Last week I caught up with Jaime McLean and talked to her about her role as an influential female figure on campus. Jaime has given presentations on campus about sexual education and is working towards getting a healthcare education center on the Augustana Campus. Currently Jaime is working as a communications coordinator for the Title IX department.
Name: Jaime McLean
Hometown: originally Kitchener, Canada (has lived in Quad Cities for 17 years)
Year: Junior
Major(s)/Minor(s): Women and Gender Studies (WGS) major, public health and art minor
Can you discuss what kinds of women’s issues you’re involved with and your role as an advocate for women?
A big one would be sex education. And I take that as a very broad topic, so it’s not just talking about STDs and pregnancy. It talks about how people can be affected by ideas about sex and sexuality, how that can affect how they go about their own sex lives–however they want to do that. If they’re having to deal with certain types of stigma, whether that is being female, a person of color, or being part of the LGBTQ+ community and how that can also intersect and cause different barriers to having a better experience. So that’s where a lot of my focus is. Of course I like to expand that to everybody, but I definitely focus a lot on those gender discrepancies.
What’s been your favorite WGS class you’ve taken at Augie?
That would be my Feminst Theory class. It was so great. Dr. Popple is great. My one critique I would have is that it’s a bit heavy for people just coming in, which is why it’s another level up. But I really value the background that it gives. Because now when I’m working on things, it’s not just understanding that the issue is there, but having a better understanding of why it’s there.
What do you like about our WGS department?
I think the department and the faculty members of the department do a really great job at forming content that is accessible and inclusive. There is a lot of critique that goes on about feminism and WGS topics, where we can look at the topic, pick out the good points of it, and also talk about what might not be so good about it. I really like having that critique about what other activists are doing and what we’re doing so that can help build into a better picture of what our goals are and how to best achieve them for everybody and I really value that.
What kind of career do you want to make out of this type of work?
I’ll probably be a sex educator or a professor.
What is your end goal?
On-campus I’d really like to ensure that there will be more access to students. Interviewing students and talking to students, I have been aware of a lot of problems that, being someone that doesn’t live on campus, I wasn’t aware of in full. Now I am working with the Title IX department as a communications coordinator. Part of my work there will be making sure students have access to know their rights, to know where all their resources are, and to feel comfortable being able to seek out whatever end they need to whatever problem they’re facing on campus that might be gender-based.
How can every day people make a conscious effort to better our community for women?
That’s funny, because we were talking about that with my teacher. It’s always hard when you have people who are really on board, we have a lot of passion, we have a lot of drive, and we have a lot of word knowledge on what everything is–all this terminology. Then you go to the average person and that vocabulary isn’t common. A lot of it has become polarized in the media, too. So someone might hear a term like “rape culture” and might think that they are being personally attacked by their behavior. That doesn’t excuse any behavior that is inappropriate by somebody, but I would hope that people would take a step back from what they’re seeing and hearing and just try to listen. And think you know, maybe I don’t have this experience, I might not be able to understand it, and although it makes me feel uncomfortable, maybe I should listen and see what these people say. It doesn’t mean you neccessarily have to agree with everything, but I think that’s a really important step. A lot of folks find that afterwards that, well, when I started thinking about it I started to realize that yeah, maybe that is the case and I never had to think about that before. So it’s a new step. I’d say try to stay open and stay respectful. If someone is telling you something about their experience, it’s usually not good to dismiss that.
If you have any questions and/or suggestions about the health education center on campus, feel free to email Jaime at jaimemclean14@augustana.edu.