Week 1: Welcome to "GAS Works"!

 Hello everyone! Greetings after a very busy day...

Thinking about it, it feels like I accidentally fell into studying Gender & Sexuality. I went into Haverford believing I would major in Psychology and concentrate in Creative Writing, but here I am: English major, GenSex concentration. I started taking English classes and realized that they all had some relevance to the this particular topic, so I just kept going. I am more excited about this class than I think I would typically be, however, because it's a means for me to branch out of my comfort zone within the field. I have read all kinds of literature focused on gender and sexuality, but all within the English department and it's time I broaden my perspective outside of studying strictly literature and philosophy. I've thought this for awhile, but this class seems like it will take that idea further than I could have in simply choosing courses in Anthropology, Psychology or Sociology, for example. My goal is to be able to understand issues of gender and sexuality and be able to operate with these understandings in the world, and this is a step closer to being able to relate to the lives of a bigger group of people and helping to work through the problems that still exist today for women and men. 

-Kayla

My name is Roldine. I'm a sophomore at Bryn Mawr, majoring in sociology concentrating in gender and sexuality. I decided to take this course out of necessity and out of curiosity. It's one of the requirements for the gender and sexuality concentration and I've always enjoyed discussions about gender and sexuality. The word in particular that drew me in, moreover, was "interdisciplinary". As a sociology major, I've only really been taught to think about gender in sociological terms and theories. Because of that, I find that when thinking about gender ans sexuality my process is very boxed in my major. While I'm trying to do this on my own, I want this class to help me to think outside my box, while not ignoring the fact that it exists and that it has a valid argument in understanding the structures of gender and sexuality. I chose the user name Beta because (from my understanding) a beta program in computer language is a work-in progress, which I feel is very reflective of life. Also, I just really enjoy Ann Dalke's teaching style :). I'm really excited for this class and hope that it fulfills my expectations.

Hi I'm Terrible2s and I am a Bryn Mawr Sophomore. I am planning on being a Psych major, Education minor, and GenSex concentration-- if I can get all my stuff together enough to fulfill all of the requirements.

Hey everyone! I'm a junior at Bryn Mawr, and up until recently, I've been an English major. However, I am currently working on switching to an independent major in Gender and Sexuality Studies for a number of reasons. In a nutshell, I realized that I'm much more interested in studying issues related to gender from a number of different perspectives than focusing solely on analyzing literature. I've taken a number of English courses cross-listed with the Gender & Sexuality studies program, but have found ways to focus on gender in other courses as well. This year, I'm working on taking a much wider variety of classes, which I'm really excited about.

Out of the three major disciplinary areas we've been split into (humanities, social sciences, sciences), I suppose I would align myself mostly with the humanities since that's what I've studied the most up to this point, though I also have a great interest in the social sciences (especially sociology). I probably know the least about perspectives that come from the sciences, so I would love to gain a little more knowledge in that area from this class (and from the few members of the class who said they come from a science background!).

I decided to take this course in large part because it is required for my major, but also because I find it exciting to think about ways to draw connections between different ways of seeing and understanding questions having to do with gender. I love taking classes related to gender and sexuality because they have a tendency of pushing me further and further outside of my comfort zone, and I find that those are the situations from which I grow the most as a student and as a person. I also love learning from my classmates about their different experiences with relation to gender identity and their thoughts about the course material, and I find it fascinating to learn about all the different places (mental, geographical, etc.) we are coming from.

It's hard for me to narrow down what I would like to focus on, because I am interested in learning about pretty much anything - including things I don't even know enough about to name off the top of my head! Over the summer, I read various bits of Manifesta and became more interested in thinking about the third wave of feminism, as well as its connections to previous waves of feminism. As an Education student, I am also interested in thinking about how feminism can be integrated into curriculum and pedagogy, though this is something I've only barely started to touch upon.

I'll put it out there now that I don't tend to be a very outspoken person in class discussions, and that I've been trying to push myself to participate more actively since freshman year. I personally feel most able to unpack my ideas when I have the space to think things out, whether that is a space where I'm able to put my thoughts into writing (like this kind of online forum), or whether that means being in a classroom where I feel as though I am collaborating with my fellow students (and the professor) to learn from one other and help each other go further with our ideas, rather than feeling like I am being put on the spot to say something intelligent and profound. I think that in this class, we need to be willing to push each other's thinking, but not from a place of judgment or harsh criticism. I personally find it challening to put my unfinished thoughts on the table, but I know that I will have a much greater chance to grow and learn more if I do!

