This semester has been a bit trying for me, but one really great thing that has come out of it is the Women's Studies class I'm taking. Y'all, I highly recommend taking some sort of gender or race studies class in your educational career. I feel like for once I'm actually learning things that can be applied in the real world. It has even led me to consider a minor in Wom. St., which is big for me. So yes, this is an important class.
I've considered myself to be liberal for a long time. But I think before taking this class, I kind of just blindly followed the liberal stance on most political and social topics because I didn't quite understand what I was fighting for. This class has not only taught me multitudes about women and equality; it has taught me how to think for myself, and to make informed decisions about politically volatile issues.
We've been talking a lot about body image in my class. How the media sets these impossibly high standards that potentially no one can achieve in terms of physical beauty. I'll be honest, I always hear people say, "Women don't really look like that," but until really studying this subject and seeing firsthand how make up and photoshop are used so excessively, I realize now that it's true. Nobody looks like that. Nobody has tan, flawless, hairless skin; slender, long legs; long, straight, manageable hair; piercing blue/green eyes; and a flat stomach. Sure, some people may have a couple of these attributes. But all of them? Nobody.
We've all got things about ourselves that we don't like. That we hate, in fact. Even my professor, who is a devoted advocate of feminism (clearly, given her teaching position), admitted to having several body insecurities. And often, these insecurities manifest so much that they make us ashamed of ourselves. We become sad that we don't look the way we want, and then we do whatever it takes to go after that look. I know that I personally have insecurities involving my face that sometimes make me avoid eye contact with people because I'm scared that's all they're looking at.
If we took all the hours we spent worrying about our faces and our bodies and what we look like, and instead spent that time focusing on our futures and goals, I like to think that the world would be a much better place.
Not only has this class made me see the truth more clearly, but it has given me a reason to speak up. Last week I was at a dinner party with my family, all of whom are quite religious. One person at the table made a mildly sexist comment. Now usually, this would have stung and made me cringe a little, but I would have let it pass. But this time, I was empowered. I was going to speak up, damn it. So I did.
And honestly it turned out to be an epic fail. I spluttered along with a few facts I had learned in class and said how making such a comment was pretty degrading. The entire table fell silent and everything got really weird and uncomfortable. Eventually someone changed the subject. But you know what? I wasn't ashamed. I didn't exactly make the greatest argument, but I stood my ground and I spoke up when someone said something I didn't believe in. And to me, that's a pretty great start.
We watched this in my class yesterday and it just blows me away every time I replay it.
If there's one thing to take away from this post, it's this: Love yourself first, and others will follow.
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