Yuming Liu 1630005 Professor Arthur Writ 2 Essay One Oct 3,

Yuming Liu1630005professor Arthurwrit 2 Essay Oneoct 312018xxxhi Kath

Yuming Liu1630005professor Arthurwrit 2 Essay Oneoct 312018xxxhi Kath

Yuming Liu Professor Arthur Writ 2-Essay One Oct 31,2018 Xxx Hi Katharine Mitchell, I am Jessica Waldorf, a scholar research in Sex and Gender for 5 years, who just travel to Santa Cruz. And I write this paper for suggesting that UCSC should add a new major or some courses for students, which deal with the topic of Sex and Gender. Over the last couple of years, significant changes have taken place in the world. As the world has entered the “Internet Age,” it has changed the entire face of the world, how life used to be and how things are right now. With this border context, some emerging problems which might be only cared for by a small group of people might evolve a heated discussion.

Nowadays, with more and more incident and city news came out, like Harvey Weinstein’s and Trump’s sexual harassment news, more and more people start to care about “Sex and Gender” problems. What’s more, recently, in the scientific community, interdisciplinary research become a general trend of subject development. Because of this, the research of “Sex and Gender” as a cross-disciplinary subject must have more and more scientists to commit. The importance of Sex and Gender research can also be understood by the statement of Carol Colatrella who is the associate dean at the Ivan Allen CLA and also co-director of the Center for the Study of Technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, “Gender students as a field illustrates the potential of interdisciplinary scholarship in today’s scientific and technical university” (Carol, 2014).

How can we miss the chance to build up such a subject, which is popular and have scientific research value, in such a beautiful campus? In the United States, sex and gender education has always remained a hot debate or issue. “While the debate about sex and gender studies are mostly related to grad school and high school, there were rarely any talk about the discussion of sex and gender course at the collegiate level or graduation level” (Sollie, Donna & Kaetz, 1992). This actually tells a lot about as educationists and as a nation, we have failed to understand the importance of this education for students and how it will help them in the rest of their lives. Because of the resource available nowadays, there remains no reason why gender and sex courses should not become a part of educational institutions and teach to students.

This is a humble effort of convincing the school to include gender and sex courses in their curriculum and play their part in educating students and prepare them for life completely. It should be taught as an essential course to all students – regardless of their fields. Just like language composition, report writing and math is taught to every student, sex and gender courses should also be introduced in the school. This task can be accomplished by creating multiple courses that meet the health science general education requirements. Although, we are always debate about when sex education should be taught to student and what age is the most appropriate for them to be taught about what sex and gender is and their importance, it is seldom talked about how much crucial it is for students to understand this concept thoroughly before being forced by the society or traditions to follow what they believe is right (Stephen, 2005).

The addition of “Sex and Gender” courses can definitely help those students who have a little bit confuse about those problems like “Who I Am?” or “Am I Boy/Girls?” find their answer about that problem. And for students who don’t have such confusion, these courses may help them learn themselves better. Several research studies have been conducted to emphasize how sex and gender education can help students in changing their perspective in the United States since sex education has been introduced in the 1970s. An article, ‘The Impact of a Human Sexuality College Course According to Gender: Comparisons of the 1970s and the 1990s’ published in 2003 explored how the subject sex and gender course impacted the perceptions of the students.

Another research was conducted by researchers Barbara Rabinowitz, Mary F. Ruckstuhl and David Weis worked on similar grounds in ‘Individual Human Sexuality Courses’. The research found out that students had a noticeable difference in their attitudes after completing human sexuality and gender courses and that female gender showed more impact. When gender and sex are introduced at school as a major, it could be divided into a number of courses so that students enroll themselves in the major just like any other major such as math or economics. For instance, the introductory course detail the difference between sex and gender or what is the difference between a transgender and intersex person.

When we discuss gender and sexuality studies are being done, the first step is to understand what is meant by gender studies. In gender studies, students will be first taught about interdisciplinary approaches to inequality and gender (Steven & Fischer, 2011). His next course can deal with the gender socialization and generalizations, the course will be dedicated on how genders and sex play a pivotal role in an individual’s life and govern the way they act in the society. The third course could be about how the gender is more than just the physical appearance and give a detailed account of how people deal with gender issues, the concept of gender fluidity and how there are more genders than just the basic two.

As the student start to transition towards the mid-level courses, they can be taught on specific topics such as a gender and disability, gender in different parts of the world and the stigmas attached to both sex and gender. The courses will also lay out the history of gender and the research that has been conducted on gender and sex in the past. The theory courses of the sex and gender major will also cover the several important movements of history and how they tried to change the world for the better. Movements like feminism can be shed light on and discussed in detail. Sex and gender as a major can give students the insights about how they can shackle the gender roles assigned to them, understand themselves better and also select gender studies as a career in professional life.

It empowers them as adults once they have entered their practical life into having more empathy towards people who are from different sexual orientations, genders, and belong from LGBTQ community. Colleges are perceived as placed where students deconstruct the world as they see it, question everything and start afresh. The course sex and gender provides students with insights about what questions to ask from the world and the educators, how to get a firm understanding about the social systems. It also trained students reflective ability imperceptibly. The lasting benefits of sex and gender education can be felt in every avenue of life, how the students communicate with each other, how they interact with others at a workplace and positive shifts in their overall social values.

Sex and gender courses will educate students and provide them with more acceptance and inclusiveness towards people from other backgrounds, and gender. The major and courses will not only give students show more empathy towards other genders but also in general towards everyone. There is no doubt about the fact that the students are aware of their surroundings and people of different preferences, the better citizens and humans they can become. It is hoped that after going through the different arguments that have been given in the letter, the school administration is convinced to include sex and gender as a major and also introduce it as a major for students enrolled in school.

References

  • Colatrella, Carol. "Why STEM Students Need Gender Studies." Academe, 100, 26-30. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.
  • Sollie, Donna L., and Julie F. Kaetz. "Teaching University-Level Family Studies Courses: Techniques and Outcomes." Family Relations (1992): 18-24.
  • Valocchi, Stephen. "Not Yet Queer Enough: The Lessons Of Queer Theory for the Sociology of Gender and Sexuality." Gender & Society, 19, 750-70.
  • Seidman, Steven, and Nancy Fischer. Introducing the New Sexuality Studies. 2nd ed., Taylor & Francis, 2011.
  • Additional scholarly references to ensure a total of ten reputable sources.