Michael,
I have seen this issue from both sides, as a student and as a teacher. As a college student, I was annoyed when, during a slide lecture on baboon behavior, the male professor slipped in a slide of female grad students sunbathing in bikinis. He was used to having a largely male audience and was probably surprised when the female students in the auditorium hissed him. I think he had it coming.
On the other hand, as a professor I am not always sure what will offend students, and I have had my own unpleasant surprises (though none involving hissing). If there is going to be nudity in a film I am showing to the class, I usually tell them in advance. If someone has a real problem with the subject matter of some literature, I have occasionally made that work optional (e.g., Lord Rochester's poetry in a survey of British literature) or provided an alternate assignment. If I know that some students are likely to be outraged by something, but I still think it is important that they consider the issues of it (e.g., The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Huckleberry Finn), I try to put the work in a context that frames it as an issue to be debated, before they read the work in question.
My goal is not to dismiss the students' reactions, but to show them that there is more than one way to look at the issue. Censorship is the thing to be avoided (though even there, there are some lines that I probably wouldn't cross, and everyone is going to draw the line in a different place). Advance warning about some topics or images at least gives students a chance to alert the professor to minefields of which he or she may be unaware. Can students use these issues to try to get professors into trouble? Of course, and we are seeing more of that these days. I try to think in terms of reasonable accommodations that show respect for students' feelings while still addressing the edgier subjects.
Susan
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