I consider myself incredibly lucky. Lucky that I work at a high school that, when I was hired 11 years ago, said "Yes!" when I asked if I could start a women's studies class (which is called Women in Society, WIS). I was not a women's studies major in college (my degree is in Secondary English Education), but I am an expert.
Because I'm a woman.
I designed my class and never looked back. Eleven years ago, one of the issues that was most prevalent for young women was the visibility of eating disorders. My theory is that the internet played a huge part in this, for good and for bad. For good, sufferers and their families suddenly had educational materials at their disposal; eating disorder organizations were formed, publicized, and joined all online; sufferers and families could form communities that spanned the globe and support each other. For bad, pro-anorexia websites; and, oddly enough, what I consider so great (fast access to information), I also think has been negative: fat-shaming sites; thinspiration sites; sites where sufferers are able to form communities and discuss eating disorder tips (trust me, that absolutely happens).
Also because of the internet, we suddenly had access to other countries. We could open the door and peek into their cultures. We could ask questions and search them out. Our curiosity was sparked: What do women all around the world have in common? How are we different? And our minds were blown.
Because our world has changed so much in the past eleven years, my curriculum has changed. It's never exactly the same class from year to year (except for the fact that I
always show
Thelma and Louise...). With the access to information that we have now, I could run my nine week class for a whole year and
still never tackle all the issues that are happening for, against, and about women. It's amazing and sobering at the same time. The fact that I can come across so many issues to discuss and debate is sometimes hard to sit with. We've come far, but we have so much further to go. And that's just the United States. What's happening globally is beyond shocking (more on that in my next post's documentary review). This past year, my nine-week class hit the following topics: advertising's effects on women; ad manipulation; sexual assault; teen pregnancy; how female politicians are portrayed in the media; our society's focus on appearance; and women's changing gender roles through history. Not to mention the fact that they each brought in a current event from a feminist blog of their choosing every week to share and discuss (15 topics x 9 weeks = 135
other topics). We scratched the surface. Just barely.
That's why there's a women's studies class.
And yes, every.single.year a few teachers (always male, sorry, guys), who think they're being funny, stop me in the hall and say, "Why isn't there a men in society class?" And I always say, "Because I'm an expert on being a woman, but
you could teach that."
So far, nobody has taken me up on that...
(And, yes, I do get the occasional male student in the class. All of them have said to me (except one, who told me that he was only taking this class "because his girlfriend made him"), "Yeah, I'm taking this class to defend men." They're normally a bit disappointed to hear my reply, "Oh, goodness. Well, there's so much to talk about when it comes to women that we don't ever have time to talk about men..." And the girls always treat them just like they're "one of the girls." It's always been a positive experience for all!)