Reflection

I would be lying if I said that I was excited when I registered for my Women and Computers course. I have never really considered my self a "techy" person. In fact, I usually tell people that I am technologically challenged! My bad attitude toward the class made the first few class meetings really long. As I began to do the assignments, though, I realized how much I was interested in the content of the class!

Computers and the internet are so very important in this day and age. They are a part of our everyday lives! We communicate with others on the computer, play games on the computer, we even pay our bills on the computer! Why not  further our education on the computer!? And why not do it in a feminist way!?

Had I not taken this class I never would have realized how interested I am in blogging. While I do not write blog entries as often as I would like, I do read my favorite blogs at least once a day. I have learned so much! I have also been introduced to numerous different resources that I can utilize in other classes and in my everyday life. Delicious might be one of my favorite new websites!

Overall, I am very glad that I was required to take this course. Had it not been a requirement I never would have registered. I am saddened that the class will no longer be available for other students to take. I feel that it is very important and that it has helped me to become a better feminist!

The Unnatural Management of Intersexuality

During the second semester of my Freshman year, I had the opportunity to conduct a semester long research project. The purpose of the project was to tie two, seemingly unrelated, classes together and to present what was found at St. Cloud State University's annual Honor's Colloquium. At the time I was taking my very first Women's Studies course--Gender and The Body. At first I had no idea what I wanted to do for my project. I knew that I was interested in the concept of gender, since it was completely new to me, but other than that I had no idea. At the time I was also enrolled in an entry level biology class. I decided to tie these two classes together and to do my project on nature versus nurture. I wanted to know what aspects of a person were due to their genetic make-up and what aspects were due to the society in which they lived. As I began to research the topic, however, I began to realize that it was nearly impossible to differentiate between nature and nurture--they are so completely interconnected. As I came to realize that I had absolutely nothing for my project, I became very discouraged. I scheduled an appointment with my Women's Studies professor at the time, Beth Berila, in hopes that she would be able to help me. As I was talking to her about my previous research, she suggested that I look to people/situations that challenge the norm concerning nature versus nurture. As I began to research this topic, I came across the phenomenon of intersexuality. The more research that I did, the more I became interested in the topic. I read and watched movies about intersexuality whenever I had time. My project eventually transformed into research on The Unnatural Management of Intersexuality. My thesis in the paper states that physicians lead us to believe that their decisions concerning intersexuality are based solely on biological factors when, in reality, social factors are greatly influential.