Personal Reflection On Thinking About Women

Personal Reflection Margaret Anderson opens her piece, “Thinking About Women: A Quarter Century’s View,” with the following passage from her lecture notes: “I expect the course to be demanding, in part to create respect for women. The tendency is to not treat this course seriously and to think you just know it from experience. But this belittles the study of women... This is not a course in self” (438). I think this quotation ironic, given that, at this point in the course, I feel that I am partaking in the mental exploration of the class two-fold. Not only am I expanding my understanding and interpretation of gender and how it affects literally everything, but I am also expanding my awareness regarding my own relationship to my gender identity

I don’t consider myself to be “one of those angry Tumblr feminists,” as my male friend from home so eloquently put it. Though I am passionate and opinionated, cultivating those views in an academic environment that is cognisant of gender and its influence has allowed me to become a more presentable representation of feminism. This need to become polished and palatable in order to be taken seriously should probably completely piss me off, but I can understand it. Just as I refuse to consider the views of a conservative who screams his rhetoric, many people are turned off by aggressive action. I feel that my coursework has pushed me to become more informed on the reasoning behind my views. Professors push me to consider gender and its impact on my thinking by continuing to ask me to become more specific and precise, rather than making the sweeping generalizations of which locales such as the internet are so fond. I greatly appreciate Anderson’s belief that gender and/or women’s studies courses should focus on “situating women’s lives in the context of other forms of inequality; and asking how women resist, such as through social movements or everyday acts of rebellion” (441, emphasis added). This concept of “everyday acts of rebellion” is of utmost

This query occurs to me because, often, in course discussions outside of Gender Studies, if a straight, cis, female peer shares a personal experience, people tend to be quite non-plussed. If I, as a queer woman, however, share a story that reveals my “non-straightness,” there seems to be more of a reaction, since I am no longer in the majority within the student population (despite jokes made about women’s colleges, but both outsiders and lesbians alike). This train of thought leads me to consider Sweet Briar’s role in my own journey of understanding and accepting my sexuality. Though I came to the conclusion that I was not straight during high school, I never acted upon any queer impulses, whether from lack of opportunity or desire, I am not sure. I would not say that coming to SBC magically made me feel “okay with the gay.” Although the “Pink Bubble” has certainly helped me to feel more safe and comfortable with being open and public about my sexuality, especially in a rural,