Marie89, 4/28

I found today’s class to be very interesting as I had never partaken in anything like it before. The idea of silencing all males in a classroom was a very strange concept as it gave women complete control over a situation. I did not think it would feel as strange as it did, however, as there were only about 5 males in our class of over 30, yet it was a weird concept to have no male input whatsoever. It was interesting to hear what the females of our class had to say when it came to the idea that they had felt suppressed by males within the classroom and therefore held back from voicing opinions in the past. I was unaware that this was still a prevalent issue, especially when we believe our culture to be “progressive” when it comes to gender differences/discrimination, etc. At first, I was unsure as to how the activity would pan out, as I almost expected that we would be confused as to how to go about teaching ourselves the quotes as there was no one to lead or tell us what to do. However, it was clear that we would be able to carry on conversation for a while as leaders began to emerge, and women began to speak who had rarely spoken before in class. I guess it was the feeling of dominance that the women had or the security that they had control which gave females courage to speak whereas when males are allowed to speak as well, women do not have all of the power are therefore feel threatened. It is as if the patriarchal order has been etched into all of our brains in that we subconsciously are aware of male presence and the idea that they have historically held more dominant positions within our culture. I also find it interesting that the term feminism is talked about in so many ways. That is why it may be difficult to associate with the term. Not because one necessarily believes it to connote negativity, but because people are unsure as to what other people consider the term to connote. It is such an ambiguous term in which many people have different definitions making it difficult for anyone to label themselves feminist for fear of what it may connote to others.