“Absolutely not.”
That’s what I said my freshman year when I saw how many GEs I would have to take as a UCLA student. As a humanities major, the sheer amount of science GEs I had ahead of me made me want to drop out. After high school, I was so completely uninterested in taking any more classes that I wasn’t passionate about.
But then I took a GE class that made me bite my tongue. Granted, it doubled as a prerequisite for my second major, but it was nothing I expected it to be. It burned off my teenage naivete and opened my eyes to how much more I really had to learn, not just about feminism, but gender too.
That class is Gender Studies 10. At first, it seemed to be a rather inconsequential prerequisite, but now, as a junior almost finished with my gender studies classes, I realize how important GS10 was to just my basic understanding of feminism and gender issues.
GS10 covers a wide array of topics, but still manages to teach you how they’re all interconnected. When I took it, we covered topics like heteronormativity, intersectionality (read my other article on that!), gender fluidity, the importation of domestic labor and the harmful impacts of imperialism.
You know, just the easy stuff.
GS10 acts as a catch-all course to show its students how gender dynamics influence daily life, society and governments all around the world. Terms like the ones I mentioned above become so incorporated into your vocabulary and thought processes that it’s a wonder they weren’t there before—especially when you can see the phenomena occurring everywhere.
One of the most interesting things discussed in GS10 is the relationship between fashion/lifestyle magazines and violence against women. Magazine ads that crop a female model’s face out of frame, leaving only her body scantily covered in a luxurious fur coat, fuel the objectification of women’s bodies. When a woman’s face is cut out of the frame it’s easier for men to objectify that woman. And an object is easier to assault than a human.
But this is just one of the many issues that GS10 surprises you with. I had never before considered the influence of my Vogue subscription on my personal safety, or how I might even be implicated in gender-based misconceptions. For example, in GS10 you learn about how Western countries should not reduce the many diverse situations of Muslim women down to a single item of clothing—to not confuse a burqa with a lack of agency.
This is representative of what I think the most important part of GS10 is. It increases your awareness and respect for women in different situations around the world. It motivates you to reevaluate your worldview. And what better time to change your mind than college?
UCLA requires a million different science GEs and a bunch more humanities GEs on top of that. There’s an arts GE, a writing GE and a language GE. There should be a gender studies GE too.
Our world is evolving. We’re waking up to how informative gender studies can be. Gender binaries structure global systems of power, society and capitalism. As a woman, they influence your personal relationships, your self-esteem and your walk home too.
Just think, do you carry your keys when you walk home? Do you say, “sorry” when speaking up in class? Do you ever wonder if you’re dressing too ‘slutty’?
Do the men in your life do that?
I can put up with people teasing me that gender studies isn’t a real major. I know they’re wrong. I know they’re uninformed. But we can fix that. Starting to enact that shift is as simple as requiring one class for all UCLA students: Gender Studies 10.
A basic understanding of the scientific method is important. And I guess one of the Late Modern French Society (a real GE I took) is too.
It’s about time we require all UCLA students to have a basic understanding of gender studies as well.