Round-up: What Women’s Studies Students are Thinking About

Today, I asked students in my two Introduction to Women’s Studies classes to tell me what areas of our society, in their opinion, could use change or improvement in order to promote equal opportunity and to change our society for the better.  You might be surprised by some of their answers.  During our next class, I will introduce the semester long Advocacy/Activism Project, an assignment that asks them to educate others about a women’s studies related topic; today’s discussion is a pre-cursor, a way to show them that they have a wealth of topics to choose from.

If you are interested in my thoughts as a Catholic about Women’s Studies, you can read about how I see some common goals between Feminism and Catholicism, or read my thoughts about Feminism and Respect Life Month (click on the titles to link over to those posts).

Here is a list of issues and topics my students mentioned today.  Each class also chose a topic for in-depth discussion of possible solutions.  I have listed those choices two first.

• Time to be a good parent and the negative stereotypes about the men and women who choose to parent full time.
• Gender roles and stereotypes about women and men in the workplace, especially regarding promotions, supervisors, and workers with families.
• The difficulties merging reproductive work (pregnancy, lactation, child rearing) with paid work in our current business climate.
• A culture that encourages both women and men to objectify their bodies and those of others in order to “get ahead,” make money, or for entertainment.
• Educational opportunities for women and girls, especially in math and science, and basic education and beyond for women and girls in other parts of the world.
• Access to medical treatment, especially for women, girls, and the poor.
• Lack of respect for women candidates and leaders in business and government.

Several topics came up in both classes, and for the two we discussed in depth, they choose to combine some of the topics that were related to each other.  I think they did a good job of analyzing some of the major problems of our society, especially from a social justice perspective.  Keep in mind that I have not yet mentioned the phrase “social justice” or suggested that women’s studies work is similar to social justice work; they are determining that themselves.  

This particular class period is very motivational for the students, as they see how real concerns from their own lives are relevant to the course.  It is also motivating for me to see that students recognize serious problems in our society.  The next step is for them to educate others about these issues for their semester project.  Here is a round-up some of the projects my students created last semester.

One of the most innovative projects encouraged college students to object to the graphic portrayal of violence against women on television by turning the program off and writing letters of complaint to broadcasters.  This student created a website that educates about the issue, and includes a page to sign a pledge to turn off such programming.  She even created a flyer with a QRC code that links to her website when scanned by a smart phone.  Read the website here.

Another student created a Facebook page to encourage debate among rap music fans about whether the lyrics in certain rap music degrade women and to educate about rap music with positive lyrics.  See the page here.

One student created a video about societal attitudes toward “Supermoms,” encouraging viewers to show gratitude toward their mothers for all they do.  This video also addresses stereotypes and recognizes the roles filled by both working and non-working mothers.  Watch it here.

Another student chose to educate Hispanic women about their high risk for heart disease by writing information, statistics, and pointers in chalk on the walkways of a park in her neighborhood.  She also passed out flyers and talked to some of the women who were walking at the park.  See a slideshow of the project here.

Every semester, students create distinctive projects like these, and other students choose more common topics like domestic violence, human trafficking, and objectification in the media or advertising.  What I enjoy about this assignment is seeing how students develop the confidence to educate others about something they feel is important; this skill will enable them to successfully convince others to take action in the future on other issues they think are important, whatever those might be.

Building an Active Audience

Thanks to those of you who have been visiting regularly; your readership is appreciated.  I started blogging for several reasons, but one of them was to have readers for what I write.  One of the sad facts about being a poet is that very few people read poetry and while I am accepting of this as a poet, I thought I could try blogging to build an audience who may someday also read my poetry.  (Look at My Publications in the tabs above for information about my poetry and academic essays.)

I’d like to extend a special welcome to my international readers.  I’ve had readers from Germany almost from the beginning, my friend Lauran in the U.K. has been visiting regularly, and some of my newest readers are from Poland and France.  I know much of what I write applies to Americans more than Europeans (who generally eat healthier and can buy safer cosmetic products, for example), but I hope you are enjoying what you find here. 