I was looking forward to having a special little online name, but I already have cjewett created because I posed on here for csem.  So, here I am.  I'm pretty excited about this class - it is opening up a whole new area of study I didn't know really existed.  I'm a sophomore, so I knew about the gender/sexuality concentration, but I never considered what that concentration, or any of the courses included in it, might discuss.  I've thought about the spectrum of gender and sexuality on my own and have come to accept that no one can identify themselves as strictly one thing.  I look forward to getting to know other people's opinions, and life experiences, as well as reading outside texts.   As for what I am looking for in the class, I am a pretty open.  I am having an extremely hard time deciding what it is in life that interests me and what I want to pursue.  I seem to like everything enough to study it all, but can't find one thing that I'm passionate about.  So I am hoping for new ideas and new sparks.  I certainly do have my own ideas, but I love being challenged to see things differently.

so basically i have no formal gender/sexuality studies background. that said, i've done my fair share of feminist and gender readings and such independently as i felt moved to, though mostly back in high school. i am coming to this class because my time at bryn mawr is going on three years at this point, and i often find myself forgetting what it is like outside the 'bubble' as we (fondly?) refer to it, especially in matters of identity. i'm gay, a dyke, a lesbian, whatever we're calling it today, and bryn mawr is a place where that is no big news. we're big on diversity and everyone is allowed to be who they are, or so the literature goes. as an all female school (traditionally), we are even outside of so many of the everyday issues of sexism, and though we may examine and talk about them all the time, we do so from a place removed from the very context we are trying to examine. therefore, i am in this class to really look at those issues in a way that covers much more than just my own experience, and what i can see from bryn mawr. i am intrigued by the interdisiplinary approach, as well as the texts and the range of experiences we seem to have in the class thus far.

I am looking forward to making myself uncomfortable in this course.

Gender and sexuality affect us all in different ways, and I want to find out what others' gender experiences have been like. I also want to do my best to share my gendered life with others. Most of all though, I want to get a better sense of how I can be an effective advocate for gender equity and rights. I read a really excellent queer theorist over the summer named Riki Wilchins, and the ultimate goal that Wilchins was working toward was very strongly social justice-oriented. I think all too often gender, sexuality, women's, queer (& whathaveyou) scholars get too bogged down in the theoretical and academic life of their work. I don't want to get lost in the privilege I have by default as a student at Haverford. I think as a class we need to strive to keep the human component of the study of gender and sexuality as visible as we possibly can. That being said, it isn't always easy to reconcile our privilege and the real injustice in the world around us. I think that's why it will be hard for me, and probably for others in the class. Let's work together on it.

Question one: What am I looking for?

My first semester, I took an English/Gender and Sexuality class, and I realized (among other things) that analyzing things through the lense of Gen/Sex issues, and discussing Gen/Sex issues generally makes me REALLY HAPPY. I eventually realized that this might be a sign that I ought to minor/concentrate/independent major in it, so I went to a Gen/Sex tea last semester. Someone there kindly informed me that I needed to take this class in order to minor etc, and I signed up for it.

The other half of that answer is harder. I need to know other people's opinions about gen/sex issues (not least of all because I might find out some of my own by contrast). I need to be challenged in my ideas so I can examine them and learn to defend them. I need to find out what sort of things have part said about gender and sexuality in the past so that examine them, avoid needlessly repeating them, and use them as part of my own arguments. I'm also fairly certain that I need to know enough things that there are questions I don't even know I ought to be asking yet (sorry for the cliché).

Question two: How am I going to get it?

I need honest discussion. I need to make sure I speak up when I ought to (which I know I don't always) and I need to know the thoughts of my peers, especially when they disagree with me (though I will probably forget this sometimes). Also, I'm excited about Evolution's Rainbow, which I've read a few pages of already (By which I mean I need sheer information and interdisciplinary knowledge.

Question three: Thoughts from class?

Um. Wow. Yes. Luckily I jotted down some notes on my thoughts, which I will try to reproduce in a coherent order. I think I understand more of what Mark C. Taylor is talking about with his Problem-based departments. He wants universities to produce students that will work towards solving the world's problems. However, I'm not sure his method would work universally. Students would need to be driven. Some students are of course already driven and find colleges or independent majors that meet their needs (whether it is for solving the needs of the world or for getting the degree that will get them the most money). Of course, an environment where problems are presented to students as exciting things to be learned about might inspire more students to pursue them (just as someone these days might take a classics class to fulfill a requirement and then go "THIS IS AWESOME; I WANT TO MAJOR IN IT.").

This led me to thinking (or maybe the thoughts were simultaneous) about my own life goals, and how I can best use my time at Bryn Mawr to get the tools to fulfill them. I realized that there are classes on a lot of the things that I've been intending to study on my own time, and I should probably take advantage of that. And maybe change my intended major. Yeah.