Pulse of the class

1. Ch-ch-ch-changes. Turn and face the strange. I feel like that is the best way to sum up this course. Strange in this sense isn’t meant to sound derogatory, but something new rather. That’s mainly what Gender and Sexuality deals with: new ideas about preconceived notions. This course is interesting, engaging, challenging, progressive, entertaining, eye opening. Overall I really like this course. I leave each class thinking about the material we’ve covered and it stays with me throughout the week. Sometimes the lectures are a little intense but that’s a good thing. Every time I walk into class I feel as though I am ready to be engaged the whole time. The screenings are great. A lot of them are shows, movies, or music videos that I’ve seen already but in this class I am able to see them through a gender and sexuality lens, so they almost become brand new. I have seen Fight Club before, but I never read Fight Club queerly which was completely new to me. 
2. This course definitely changed the way I see gender and sexuality. The whole concept of gender being a choice is really interesting to me. Gender really is an entity constructed by society and whether you want to be more masculine or feminine is a choice you make. I also see sexuality differently now. Women being overly sexualized happens in media everyday but we as a society have become so desensitized by this, that it has become a norm. This class helped show me how prevalent it is and it’s very upsetting that this is alright with people. 
3. I think the most engaging reading topic has been everything surrounding gender. This is mainly because the topic of gender is so new to me. I’m familiar with transgendered people but before this course I don’t think I’ve ever been aware of people that don’t associate with a certain gender at all. Kate Bornstein’s ideas about gender are very radical and I like them. If gender doesn’t become an issue anymore then we as a society can judge people on their merits and not what lies between their legs. 
4. Although I find it the most interesting, gender has also been the most difficult topic as well. Readings like the Judith Butler piece were very hard to decipher. It was very dense and filled with a lot of difficult vocabulary. Although the Judith butler as explained by cats did help somewhat.