Critical Feminist Studies 2013

An institution described through the eyes of its members tells a lot. Bryn Mawr College through the eyes of its students is one such institution. Consider the following terms used by Mawrters to describe Bryn Mawr: sisterhood, home, academic success, traditions, community, stress, empowered, intellect.  

These words describe the culture that is Bryn Mawr College, a culture created by the cultural identities of the student body.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, culture is "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization" (Merriam Webster). One's environment throughout one's life influences these sets of characteristics, to comprise of one's cultural identity. Culture is not a single factor; rather, it is the intersection of many identities. Eli Clare, a white genderqueer activist and writer with cerebral palsy attempts to verbalize the intersectionality of these multiple cultural identities "gender reaches into disability; disability wraps around class; class strains against abuse; abuse snarls into sexuality; sexuality folds on top of race...everything finally piling into a single human body" (Clare, 143). We gain and develop these characteristics of our cultural identity as we progress through life, influenced by the culture of those around us and by our own individual actions.

When we talked about silence in class many people talked about how silence was bad and the only reason Eva stayed silent, they thought, was that it was the only thing left she had power over in her life. These are all reasons why silence is bad and the idea that someone keeps silent as a last resort. Many times people talk about how powerful it it is to stand up and say exactly what you mean, or stand up against a majority. These are all important ideas and I think that sometimes it is necessary to stand up and speak. However, we also talked about how the meaning of silence for the one who is silent is important because their reasoning for staying silent can change how we view silence. Many people do not talk as much because they are thinking and deliberating. This whole idea about pondering what you are going to say and being very deliberate about what you are saying is a relevant point about silence. Sometimes I think that we move through life too fast and if we just stopped and thought about what we were going to say it would help us think about life and enjoy it more instead of just rushing from moment to moment. T

It seems for many that silence holds power, mystery but also privilege. We hold power when we have the right to remain silent, the right to withhold information, secrets and truths. When we are silent we generate an air a mystery, we hold the unknown. Silence can push away outsiders, it can deter or mislead. But silence can also bring safety and comfort. When I think about Eva's silence though, i question whether it is really a privilege. A privilege is something that some people have and others do not. Yes she has the truth and no one else does, but this truth to why she did what she did (which she may not even fully know herself) has arisen from circumstances that she did not have the privilege to choose. It seems that people in the novel are so concerned with her silence, almost afraid of it. Why are some people so afriad of silence? is it alienating? uncomfortable? creates a disconnect? Should we be afraid of silence? or should we embrace it? I think Eva embraces her silence as a source of shelter, her voice to say no, to have her feelings understood were never embraced, so she keeps to herself, the only person she can trust.

When thinking about changing the structure of higher educational institutions in order to make it more accessible for people with disabilities is very encouraging.  Everyone should be able to have access and the ability to attend college.  But before people begin to change the structure of the college classroom people should start with changing the structure of the elementary classroom.  Elementary school is where many students begin to shape how a “normal” classroom should be structured, how to study and retain information the “normal” way, and how they view people with disabilities.  By changing elementary schools, it will make changing higher educational institutions easier because what is now viewed as not “normal” will be seen as “normal”.   It also just might begin to destigmatize people with disabilities.

I have been struggling since we talked about excessability to figure out how one can crip deadlines in a practical way that keeps the subjects of the deadline accountable. Is there a happy medium between excessability and normative time? With no consideration to how practical it would be for the enforcer of the deadline (for example, the teacher), the ideal situation for the subjects of the deadline (i.e., the students) seems to be for their deadlines to be determined on a case by case basis. But who can determine how long exactly it will take for a project to be completed other than the person completing the project? What if they’re wrong? It seems that everyone’s time would have to be ‘cripped’ somehow. Who even operates on normative time? No matter what system we use, are we to be entirely governed by the arbitrary?

Silence is a recurring theme in the novel Eva's Man. Which brings to mind the question: why do we choose to remain silent? One idea may be that we are afraid to speak. We are afraid of what consequences may befall us after we speak and that our words may cause harm, so we would rather be silent than be accountable. Another is that we truly don't know what to say. The words suddenly escape us (or were never there in the first place) and all that is left in our heads is total blank. But perhaps it is neither of these things. Maybe we aren't afraid. Maybe we really do know what to say. Maybe there is a kind of power in silence, in withholding the answers we have, knowing that it belongs only within ourselves. Perhaps there is a kind of greed in silence, a desire that we have for our words to be our own, never to exit our minds into the world.

In discussions today about making institutions – in particular, high schools – more accessible for people of various identities, many different ideas are brought to the table. These discussions largely center around topics such as race, sexuality, gender, and disability as separate issues to be dealt with. However, often this excludes people with intersectional identities. One specific example of an intersectional identity that is frequently ignored when discussing issues in high schools (and the main focus of this paper), is queer students of color. Although research in areas such as education and experiences of youth who identify as LGBTQ has increased over the past 20 years, the specific issues of LGBTQ students of color in elementary and high schools have been largely untouched by research and discussion. What little research does exist has shown that students who are both queer and colored, in addition to challenges related to their sexual or gender identity, face challenges related to their race and ethnicity (Diaz & Kosciw 2). It is important to try and make high schools safer places for these students to freely express their intersectional identities by exploring some of the reasons why queer students of color feel so “other-ed” by various communities, what kinds of issues they face in high schools, and discussing ideas for ways to improve their educational experience, both academically and socially.

"Germany has become Europe's first country to allow babies with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24767225