Star Salinas

Gender Studies
Sye Menebhi
May 23,2017
EOC

Society has brainwashed women to be feminine and men to be masculine. Women are

feminine because society, cultures,and the media has taught young girls to like pink, play with

dolls, be lady like, and dont sleep around. The same thing goes for men to be masculine to not

cry, to play with trucks, never back down from a fight, like the color blue, and be a player. Men

and women are taught this by the people around them also the media. The media shapes how we

view gender because it shows how a man and woman should act. It says that women should be

submissive to the man, stay at home, wear little clothing, very sensitive. The man should be

powerful, make a lot of money, have girls falling for them, and show no emotion. The media

shapes our expectations on how we view gender.

Historically the LGBTQIA community has been oppressed in many ways like the AIDS

crisis, conversion therapy, and DOMA. The AIDS crisis affected the LGBTQIA causing many to

die because nobody was doing anything about it. People against the LGBT community were

saying they were being punished for being gay so they deserved it. Many people in the LGBT

community had to go through conversion therapy because they were taught that being gay was

wrong and they had to go to camps to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual. The

LGBTQIA community had to go through DOMA which is a federal law that allows states to

refuse same sex-marriages. Today the LGBTQIA community is still being oppressed, one

example is the Pulse shooting. The tragedy that happened at Pulse, a gay nightclub is being
called a terrorist attack which killed 49 people. This shooting is not being called a hate crime

against the LGBTQIA community.

Intersectional is important to a movement because it doesnt leave part of someone's

identity out. Someone can be black, gay, and a woman and only can fight for women of those

identity. Its important to fight for all intersectional causees because that is how someone

identifies and it shouldnt be left out. It can cause someone to change who they are when they are

around a certain group. It can change the way they talk, dress, stand, and speck.

Gender roles were one major takeaway from Gender studies class. This has stuck to me

the most because I have literally seen it everywhere like in movies, books, twitter, and in

familys. I have noticed that my mom and aunt are stuck in western traditions, my mom expects

my sister and I to do all the cleaning in the house, but when it comes to my brother he doesnt

have to do much. Taking this class I have started to question my mom and asked her why my

sister and I have different responsibilities than my brother. At first she would say that he was a

boy and shouldnt be cleaning, but after all my nagging, she has now been telling him to do small

cleaning tasks, which is a small improvement. I hope to influence more people in their way of

thinking about gender roles after high school. Gender Studies has been my favorite class all year

and has taught me many things like the history of the LGBTQIA community, what is going on

in our justice system, and other very important topics that I feel will make me a more open

minded person in the future.