Tonight's grad class was sort of weird. It went less atrociously then it has in the past, so that was a positive. However, as you can see I had an ample amount of time to doodle, so I'm not really sure that I was learning a whole lot. I wrote "sigh" because I was sighing inside because of how bored and intellectually frustrated I have been in class, "I Heart Sociology" because I love it and I wished that this particular class had been taught from a more sociological perspective, and "Learning is awesome" and "Thumbs up for knowledge!" because that's the sort of nerdy person I am and I needed something to amuse myself. Class was better today. I even taught my teacher something! Direct quote: "Wow! I've never thought of that!" (OK I can't take credit, what I taught her I learned in sociology, but that's how most things in my life are--I learned it in sociology class). We talk-
ed about what it would look like if we lived in a "genderless" world, which is really mind blowing to think about and an interesting idea to toy with just for the sake of it... I mean as far as how that would change our entire schemas and daily operations. And as I sat there thinking about it in class, I decided that I do greatly enjoy identifying as a woman. That sounds really weird. I guess I felt strange admitting that because I'm all about fighting those gender norms and getting rid of group boundaries!!!!! But what I mean is that as many problems as it would eliminate to get rid of gender social construction, there is something about identifying with a particular group that I really like a lot--it feels empowering. What I would like to see more of, in my ideal world, is treating both genders equally--to not necessarily eliminate gendered things, but to embrace everything as valuable instead of just the masculine, and to not limit people solely because of their gender. I'd greatly enjoy if we didn't have such negative stereotypes about women, or that we didn't have to deal with things like domestic violence or eating disorders. There was this quote that I really liked in our text: "I love the idea of being without an identity; it gives me a lot of room to play around; but it makes me dizzy, having nowhere to hang my hat. When I get too tired of not having an identity, I take one on, as long as it's recognizable. I can be a writer, a lover, a femme...a woman..." I like that because really our gender is a huge part of us, but at the same time such a small part of who we are as human beings. Maybe the issue is more the freedom to not be limited by gender: to let boys cry, to let girls lead, to let people be people. That's your philosophical thought for the day, I suppose--gender or no?
Tonight's grad class was sort of weird. It went less atrociously then it has in the past, so that was a positive. However, as you can see I had an ample amount of time to doodle, so I'm not really sure that I was learning a whole lot. I wrote "sigh" because I was sighing inside because of how bored and intellectually frustrated I have been in class, "I Heart Sociology" because I love it and I wished that this particular class had been taught from a more sociological perspective, and "Learning is awesome" and "Thumbs up for knowledge!" because that's the sort of nerdy person I am and I needed something to amuse myself. Class was better today. I even taught my teacher something! Direct quote: "Wow! I've never thought of that!" (OK I can't take credit, what I taught her I learned in sociology, but that's how most things in my life are--I learned it in sociology class). We talk-
ed about what it would look like if we lived in a "genderless" world, which is really mind blowing to think about and an interesting idea to toy with just for the sake of it... I mean as far as how that would change our entire schemas and daily operations. And as I sat there thinking about it in class, I decided that I do greatly enjoy identifying as a woman. That sounds really weird. I guess I felt strange admitting that because I'm all about fighting those gender norms and getting rid of group boundaries!!!!! But what I mean is that as many problems as it would eliminate to get rid of gender social construction, there is something about identifying with a particular group that I really like a lot--it feels empowering. What I would like to see more of, in my ideal world, is treating both genders equally--to not necessarily eliminate gendered things, but to embrace everything as valuable instead of just the masculine, and to not limit people solely because of their gender. I'd greatly enjoy if we didn't have such negative stereotypes about women, or that we didn't have to deal with things like domestic violence or eating disorders. There was this quote that I really liked in our text: "I love the idea of being without an identity; it gives me a lot of room to play around; but it makes me dizzy, having nowhere to hang my hat. When I get too tired of not having an identity, I take one on, as long as it's recognizable. I can be a writer, a lover, a femme...a woman..." I like that because really our gender is a huge part of us, but at the same time such a small part of who we are as human beings. Maybe the issue is more the freedom to not be limited by gender: to let boys cry, to let girls lead, to let people be people. That's your philosophical thought for the day, I suppose--gender or no? 
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