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The "problem" with becoming socially conscious is that you can't really turn it off when you're tired. (This is seriously a first-world problem, I know.)
I'm a double major, English and Women & Gender Studies, and I got into the second when I was almost done with the first, so I was taking primarily English classes with a couple of WS classes thrown in (and ones that were both! Like "19th Century Women Writers!" Which was AWESOME.)
So, English. English with an emphasis in Literature, to be specific. This is the degree where they take people who love to read and attempt to cure them of it. There was a point (during a summer session where I was taking two classes at the same time, reading two novels plus analysis and writing two 5-page papers a week for eight weeks - I do not recommend it) where I got to the point that I didn't want to read a fucking cereal box because OMG WORDS NO. Obviously that went away. I watched movies, played video games, avoided text for a couple of weeks, I got better. Very good. Still love to read, still do it all the time.
And now, Gender Studies. This degree is really about changing the way you think, the way you understand and interact with the world, about raising consciousness and increasing awareness, and what you learn is that society - especially American society - is sexist, racist, classist, heterosexist, ableist, and transphobic. (Transphobic isn't quite as inclusive as I want it to be - maybe cisgenderedist? Is that a word? The idea that there are exactly two sets of genitalia, male and female, with no variation AT ALL and the person inside matches the external plumbing every single time. It not only erases trans people, but intersex and genderqueer and all sorts of folks who don't fit that little mental scenario.) It's also monogamist and overwhelmingly Christian.
( The problem with this is long and ranty. )But world, really, can't you give the unrelenting shitstorm a break for five fucking minutes? I can't watch Toy Story 3 without having a moment of total feminist horror.
( Then I talk about Disney, and Pixar, and moments of feminist horror, and problematic characterization. )
I'm a double major, English and Women & Gender Studies, and I got into the second when I was almost done with the first, so I was taking primarily English classes with a couple of WS classes thrown in (and ones that were both! Like "19th Century Women Writers!" Which was AWESOME.)
So, English. English with an emphasis in Literature, to be specific. This is the degree where they take people who love to read and attempt to cure them of it. There was a point (during a summer session where I was taking two classes at the same time, reading two novels plus analysis and writing two 5-page papers a week for eight weeks - I do not recommend it) where I got to the point that I didn't want to read a fucking cereal box because OMG WORDS NO. Obviously that went away. I watched movies, played video games, avoided text for a couple of weeks, I got better. Very good. Still love to read, still do it all the time.
And now, Gender Studies. This degree is really about changing the way you think, the way you understand and interact with the world, about raising consciousness and increasing awareness, and what you learn is that society - especially American society - is sexist, racist, classist, heterosexist, ableist, and transphobic. (Transphobic isn't quite as inclusive as I want it to be - maybe cisgenderedist? Is that a word? The idea that there are exactly two sets of genitalia, male and female, with no variation AT ALL and the person inside matches the external plumbing every single time. It not only erases trans people, but intersex and genderqueer and all sorts of folks who don't fit that little mental scenario.) It's also monogamist and overwhelmingly Christian.
( The problem with this is long and ranty. )But world, really, can't you give the unrelenting shitstorm a break for five fucking minutes? I can't watch Toy Story 3 without having a moment of total feminist horror.
( Then I talk about Disney, and Pixar, and moments of feminist horror, and problematic characterization. )
