My name is Katie and I am a current senior at UMD. I am majoring in Government & Politics and Women’s Studies and minoring in International Development and Conflict Management. My career goals are to work in the field of international development, specifically working on projects and programs created to help empower women in developing nations. I was born in Wales and immigrated to the United States when I was six years old. My entire extended family still lives in the UK, so I feel like this experience has given me a small taste of what the immigrant experience for many female immigrants. My background allowed me to be a part of the Global Communities Living Learning program at UMD where I was able to meet many people from all over the world and learn more about their culture. I am very grateful for this experience, and fully believe that the sharing of our cultures can bring people together.
I am looking forward to this class. The class is small and a group of individuals who are dedicated to learning about feminist theories and how they conflict with each other. Feminist conflict, to me, describes the instances in feminist history where theories or ideas conflicted with each other, causing a divide between a movement. This is not to say conflict is a bad thing, because it happens in every single study and social movement. I am excited to learn more about these conflicts, specifically trans-exclusionary radical “feminists” and the sex wars. I believe that trans-exclusionary radical “feminists” will be a topic that frustrates many of us, but important to acknowledge that there are people who call themselves feminists while promoting a transphonbic agenda. I am looking forward to discussing the sex wars because pornography is still a topic that is debated in the gender studies world. It is interesting to see how women have accepted sex positivity and “reclaimed” pornography by removing the male gaze. I don’t think there will be many topics in this class that people will disagree strongly on.