Tacos, Pitas and Egg Rolls (Or, The Wrap-Up)

I think that the most important thing I'm leaving this class with is a more critical eye. I've taken plenty of other gender-themed classes before, where the aim is to arm the student with such a weapon, but I feel that this class has done that for me better than any other I've taken. The way the class is designed allows for more in-depth study than other classes do.

For me, the biggest differences between this and other classes are in the class size and this blog. I've never had the opportunity to read and listen to my classmates' points of view or to have real conversations about the class material. I know that, in reality, the class was much smaller than it could've been, but I think that I prefer that because of the allowed discussions in such a small group. I can also honestly say that there wasn't a topic that was covered, that I didn't enjoy.

I'll start with saying that, at first thought, I was going to suggest that the only thing I'd remove from this class was the discussion of Abu Ghraib. After a lot of thought, though, I realized that it wasn't because the discussion was uninteresting or too difficult in material. It was because the discussions were really disturbing to me. I'm really glad that I realized the difference, though, because I think that those discussions were some of the best we had. Since then, I've had most of the people that I know watch Standard Operating Procedure, and even watched it again myself. Such discussions of racism, nationalism and what constitutes violence are very informative on my opinion of what it means to be an American, or white, or WASPy, etc. I'm very glad we had such discussions.

Many of our topics have, in some way, been related to my personal life. The greatest of those related topics was our discussion of AIDS media. I have been working with the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force this semester, and the pieces that we read and watched regarding the AIDS battle brought me to a more sentimental understanding with some of my clients. Sadly, something that they teach you about going into fields of social work is that you have to have high levels of detachment. David Gere's piece on AIDS choreography, along with Bill T. Jones's video have made that somehow impossible for me. I think though, that it's for the best. Most of my clients cannot even try to take the normalizing approach of ignoring their illness. For many of them, they are defined by their illness. I didn't even want to consider AIDS as a "definition" for a person, but I suppose that could be the normalizer in me.

Along with those pieces, I found all of the readings from transgender photography on especially enthralling. There are fabulous links between transitioning, organ trafficking, reproductive photography and exhibitions of anatomy. The politics of photographing and visualizing the various aspects of these anatomical normalities and anomalies are explained in ways that I'd never even considered before. It has caused me took look at my own medical history (which is full of medical photography) in a different light. It's also driven me to ask the mothers that I know how they felt while they were pregnant. I was given a number of different explanations, but they all had a similar theme.

I mentioned the video posted on our blog, Pregnant Women are Smug, to the women who I'd talked to, and they all agreed that it was a good portrayal of pregnant women. Their explanation of why, though, is really striking. It seems to me, after the discussions, that pregnant women are smug because being a pregnant women does not allow for them to be themselves. Everything ends up being about pregnancy and the upcoming baby because they are no longer the woman they were before conception, and they kind of give into the societal pressure of being "the pregnant woman" instead of just a woman. Pretty crazy, huh?

I found many of the connections made this semester very interesting. I've loved our classroom discussions of various media, from films and video games to the UPMC website. The links we've made in class have made me realize just how interrelated the production and reproduction of the corporeal is to biopower, social control, and even the ability to gain citizenship are. I am very happy to be leaving this class with a more skeptical eye. Even in just watching "mindless" shows like South Park or Family Guy, I have to take into consideration such things as the portrayals of disability, gender difference, and even reproduction and trans issues. I must say, my family hates family time now!

Thanks, to all of you, for making this class awesome. I'm really glad I took it.