Introduction Post

My name is Rachel Miles. Currently, I am seventeen years old and a freshman in my second semester at UCF. I am a declared English Lit. major, and I intend to minor in Women’s Studies, which is my primary reason for taking this course. I’m also hoping to double-degree, but I’m undecided yet as to what other major area I would study, or even if that would be the best action to pursue. After finishing my gen eds last term, I’m using this semester to explore potential areas of interest outside of English literature: I’m taking courses in Women’s Studies (this one and Feminist Theories with Dr. Vest, which looks to be an experience), creative writing, and anthropology, and I’m now just hoping that they all stay as exciting as the first two days of class have suggested they will be.

My interest in Women’s Studies comes from my general upbringing, which emphasized the importance of being open-minded and of questioning things I didn’t understand. I’ve done more of the latter over the past few years as I was exposed to opinions other than my parents’, primarily through school, and I’ve developed opinions that I think they probably rather wish I hadn’t; they’re relatively accepting people, but their views are significantly more conservative than I’m discovering mine are. I’ve realized, for instance, that I understand human sexuality as a fluid concept and identity, and that I’m a huge fan of the Kinsey scale. I am a fervent advocate of gay marriage and rights, and I hope to become more involved in activist organizations that work in support of those while at college. I’ve also reached a point where I don’t need religion, which was a scary place to be for a while as a person who was raised Christian and is presently living with three very religious roommates. For me, though, I don’t see a need to believe in a higher power to validate or find meaning in my existence; I’m not definitively saying that one doesn’t exist, and I don’t believe the institution of religion to be the source of all evil and corruption on this earth that many people I’ve talked to seem to. I just know that for me as an individual, religion is unnecessary and, quite frankly, a waste of my time. I’ve been told it’s a phase, but I really hope it isn’t. I like knowing that I’m comfortable with my life as it is, and with the idea that what I live out here is all I get and the only thing that matters. It makes me feel like I have a purpose more than religion ever did, and I’m more than okay with that.

That said, Women’s Studies specifically is a relatively new interest point for me. I was first exposed to the field because of a friend, who recently came out as transgendered and who has begun transitioning into life as a woman. While I had known before her coming out that gender and sex were separate, I understood that distinction only as a vague concept, and never as one that I considered beyond which term was the correct one to use in writing papers for school. After my friend began her transition, however, I started reading more in the field of gender studies, particularly related to transgenderism. What I have read – which, admittedly, isn’t much – has been fascinating, and I had hoped to find courses in gender studies at UCF so I could begin some directed study of the field. The closest option I found was the Women’s Studies program, and I figured that this semester was as good a time as any to start studying it, so here I am.

What I most want to get out of this class is, I think, the ability to better understand my own position on issues related to gender studies. I suppose I’ve always been a bit of a feminist, simply in that I never accepted the idea that I as a girl couldn’t or shouldn’t do the same things boys could. Beyond that basic idea, though, I don’t really know much about feminism or general Women’s Studies. I’ve started reading feminist blogs and papers to learn more about that aspect (I’m a fan of research, which is probably a good thing, what with being a student), and I’ve found myself agreeing with the points they raise on most issues. But I can’t definitively say that I understand why I agree with them, or if I genuinely do agree beyond the urge to support an opinion most other feminists seem to, or even why they’re issues in the first place. I’m hoping that by the end of this semester, I will have learned enough about Women’s Studies and feminism to not only analyze situations for potential gender issues, but also to defend my position on the issues I find. I don’t expect to end this course, or even later classes in Women’s Studies, with definitive knowledge on all aspects of what, if anything, defines gender; the very nature of gender as a social construct that accordingly changes with society makes that something I don’t believe anyone could achieve, no matter how many years of study s/he undertakes. I just want to understand the basics of gender well enough to explain why we should, as citizens in a society that claims to be conscious of equality and acceptance, care about the issues surrounding it, and why I choose to care about those issues the way I’m increasingly finding I do.

(That was significantly more than 500 words, and I'm sorry. In any case, I have read and understood the syllabus for Introduction to Women's Studies, and I agree to all expectations stated therein.)