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Thursday, March 17, 2011

"Successes & Challenges Rukia Akida

During my change of major to women’s studies, I found myself facing a lot of challenges due to the fact that many of my friends did not understand why would there be women’s studies. Most of the time I had found myself having to explain terms such as feminist or feminism, which is because what they knew of feminism or feminist, was the stereotypes and not the facts of the terms or the concept. Since, the word feminism when often is spoken it follows with stereotype words definition such as men haters, lesbians, baby haters, I found that many of my friends were having problem with me when I talk about the issues discusses in class. Male friends would answer that you all just want to be like us, and I was very upsets with such commends.

While reading the question and asked to write about the challenges and success and being open and accept others’ ideas and definitions and practice of feminism, within the past six month, constantly I thought of my friends who believe in pro-choices but don’t believe that they are feminist. I think due to societal view of women’s issue it becomes harder for people to get out of the nut shell and acknowledge that what they don’t fully understanding and would like to know what feminist do and what the meaning of feminism; however, most find it is easier to stereotype the definition than learning the true definitions and concepts and the issues that women are facing in daily basis.

During women’s Race and Social Justice Class, we talked about the stereotype that comes along when identifying one’s self as feminists. We challenged ourselves through education by understanding that not everyone can agree with feminism but we can change the stereotypes and reclaim our identity through involvement. This class helped me to accept others ideas and their thinking, without judging them. Often I find myself getting involved in the discussion so that my voice can be heard especially when comes to feminist issues. My experience as a feminist and a women’s studies student were challenged again when asked to write a paper based on what we have learned and how feminism can be apply toward our own families values, that is because most of us identified that our families did not have feminism/feminist values and patriarchy values were the norm.

It took me a while to accept others ideas and beliefs, which is because I have always been questioning everything that is around me. This was a very big challenge me and with feminism, it taught me to be patient and to be aware of who I am and what I’m doing. During my classes I did find myself thinking and evaluating concept and ideas and how they can fit in my life and the people around me. I think the challenges that I faced in past six month or more helped to develop the success in me with a lot of understanding.

1 comment:

  1. Rukia, I found your blog interesting and I related to you on a few points.

    First, similar to you, when I chose to transfer to this program I was also faced with many questions and misunderstandngs from the people around me. Stereotypes around feminism led people to be surprised that I was in such as program.

    Additionally, I sometimes find it challenging when I have to sit down and write about my challenges or experiences with feminism because many times I did not apply my feminism outside of the classroom. Luckily for me this has changed, I hope it does for you too. Great Blog!

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