You sit impatiently in front of your laptop, with SOLAR’s shopping cart opened up on one tab and an online digital clock on another. The time finally comes for you to smash that enrollment button with lightning speed, only for you to find that PSY240 has filled up in a matter of mere seconds. We’ve all been there. And so the hunt begins for replacement credits. Looking for a good course to take? Try women’s studies!
As of September 2019, current freshmen as well as incoming freshmen to the university have one additional Stony Brook Curriculum (SBC) requisite to fill: Respect Diversity and Foster Inclusiveness (DIV). Wondering how you can satisfy this new requirement? Nearly all of the lower-level women’s studies courses offered at the university count towards the DIV SBC. Worried the course won’t fit into your schedule? Online courses are this department’s forte! For the upcoming 2020 spring semester, a whopping 5 WST courses have been offered online. Schedule flexibility and the opportunity to check off some requirements are surely one part of the appeal.
But perhaps the most important aspect to consider is that you will certainly walk out of the course with a broadened perspective in regards to how you see yourself and the rest of the world. My time spent in biweekly lectures for the introductory course of Women, Culture, and Difference (WST 103) this past semester could not have been more valuable. As we were exposed to biased descriptions of male and female biological processes in scientific textbooks, I learned to approach seemingly “objective” studies with caution. As we discussed intersectionality and the multiple oppressions of racism, sexism, and classism that women of color face in the United States, I began to consider the ways in which I have been privileged and the ways in which I have been oppressed, as well as the ways others around me have been privileged yet simultaneously oppressed. This course pushed me to think critically about what I thought I already knew. And for that I am grateful.
Whether you’re a man or a woman, whether you consider yourself to be feminist or not, a newfound awareness of the role that gender plays in almost all aspects of our lives is something that every student will carry with them as they move forward. So go ahead, take the chance! What you find may surprise you.