Not your average woman

                I’m going to take a moment to get real with y’all. When my adviser first told me about this class, I was very hesitant to take it, and make Gender and Women’s studies my second minor. I was hesitant because, I’m sure as you’ve all found out by now, I’m not the most girly, or feminist. Growing up I probably had four female friends total, outside of my softball team of course. I was always considered one of the guys. To this day I still do not know how to put on makeup, I still wear sweats to class, and I don’t have a dress in sight. I’m the girl who has really bad resting bitch face and looks really unapproachable at all times. I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in with anyone here. Looking back at it now, I am super happy that I decided to take this class!

                I think that I ignore a lot of what would be considered norms for women. I don’t wake up early in the morning to put on my makeup. I wake up 15 minutes before I need to be somewhere, put on my sweats or softball clothes, brush my teeth, and walk out the door. I don’t really stress about what to wear often, unless I’m going out with the team. I don’t wake up in the morning feeling like I have to put on makeup or brush my hair. My favorite saying is “Who am I trying to impress… no one.”

In Barreca’s “Good Girls don’t get it” I felt like I was being called out as a bad girl. Since all my friends were boys, I always laughed at the dirty jokes they had… I still do to this day, BECAUSE THEY ARE FUNNY! Dirty jokes will never not be funny. I was never the ideal ‘good girl’ Barreca talked about.

I’m glad I took this class to be proved wrong. I love each and everyone of the people in this class. I love that we are all different and can come into this class and just be ourselves. I love that we all accept each other for who we are, and don’t feel the need to put each other down or change other people, even what society tells us to. This class is a relief for me, I come from my Psychology of Aging class to this class and I just feel like I can calm down my nerves and relax. After this class I go to an English class and then I go to my second stress reliever of the day, Softball. Every time I come to this class, I get really excited because I get to sit down and realize that everything will be okay, and that there is good people in the world.

                Lastly, Thank you all for your kindness. It has made me feel so much better and lifted my out of quite a few bad moments these past few weeks. I’m so grateful to have found such a beautiful group of people in the world, and I will forever be grateful for this opportunity.