Introduction Letter for WST 3015-0001

One of the things everyone knows about me is that I am very into my culture, being that my parents are from the continents of Asia and Africa. My father is Indian and my mother is Zimbabwean. Originally, I was born in the capital of Harare, which is located in the country of Zimbabwe. As a kid I took up piano, which has turned into one my special interest. Some of my other special interests are dancing, singing, cooking, and composing music. I recently, just transferred to UCF this semester as a junior. It took me a while to declare my major, but finally reached a decision before the start of this semester. Currently, I am majoring in Public Relations/Advertisement with a minor in business; hopefully this does not change any time soon. My future plans with my major, is to be an owner of my own Public Relations firm. Being that this is my first semester at UCF, I thought it was very important for me to take a class that would teach me about the women perspective. I think that woman studies will challenge my understanding when it comes to gender, race, class, & other social inequalities.

            Before signing up for this class many of male friends were asking me why I was taking woman studies. I told them that I wanted to understand the issues that have been facing woman for centuries. It occurred to me then that men have a very ignorant point of view when it comes to this course of study. Since we do live in a male dominated society, men are quick to believe that this course gives woman the ability to bash the male species. Men also criticize this course by thinking woman are only discussing their feelings.  I don’t believe any of this is true; my understanding of woman studies is that it reaches into all academic fields. I think that woman studies explore the idea of history, politics, & society of the woman’s perspective. I believe that this course will provide me with diverse points of view, which are significant not only academically, but also in the work field.

   This class also got me thinking about how genders play a role in our daily lives. I think my greatest influence on how I understand how men and woman should behave is society. I think society tells us how to think intellectually as men and woman. It is our basic structure in the understanding of our genders. For example men cannot go into a woman restroom and vice versa woman cannot go into a male restroom. It goes against the social norm and the people who break the rules end up criticized. I think that people who go against the social norm teach society how to open their minds and not be so stuck in their ways. I think if people did not go against social norms everyone would still be same and no one would be different.