I can not believe it has already been a semester of being in this class. This class has helped me be knowledgeable in things that I thought I knew but clearly did not know the whole details about it. Like how in the group high heels and that those torture devices were made by the King of France to make HIS legs and butt look amazing. I love that this class was like a free for all and how we were able to talk about everything and anything! From gushing over how cute Yara’s kitten is to how frustrating toxic masculinity and white supremacy are. 

In all seriousness, we talked and learned about many important topics in this class. For instance, my first blog post was about the myth of the black rapist, and how yes rape is awful and I would never support it however there is a sad truth that most people in jail for rape, especially if their race was black, they were not the ones that committed the act but or blamed that they did. There was a section that was mentioned in Angela Davis’ book and we are all Davis’ lovers in this class as we support everything that she says and does because it is all the truth. Along with Angela Davis, we also read works and talked about Judith Butler who was an amazing author that had horrible grammar. However, once you were able to decipher her work you are in awe and angered by her line of work because as fascinating women history may be, it is always frustrating seeing how women were treated in the past and how the thing was normalized so nobody needs that how the men were treating women was actually horrible. 

Earlier I mentioned posting a blog post and honestly, I had a lot of fun with it. Even though I struggled with the website and it is my first time using the CUNY Commons website, however, it gave me a sense of journalism and it felt like I was about to post my article that would open the public’s eye and even cause controversy but get people talking about a topic that needs to be addressed. Ever since middle, my English teachers would always tell me to pursue journalism as a profession since if it was a topic that I was passionate about and had a lot of opinions about said topic, my opinions were actually eye-opening and got my teachers to think about the article they assigned us in a different way then they originally read it in. I also loved the idea that we had creative freedom to write about anything we wanted to shine light and attention to as long as it was from the readings from class, or is a different source but has the same ideals of the reading we were assigned. 

The blog post gave me and all my other classmates in this class to explore the world of historical events and allowed us to sink deeper into our ideas and opinions on certain events and topics and help us see if we actually know the topic we are studying or if we just brushed the surface and never really got to the core of the problem or topic. Again referencing my blog post about the myth of the black rapist, I knew about the topic of rape and how it is a horrible crime to commit and I believe all rapists deserve to spend the rest of their lives rotting behind bars, but I never knew that black men would be targeted for this crimes. Sadly, I also knew that black men are more likely to be incarcerated for crimes they did not do, or if they did commit a crime they would be given a higher and stricter punishment in comparison to a white male that committed the same exact crime. So it was not really a big shocker that white males would actually be the one gang-raping a woman but pushing the blame to multiple other black males that had not even been near the unholy scene and end up sitting behind the cell until they take their final breath. It is extremely frustrating but when you live in a world where white supremacy is constant, this is the sad reality many Americans have to deal with. It is complete and utter bull shit, but it’s the truth.

Do you know what else is complete bull crap? Gender stereotypes! Why is it that because I was born with a vagina rather than a penis I am immediately deemed sensitive and less capable than the opposite sex? Why is it if you are born with a penis that you are the strongest which means you can never cry about your problems unless you want to be seen as feminine and have your sexuality and masculinity questioned? This happens because of gender stereotypes that are so outdated that they should not even be used in the twenty-first century. Since I am a woman my favorite color is either pink or purple and not blue or green because those are colors that are associated with man and they are manly and not girly at all. If you are a guy wearing the color pink your sexuality is questioned as you are showing a feminine side of yourself and it is not normal for men to wear pink and any other color that is associated with women. Sadly gender stereotypes are not just implied to colors and clothing, but also to many job professions that I and my group members explored.

My group decided to focus on the job profession aspect of gender stereotypes since gender stereotypes are such a major topic and it is almost like an umbrella with how many topics can fit under gender stereotypes. We decided on professions that we are interested in pursuing or interested in learning more about. For instance, I chose to learn and write about teachers and those stereotypes because that is what I am majoring in and what I want to be in my career in the near future. Whenever I told family members or friends that I was going to be a teacher they all responded with the same line that “Oh my god! That is the best job a woman can ever have!” Which got me thinking about why is it that women tend to always be teachers and professors in comparison to males in this profession. If you ask the internet they just reply that teachers’ salaries are low compared to other professions like doctors, lawyers, and mechanics. If you ask an average person they say it is because teachers have the same dismissal time, and vacation days as their children do so the mother is able to both provide and also take care of the children once they are home from work and school. 

I constantly made the comment in our presentation that being a teacher is the next best thing to being a stay-at-home mom, or housewife. This was the main reason why I did not want to become a teacher because I did not want to be pushed into that stereotype and I also did not want to be in school anymore as I have been in school since I was four years old. However, I am not a natural-born leader so I can not run my own company, I am too sensitive so I can not be a lawyer, but I love helping people in any way I possibly can whether it is by donating to charity, participating in walks to bring awareness to illness, or just regular community service by decorating senior homes for the holidays, working at soup kitchens, delivering groceries to elderly that can not leave their homes, etc. What better way to help my community by educating the youth and shaping the future generation to be the best people they can possibly be and help change the future for the better. The idea that in the future I will be teaching future doctors, lawyers, politicians, musicians, veterinarians, maybe even teachers like myself excites me even more and makes me want to work harder so that I can become the best teacher I can possibly be. 

All in all, I had a blast taking this class this semester. It made me feel different types of emotions. From anger and sadness to happiness and joy. If there is someone reading this post that was not in our class or did not take this class but is debating on it, please take this class! It is basically free for all and you are able to rant about anything and everything that is happening in today’s world. As for any male students that may be reading this post, please join this class. Trust me the class is going to attack your gender constantly because we are not white feminists. You can learn so much in this class and a lot of valuable information. Please take the class because believe me when I say that you will not regret it. 

Thank you Professor Ashton for this amazing semester! I always looked forward to your class and even if I was tired that day, your class immediately woke me up and I learned so much in this class so thank you! I hope everyone in this class continues doing well in their academic journeys and happy holidays!!! Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and New Years Day everyone!!!!

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