Oluwatobi Oshodi

WGST 1001

Professor Ashton

December 20 2021

Personal Reflection 

To begin with, I took this class to fulfill a requirement. However, after a few meetings I began to love the energy and connection this class came with. As a senior in Brooklyn College, I’ve had many professors but Professor Ashton stands out. Apart from being a professor she took the time to get to know her students, did multiple check ups and found a way to make the class engaging. Coming into the class, I felt like the class would be just readings and essays. Although there was a lot of reading, Professor Ashton made the whole class seem like it wasn’t a class. Although she’s grading us, Professor Ashton allowed us to have a voice in our grades.I learned quite a lot in this class. It made me think deeper about certain things and not just look at things lightly. Although I hate speaking in public or in class, speaking in this class seemed normal. I felt comfortable enough to voice out my opinion whether it made sense or not. 

For my blog post, I did research on bleaching. As a young Nigerian lady, I see bleaching a lot in my community. When I see those who do it, I used to look down on them for not loving themselves enough. However, because of this class I dug deeper and saw the reasons. This class allowed me to see the root of bleaching and why people did not. After the things I discovered I realized that the blame on bleaching is not on those who do it but society and the company who creates bleaching cream. Before working on my paper, this class allowed me to sit down and think about things that are affecting the society I live in. Bleaching has become a nationwide thing for women and men nowadays. 

When working on the group project, it took a lot of patience. This is because people have different ideas, different ways of doing things. One of the good things about the project was that Professor Ashton was literally always there. She was there for us to reach out to, seek advice and motivate us. For the group project, my group worked on high heels. We were quick to pick different subtopics to talk about within the topic without engaging in other group members’ ideas. Being in a group is not always smooth, however my group found a way to deliver. I decided to talk about the origin of high heels because I found it fascinating. I love wearing heels although it hurts after a few hours, it still makes me feel empowered and strong. Through research I got to know that it was actually men who created and wore heels before women got it. I found it particularly interesting that when women started wearing heels that’s when people negatively perceived it and felt like it was too much. However, when men like King Louis XIV wore heels, it was magnificent and powerful. People loved when those with power wore heels because it represented wealth and power. However when heels became a women thing, it was seen as out of style, dramatic and too feminine. This only emphasized how women are not seen as strong as men. It is clear that in society, women and men are not seen as equals. 

From other classmates’ blog posts, I was able to learn quite a few things too. Each person spoke on different things going on around the community, whether people know about it or not. In this class, I loved how many classmates felt comfortable and engaged with each other. I’ll like to take this opportunity to call out Mildred who helped me throughout this semester for this class. Sometimes when I’m confused about certain things and reach out to her, she is always there to help. This class allowed some of us to form bonds. I really enjoyed this class. There are certain things that have been said in this class that I will continue to take with me everywhere. Finally I would like to thank Professor Ashton, for not only being a wonderful professor, but also someone a student can reach out to. Thank you for being understanding and genuinely caring about your students. I am super glad that I took this class. It did not feel like a class, however I still learned a lot. It made me realize some things about myself. This class also made me change my perspective on certain things around me, making me more open minded.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.