Wow, it is already the end of the semester. Honestly, I’m currently writing this with 3 hours of sleep, but to start, I’d like to say that I like this class and it is in the top 5 classes I have taken so far in my two years of college, WOO! Being in this class changed my perspectives on many things I never really thought about on my own or didn’t think were wrong because of social and gender norms. I live in a conservative Christian household and it’s difficult to explain and try to open up new ideas to one of my parents about almost anything because of how the bible is made and written. I don’t agree with the many things that are said in churches and what is written in the bible, thinking about it now makes me realize how men are so nosy like imagine being so angered by someone else’s sex life, like get a grip. Anyway, back to my conservative household, this class has been a sort of escape from what I constantly have to hear daily such as, “gays are bad”, “marry a Christian man”, “Christianity is the right path”, and blah blah blah. I felt eager to learn about new topics such as LGBTQ+, women’s suffrage, strong female leads, misogyny, and stereotypes. I list these topics because they are the topics that I relate to the most and felt good to hear my peers in class speak on behalf of their experiences and what they found to be inspiring to the class.
One of the many things I learned in class was stereotypes, specifically about biological sex. On a more personal level, I am extremely hairy, I have a great amount of body hair everywhere, and every summer it was dreadful to show off my hair because of the number of comments I would get such as “you’re probably a man”, “girls can’t be hairy”, “you’re gross”, etc. and honestly looking at it now I wish I didn’t give a shit. My excessive hair doesn’t make me less feminine nor degrades me as a woman, and I guess it’s a flex on my behalf because most men barely can grow a beard and I get shitted on for having the hair that they desire. No one should decide who they believe YOU are, nor label an individual based on their beliefs. These sorts of things should come from the individual themselves on how they feel about themselves.
Another topic I feel that enhanced my learning is empowerment and equality. For centuries women have always been in a man’s shadow and for what? A woman deserves as much recognition as the man receives. A woman is referred to fragile and sensitive, which may be seen as “respect” to the woman but I believe respect would be treating others the same way disregarding the gender the individual is. Women are as strong as men and are capable of doing the things any man can do, especially when it comes to workforces. Women are not paid the same wage as men do, and just recently, the news stated that a woman in the medical field gets paid 2 million dollars less compared to a man in the same field and position. It’s insane how devalued women are, makes me still wonder if it’s also based on the bible. Where Adam is made from the dust of the ground and Eve is made from Adam’s rib, even the bible devalues a woman.
Lastly, I learned more about the LGBTQ+ community whereas I feel like I learned more about historical icons like Marsha P. Johnson. Before taking this class, I had no idea who Marsha was nor what she was known for. I feel like I should have learned this back in High School because of how important Johnson’s role is in the gay rights movement. Even so, I am extremely happy that I was able to learn more about who Johnson was and how they impacted our history.
To wrap this up, I don’t feel like I am the best writer. Writing the blog post and making it public, caught me completely off guard since I am always self-conscious of my writing, let alone that I hate when people read my writing. Not so long ago I recently just submitted my final piece from the blog post, I hope it’s good, to be honest. Personally, I think this class could have been a bit more fun for me if it wasn’t a lot of writing, but at the same time, I could’ve expected it before enrolling in the class, but overall this class was a great experience. Additionally, I hate reading, but for this class, I made the exception. I honestly expected this class to be more quiz/exam-based, but then I feel pretty lucky participating in this class because of due date extensions. I don’t think I would pass this class if it wasn’t for that, well, maybe if I were to pass, not sure. Sadly, I didn’t have a group to work with for the group presentation so I can’t say much about the project, but I believe it would have been fun to do and connect with some peers.
