 11 years old, her parents got divorced. After that, David watched her “change from primarily
a wife and a mother into a career woman.” David also points out the differences between herself
and her mother. When it came to interacting with men, “She feels the obligation to be nice,” says David,
“I’m definitely not like that.”
David grew up in Palo Alto, California
and attended UC Berkeley, where she studied sociology and formed her interests in human behavior,
especially in what she calls “social construction of knowledge.”
During her time at Berkeley, David also became interested in environmental law. In 1992, she moved to Seattle to attend law school at the University of Washington.
While attending the University of Washington, David switched gears and began to focus on discrimination law. “I realized that environmental law is really boring,” said David.
David graduated from the UW with a law degree in 1995. From 1996 to 1999 she worked as the Legal Advocate for Seattle Rape Relief, a non-profit organization. During that time, she was involved
in lecturing police officers and other groups about rape and gender issues.
While working at Seattle Rape Relief, David also did a great deal of volunteer work. She was involved in the “Sexual Minority Advisory Council,” which advocated
an awareness of sexual minorities
such as homosexual and transgender individuals.
David said that the council gave advice to police departments, especially
in the area of transgender
issues. “Sometimes the police would pull a person over, and the information on their license didn’t match up with the person driving,”
said David.
At the time, the chief of police was Norm Stamper. David describes
him as an individual who was sensitive to the rights of minority
groups. In fact, Stamper released a book, “Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing in 2005,” which addresses the unfair treatment of women and minorities
by the police.
It was David’s experience in teaching police officers at Seattle Rape Relief, she said, that brought her to teaching in a classroom. David said that her experience in law helps her teaching by helping her to think in a structured manner.
However, she pointed out that in courtroom cases, there is always a winner and a loser; whereas her teaching is not oriented
toward right and wrong. In fact, David said that “there is no right answer.”
In class, David presents an environment
of open communication.
Throughout her gender violence
class, student input took up a large portion of class time, and several of her students were communicative
about their own personal
experiences. One woman in the class described her experiences
with sexual abuse in astonishing
detail.
Another student’s mouth hung open and several others whispered to one another when David presented
the fact that in 1970, there were only two battered women’s shelters in the entire country.
Out of at least twenty students present, only two were male.
David explained to her students that in domestic abuse cases, male offenders usually serve lighter sentences than their female counterparts.
A student asked, “How do they get away with that?”
According to David, the class is aimed at giving students a better
awareness of the issues that plague our society today and to help female students become more assertive.. She says that many students ended relationships either
during or after her class when they realized the extent of the abuse that they were unjustly tolerating.
David explains that she has no intention of leaving SCC for a long time. “I love it here,” she says. “I’m working with people that are passionate and dedicated.”
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