Gender Studies in Real Life
Throughout this course, our unit on toxic masculinity proved to have the most real-world applications for me. Although I had often heard sexist/uncomfortable jokes and comments, I didn’t say something about them as often as I would now. I feel like this class made me realize the repercussions of sexist comments (like jokes turning into internalized misogyny, which can then turn into assault in extreme cases), and that made me feel like it was more urgent to speak up about these discomforting comments. Towards the beginning of the year, I remember walking back from Gender Studies holding my bright pink course packet. “Jokingly,” someone grabbed the packet and said, “Why do you need such a huge course packet if there’s only two genders?” At that time, I didn’t say anything for some reason. I didn’t really support the joke or condemn, I just kind of ignored it and we moved on with the conversation. I think back to why I didn’t say anything, and I think it’s because I knew the joke wa...
