Ditz

Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Inside the Bubble

Media Credit: www.coyotescorner.com

I took my first Women's Studies class at Santa Monica City College. A confused nineteen year old, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, but I did not want to be in school - a classic case of the student who's there only because she feels she should be. I remember laughing when I saw the teacher's name: Manoff. "Really? Manoff?" I expected a thick butch woman with a chiseled jaw and rolled up shirtsleeves to march in the first day bellowing endlessly about the injustices women had been forced to endure throughout the ages. Of course, she couldn't have been further from my wild image.

I'll never forget the first question she posed to us as a class: "Who here considers themselves a feminist?" A few hands rose hesitantly, mine not included. She went on to explain a feminist simply as a person who believes that women are at a disadvantage and action should be taken to change their position. "Now, who considers them self a feminist?" The number of hands multiplied quickly. This time mine went up effortlessly.

***

I love my major, but many don't understand it. The stereotypes about Women's and Gender Studies are abound. I know you know them-we all do. Fat hairy lesbians sitting around kvetching about women's oppression and the evil "man" who has done everything in his (limitless) power to keep us subordinate. The only people interested in Women's and Gender Studies must fall into these categories right? There's no way they could be straight, attractive, and god forbid maybe even a man!

I don't think I need to tell you how far this is from reality. Women's and Gender Studies is far-reaching, all encompassing, powerful, and endlessly interesting. I mourn the Women's Studies program at Occidental, and it isn't even truly gone, well not just yet. WSGS is considered an interdisciplinary major, which means that its courses are everywhere. This year alone, Occidental WSGS classes are offered in all of the following departments: History, Sociology, Diplomacy and World Affairs, Politics, English and Comparative Literary Studies, Critical Theory and Social Justice, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Economics, Music, Education, Psychology, and Theater. What other major offers the opportunity to participate in such a wide variety of fields? If WSGS were truly as narrowly defined as it is through its stereotypes, how could it possibly exist in so many areas of study?

The topics in WSGS are boundless. Women's and Gender Studies is not just about liberating women, it's about examining the ways in which all people are oppressed and the fight to change it. WSGS is an active major. It requires a desire to act, to change the world, to make strides towards change for the better. The challenge goes far beyond the classroom walls.

My advice? Just take one class - I promise it will change your life.

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