I have a few suggestions for how to be more involved as readers of this blog.  I run an active learning classroom, where students have to get involved in the conversation, and they learn more in the process.   I encourage my students to share their ideas, assuring them that their observations and experiences make valuable contributions to our discussions of contemporary society.  In this classroom environment, they develop mutual respect for others as they realize that when they speak, others are learning from them, and when they listen, they are learning from others.  These are key elements of both feminist pedagogy and cooperative learning, two important influences on my teaching style.

I actually don’t think of this blog as a classroom, but some of the reasons people read and write blogs are to learn, to share ideas, and to converse with like-minded people.  So, here are some suggestions toward that end:

1.   When you have questions, comments, or suggestions, write them in the comment section.  I’ve seen blogs with long conversation threads in the comments area.  Maybe we can learn from each other by conversing this way.  You can also send comments directly to me if you’d rather not have a public conversation.

2.   If you like a post, please share the blog address with others who you think will like it too.  You can click on icons at the bottom of each post and in the right sidebar that enable you to share the post via e-mail, facebook, twitter, etc.  Of course, you can also share this blog address when you are already in your e-mail, on facebook, etc.  If you have conversations about this blog or my blog topics, please post these in the comments, or let me know about them.

3.   Follow this blog by clicking on the “Follow” button on the left sidebar.  If you already use the Google Reader, you can start following and see updates in the reader with a few clicks.  I know some of my readers use the reader bloglovin’; I don’t know much about it, but I assume it works the same way.  I really like seeing the most recent updates to the blogs I follow in the reader; I know immediately if there is a new post to view.

4.   You can also subscribe to this blog via e-mail; you will find an icon at the top of the right sidebar and another at the very bottom of the blog.

5.   Check back often to see what I’ve posted, especially if you have suggested an idea or made comments.  I always reply to comments, and maybe there will be a conversation to contribute to.

6.    If you also blog, link to my blog in yours.  I promise to return the favor.  My friend and co-worker Sylvia linked to my blog last week, so now I’m linking to hers as an example of how to do this.  Thanks, Sylvia!  She blogs about feminism, teaching, her dissertation topic (Spanish Literature) and related ideas at Sylvie’s Passegen-Werk.

In addition to getting you more involved as an audience member, these suggestions may also build the readership of this blog.  The more readers I have, the more we can converse, share ideas, and learn from each other.  Thanks for your efforts in this area.

Everyday Activism

I practice activism every day. To me, activism includes a range of behaviors intended to change society for the better, from the street protests of people living in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Spain these last few months, to writing letters to your government representatives, to making choices about how to spend your time and your money. When you think about your choices as activism, it is easy to be an activist every day.

One of the required assignments in the Introduction to Women’s Studies course that I teach is what I call the Advocacy or Activism Project. I ask students to choose a topic related to women’s studies or feminism and educate an audience outside of our class about the topic. This assignment places them in their community and gives them a chance to be activists. They don’t have to wait outside The White House all day in the cold rain holding signs for the president to see like the suffragists, or protest outside the Miss America pageant like the second wavers, or even write letters to congress asking them to renew funding for the Violence Against Women Act. They can just research a topic that interests them and tell their friends about it. They can even use social media to do it. Activism made easy.

One of the last things I tell students every semester is that teaching the course is one of the ways I am an activist. Women’s Studies is about looking at society’s practices in a way that suggests there is room for improvement in order for all members of our community to reach equality. Feminists do not accept the status quo; neither do other activists. At the end of every semester, I have taught 70 students how to be every day activists. When they see a need to practice activism, they will be confident that they can contribute.

I am also an activist in many other ways. When I publish poems about the experiences of the women in my family, I am an activist for including the stories of women, particularly Mexican-American women, in our cultural knowledge and our state’s heritage and history. When I show my daughters what I have published and talk to them about my teaching, I show them that women can make choices to be mothers and/or workers and/or cultural producers. There are many more activist moments in my life, which I will write about in future posts. Writing this blog is also a form of activism (see the last post about eating for health).

So, now I ask: How are you an activist? Are you surprised by the answer?