Reflection
Looking back through the thirteen postings I have written
during the entirety of this semester for this class, I whole-heartedly feel
that my thoughts, along with myself, have expanded and developed in terms of
the knowledge of the gender in America as well as my understanding of the
diversity of individuals in terms of gender and sexuality. It seems so evident
and obvious, from the early postings such as the one titled ‘A Whole New
Experience’, that I had been newly exposed to such deep and not very widespread
ideas and perspectives of the ‘non-normative’ genders that I now believe to
naturally exist in society. At first, I must admit, I had been almost astounded
and awe-struck by such strange (for me) ‘queer’ genders that I had never experienced
or thought of before. Even though I had heard about gay and lesbian
communities, I did not have any more than the rudimentary idea of them, not to
mention transgender, intersex and other ‘queer’ individuals and what kind of
disadvantages and troubles that they would have been and still go through in
this current society where the binary gender system is deeply embedded and
dominant.
I personally believe that reading the article ‘Claiming an
Education’ written by Adrienne Rich in the beginning of the semester helped
tremendously in my attitude toward this class. Instead of just passively taking
in information from lectures or readings I have had to do, the article actually
encouraged me to actively think about a lot of gender issues included in what I
have read for class. Furthermore, I was eager to look up on internet and talk
with my friends about extra information that I was curious about regarding
various topics we have learned and talked about in lecture, but I did not fully
comprehend or wanted to know more about.
Posting after posting, I see that I have gained and learned
so much in this class and broadened my horizon when looking at the issue of
gender. Understanding, analyzing and interpreting the various issues that
‘queer’ individuals faced was a rather difficult job for me due to my limited
knowledge that did not help me much to relate to these people. However,
organizing my thoughts and the array of ideas in front of me in order to write
postings week after week personally helped me better understand the current
situation and the transforming general atmosphere of gender in America.
I recall that one of
the earliest discussions and postings was about breaking down our notion of
gender through the lens of the binary gender system that strictly categorizes
all individuals into two distinct groups – male and female. Reading and writing
about Patricia Hill Collins’s article about how the dichotomy of gender creates
oppression and certain power dynamics among individuals opened my eyes to the
whole new world of gender where there are no categories established such as
male or female and every individual with distinct personality and
characteristics. The fact that much discrimination and oppression arise due to
our notion of stereotypes and ideas toward certain categories of people was as
fresh as view as the vegetables in an In-and-Out burger. This idea further
develops in my posting about ‘intersectionality’, an idea introduced by
Kimberle Crenshaw in her book, ‘Mapping the Margins’. From the article, I
learned that individuals’ circumstances could worsen not only due to their
‘queer’ gender but also by other aspects of their identity such as race, class,
and many more.
A little peak into the pre-contact Native American views and
treatment of gender was personally extremely intriguing and novel. Their
nonchalant acceptance of individuals who are considered ‘transvestite’ or
‘transgender’ in our community is rather surprising and something that I could
learn from. In addition to these conventional ideas and the existence of
various types of gender, I also enjoyed learning and writing about the history of struggle of ‘queer’
individuals in the past such as the Stonewall riots and those demonstrated in
Nayan Shah’s book, ‘Stranger Intimacy’. I have realized that closely perusing
the past struggle and activism as well as their effectiveness in bringing about
positive results could be a good way to learn and lead our society forward in
not only issues regarding gender, but also class, race, and other categories
that contribute in creating unjust inequalities between individuals.
I am utterly glad that independently giving my own thoughts
to such issues and writing about them not only broadened my knowledge and
opened up my perspectives toward such matters, but also developed my critical
and logical thinking skills and improved my writing skills. Being a non-native
speaker of English from Korea, I must admit that I had much difficulty
expressing myself the way I wanted. However, long hours of reading, sitting in
front of a computer and thinking about complex issues I had to comprehend and
writing out what I had understood have significantly and almost discernibly
made me more skillful in numerous aspects. The freedom given to me in writing
my postings has been the ultimate motivation for me to work and think in my own
unique way.
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