My Journey in Gender Studies

When I enrolled to take Gender Studies, I didn’t really know what the curriculum would entail. My conservative family members told me that I would be conditioned to hear how all men are horrible, but I didn’t think that was what I would learn.

I decided to go into the class with an open mind and I am glad that I did. The class was so much more than just gender studies. We had a lot of interesting readings throughout the semester. My favorite was the reading we did about Hermione Granger. I liked it because one, I love Harry Potter, and two, it was a very interesting take on how someone can be a feminist and still be heroic, or not just think that men are evil. Ironically enough, a man wrote the article.

We had a lot of great guest lectures where we learned about things like rape culture on college campuses and how they can be prevented. We also had to critically think about things that aren’t always black or white. Rape or sexual assault is never the victims fault, but often society tries to push blame onto the victim.

I think the one thing that I will take form the course is that we must be able to have a rational conversation. It doesn’t matter what a person’s gender is or what they identify as. We are all different, but recognizing those differences and being respectful of them are key in making a more tolerant world. In the end, my family was wrong. Not once did I feel like as a man, I was wrong for being born that way. In fact, I learned that whatever your gender, we are all more alike than we think.