Men aren't always hierarchical. Women aren't always democratic.

I about blew a gasket in class Wednesday. And the female IDS staffer sitting next to me might have supported me.

The discussion before Bob Zaltsberg concerned the stereotypes associated with newsroom leadership by gender. I could understand some of them, especially as they related to perceived distance between management and the rest of the staff; but others I thought were slightly uncalled for.

I’m cool with the conclusion, derived from the study of the Sarasota Herald Tribune that male-dominated and female-dominated newsrooms are run differently. Although I have a bone to pick with the contention that it could be a bad thing that males are associated with simple reporting of the facts (it sounds, at least on some level, to be a sensibly scientific approach to things), I can’t argue against the main premise from my own experience with IDS editors-in-chief.

I have more experience with female EiC’s than with male ones, but I’ve been able to tell differences between Michael Sanserino’s style in spring 2009 and Sarah Brubeck’s style this fall. Sanserino acted a bit more above the newsroom and seemed a little more cool and aloof; Brubeck, on the other hand, gets hands-on with every desk to make sure things are running smoothly and is not afraid of being close or showing she cares.

Though these differences exist, they can’t be applied as a rule like they seemed to be in class. Although I have those above-mentioned experiential differences, I also have personal evidence to the contrary, that the stereotypes can be switched. Natalie Avon, the fall 2009 EiC, mixed “typical” female caring with a healthy aloofness that might be construed as male in the present scheme. The IDS colleague I sat with in class could easily identify women journalists (at least on the sports side) who act with “typical” male ferocity. The current IDS photo desk, with Courtney Deckard and I at the helm, trade off between hierarchical assigning of photos and open-season democracy on who takes pictures of what.

The point I’m trying to make here is that Wednesday (before Bob came in; he seemed to make a lot of sense) was maddening. The fierce negatives fell mainly on the male side when they could apply to the female side in many cases; and the caring positives fell mainly on the female side when they could just as easily be found in males. I've seen those examples in everyone I know, male or female, including in positions of power. The stereotypes can be used as guidelines, but please, simmer down on the blanket generalizations.