The Female on Trial :: Gender Studies Research papers

The Female on TrialThe theme of the depression semester of my senior year at Bryn Mawr College, although I stick out lacked all gender coursework in my first three years of semesters, unexpectedly heavily involves the concussion of the science, literature, and politics of gender. As my most last minute, haphazard schedule of any semester ever, on the next to last day of the shopping week period, I found myself adding two gender studies classes to my schedule. One entitled Advanced Topics in developmental Psychology for my Psychology minor, and the new(prenominal) entitled, Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Sex and Gender. two classes, although very different in their methodology - (one placing a profound vastness on precision, cautious and careful experiment design, and the other on stories some(prenominal) individual and collective, and their relation to society) - hoped to find the real gender problems, look at them with the attention they deserve, and encourage some kind of dialogue for change. Gender Development, as a psychology class, was focused on the place of psychology in reporting only what can be proven, or statistically significant. It took the spatial relation that science, although slow, has the advantage of facts, which my professor insisted are key out for social recognition of a problem which can be sited and lead to broad social change. My other class was in Bryn Mawr and Haverfords shared Feminist and Gender Studies department, although it spent a few classes dedicated to looking at gender from a biological perspective, in general, has looked less at the science, and more at the story or groups of stories that intellectuals tell somewhat their own personal experience, as well as their observations of the larger societal externalize concerning gender and sexuality. The class also advance intellectual discussions like we were participating in class about these topics and believed the dialogues were key for opening an awareness th at might lead to social improvement. I have continually struggled with the scientific and intellectual representations of gender development and stigmatization, especially regarding the role of socialization (by socialization I mean the stereotypes and stigmas placed on individuals by society based on their sex, sexuality, or gender). How do I secure my own experience, do either of these classes tell a better picture for me and my story, or for society, do either provide a better or at least more useful story? My thinking about these questions came to a head when in my final Advanced Topics in Developmental Psychology class, for the first time the professor had not asked the class to acquire a cluster of psychological studies.