| Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? Alot of people actually. What I mean, of course is feminism and as an English major, I identify Virgina Woolf as one of the first women to identify the need for a "room of one's own." Ofcourse she was rather non-specific of how to get it, but that is where other feminists come in. I had always had a vague feeling towards women's rights, but it was only in college when my interests became more focused. My first women's studies class was Freshmen year when I took Introduction to Women and the Social Sciences. My TA had a shaved head and a tattoo of a large nude woman on her arm. I was a little skeptical at first, but I really started to identify with the class. I think the point of epiphany for me was when we had discussion about beauty standards for women and why we shave our legs. I never had questioned the process before, thinking that it was the "natural" thing to do. Yet as I study, the more and more I find that the so-called essential characteristics of womanhood are socialized through science, the media, and other outlets. Since then, I have taken a Women's Studies class every semester, which has really allowed me to explore women's issues across a wide variety of disciplines: WS/Philosopy 210- Introduction to Feminist Theory- A phenomenal course that really gave me a broad introduction to differnet types of theory. Too bad that some girl in my class took my reader and never gave it back. WS/Political Science 235- Women and Politics- Probably the most men in a WS class that I have taken. Taught by a great visiting professor, Nan Dibello, but my TA was the biggest bitch I have ever met in my life. How the hell did she get into grad school, I have idea. I went to class more than her! Too bad I learned that most of my childhood suffrage heros were biggots. WS/History 230- Women in Early American Society- An interesting class, we read a lot of great books, such as Martha Ballard's A Midwife's Tale Taught by Elizabeth Pleck, a well known specialist in Early American family life. Too bad I was constantly worried that she might have a stroke during class! I wish I could have taken the 20th century counterpart to this class. WS/Scandanavian 375- Women in Scandanavian Literature- What a curve ball this was. I needed to take a 300 level and this class sounded a little out the ordinary. We met once a week for two hours and we had to read a book a week. Learning about women in the Scandanavian context demonstrated several cultural gender differences. They seem to take women a little more seriously over there. I was happy to get to know some other skandanavian works besides Ibson's A Doll's House. I kept most of my books from this class, including the most hilarious book I ever read Egalia's Daughter's WS/Architecture 324- Gender and Race in Contemporary Architecture- Wow! what a great class. I was scared that we were going to have to build models and memorize buildings. But I really learned a lot about the profession and the institutionalized oppressions women and minorities in the field face. Taught by the acclaimed Kathryn Anthony, we were able to use her newly published book, Designing for Diversity, as our textbook. Yeah so I have done a lot of reading anout women's issues, but I have not really been a part of any activism on campus, which really upsets me. But I think that I am well prepared for the future and I hope to integrate my awareness of the cultural implications of gender into whatever field I enter. SOME WOMYN'S LINKS Center For Women in Transition - A place where I volunteer and also wrote a grant for a Business and Technical Writing Class Adios Barbie Women's Studies at Illinois Gender and Race in Contemporary Architecture - My Class |