This past semester I was in a class titled, "Psychology of Gender." We covered topics from gender stereotypes and sexism to sexual orientation and biological differences between the genders. I loved this class a lot! I often left class feeling fired up with the weight of the world on my shoulders. I wanted to go and change all the injustices of the world after every class I attended! The class opened my eyes to some of the social issues around me and caused me to reevaluate some of my personal beliefs on gender. Let me give you some background here, my father is a hard worker and the main breadwinner in my family and my mother has been a stay-at-home mom for most of my life. Let me add here that my mother is also an extremely hard worker and one of the best homemakers that I have ever met. My mother has always encouraged me to go after my dreams and taught me when I was younger that I could be anything that I wanted to be. I don't think I even realized that there was a big separation between male and female until I was 10 and they told me that I had to stop playing Rugby with the guys ... The point is, that I was raised to be just as capable and able as any man and therefore I have always had a career goal. When I was younger this goal of having a career didn't seem to be an issue, but as I grew up it became more of a touchy subject with adults, guys I was dating and even other women my age. As a woman in this world and within the LDS culture I feel that I have seen this world as a fight for my independence and a fight to do what I am passionate about. My whole life I have had to defend my want for a career and reassure people that I want to be a mother and a wife as well. In all honesty, I feel that as an LDS woman it should almost be assumed that I want to get married at some point and have children (I mean most of us do. Then again maybe we shouldn't assume at all). I just feel like I shouldn’t have to explicitly say that on every date I ever go on. Men don't have to say on a date, "I want to be an Electrical Engineer, oh and I want to be a husband and a father." If they don't have to say it then why do I? At the beginning of this semester I set a goal to study the family a proclamation of the world while I took this course. I wanted to make sure that the opinions I formed in this class would align with my religious beliefs and that any doubts I occurred through my studies in this class could be taken care of in a safe manner. In my study of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, I came to two conclusions. First, the Lord has a plan for us and our gender is part of that plan. Second, I realized that men and women do have separate roles but they are expressed in a general manner and there are no specific guidelines, and I believe that the Lord meant it to be that way. If the only role a women could fulfill was to stay at home and take care of children and the only role a man could fulfill was to provide for his family then the proclamation would say that, but it doesn’t. Men and women are different from each other to a certain degree, but one man is different from another man as well and one woman is different from another women. This class has taught me that there may be more variability among the sexes than there is between the sexes. The only gender roles that I see as necessary is the role of a man to protect, provide and preside, however he may see fit for his family and for a women to primarily tend to nurturing, however she may see fit for her family. Every other gender role can be accepted or rejected as that person sees fit. I would say I am sorry to rant, but I mean that is the point of this blog right? I guess the point that I am getting at is if I was to put a label on my views I guess I would call myself a Mormon Feminist. I say this because the word feminist has a negative connotation these days of wanting to be better than men and hating on men, but I don't agree with that. I believe that men and women are equal and that we need each other in this world! I believe that women should have equal opportunity in any career that they choose to enter. Every woman and man is different and each situation they will face in their life will be different and they have the right to decide what is best for their family and how they will best fulfill their roles as men and women in their individual families. So yeah, I guess I am a feminist and I see nothing wrong with that!
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AuthorI am Izsie. I feel deeply, which is a curse and a blessing and I love to rant. Archives
March 2017
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