Hi. My name is George, and I am a senior at ASU West majoring in Psychology. I really didn’t know what to think about this class, so I didn’t formulate any real expectations prior to attending. This class was one of three classes I could have taken to satisfy a requirement for my major, AND my advisor strongly suggested this course. I remember hesitating selecting this course until he said, “Trust me. The instructor is a riot. You’re going to love this class.” He said this twice, so I got the impression this would be an interesting/entertaining course with a dynamic teacher. Naturally, when I arrived for the first day of class, there was a different professor and there weren’t too many guys in the class…an academic bait and switch! At this point I considered signing up for a different course mostly because I felt a tad out of place. The thing is I got a good vibe out of this class. Good first impression. Gut instinct. A new challenge. I am not sure which, but I decided to stick it out. With two classes over it seems as though my advisor was definitely prophetic – it is an interesting/entertaining class with a dynamic teacher afterall.
So far the subject matter is on par with what I expected to learn regarding women’s studies and feminism. From the initial reading I think feminism is a concept that is continuing to evolve and advance with time. Women’s rights and equality is an ideal the enlightened and educated aspire to achieve. It doesn’t take a genius to understand a person should be judged equally without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, etcetera. A person’s actions, beliefs, and knowledge within the framework of society alone should define her/him. However, it’s one thing to preach it and a totally different thing to practice it.
For example, I consider myself a feminist. I have a 13 year old daughter, and I firmly believe her future should have no barriers imposed by the uninformed and ignorant simply because of her sex. Except this morning when I was having breakfast in the ASU cafeteria and reading from the class text, I found myself subconsciously compelled to flip the book upside down so passersby wouldn’t see the title. I literally caught myself wanting to hide the book! What does this mean to me? It’s not the action of an enlightened person. I guess at the very least, it’s something to work on over the course of the semester.
