Genders Study

Cruz, Patricia Anne P.

11235241

GENDERS A57

Having been able to take this course, for the first few meetings, I learned some important reasons why it is essential to us. First of all, every person needs to be respected. In the future, (it does not really matter if it’s tomorrow or after a year) most likely we will extend our network. This will comprise all types of people. These people are different by age, religion, gender, and other things. Gender is a very important part of a person’s identity because it defines who a person is. By being able to understand how to address people by being knowledgeable about genders, it is almost the key to a better relationship. Not only that—since before understanding people, I believe that we must discern ourselves too. We must be able to know our identities so that we may be able to present to other people who we really are, to let people know why should they respect us. Also, a great number of issues regarding genders are prevalent in the society today especially on social media. LGBTQ issues, feminism, chivalry, and other issues which most of us misconceive.  Due to that, I wanted to be more knowledgeable about these things so that as a responsible citizen/netizen, I can be able to weigh things and give more substantial explanations on why these phenomena arise. In the new era, more and more things are getting liberated and understood. It is the perfect timing to further study genders since it is influential in almost every aspect of our lives. As discussed in the class, gender studies seemed to be a topic which is new and not further pursued by different institutions in the world. Only a few institutions seem to offer programs regarding gender studies and it is quite saddening because the world is not that aware on the impacts of genders in the society. In our country, which is a third world, I believe that it will go a long way for us Filipinos to pursue gender studies because there are more issues particularly economic issues that are needed to be taken care of first than gender issues which is more on the humanities issues. For the majority, it is more important to address the basic needs first instead of taking a leap to a more complicated issue. Which is why I am thankful to have this course in my curriculum. I am one of the very few who are privileged to learn more about gender studies. It will in fact broaden my knowledge and understanding in involving myself with different types of people. Also, as a Political Science student, I am aware of the fact that politics is greatly affected by gender aspects. In fact, they are complementary. In retrospect, the government was dominated by men, and the women were inferior. Up until now in some very patriarchal countries, the suffrage is still not claimed by the women. Another issue is the issue of rape and catcalling where women are the victims. Women are being blamed instead of being pitied. The society always point the mistake to the women. “it is because of the way she dresses”, “she asked for it”, “malandi kasi sya”, and other vulgar words that do nothing but to degrade women. In my observation, women see other women as someone who is weak, vulnerable, and slut. Slut-shaming is enjoyed by most women. For instance, when a woman’s husband cheated, the wife blames the mistress more and forgive her husband. Which is quite alarming because the society agrees with the wife. I mean, the husband too is at fault in this. To begin with, he knows he is married, so why did he pursue?  It is always the fault of another woman. Moreover, I want to eliminate the mindset of women wherein they preserve their virginity for their husband. They seem to present themselves as a material, a precious gift for a man. As a woman, I want to preserve my virginity for myself and not for someone else. It does not always have to do with a man. Aside from that, I want women to be independent on their own. They must not bring themselves down for a man’s attention. I wanted to value femininity as something so precious no man can ever buy. As a woman, I wanted to fix this thinking about other women. I wanted to understand women further in a detached perspective so that I can see things without any bias. The thinking of women is that women are naturally a slut. That is why we tend to be modest, conservative, and cultured. We tend to keep away from what we really are—which is a slut.  This thinking leads us to blaming the women when something bad happened to them (because you let yourself be what you really are. You should’ve avoided being what you naturally are.)  I wanted to live in a world where women are not scared to be what they really want to be. I want them to be confident to go outside no matter what time it is.