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            It is in human nature to classify, organize, and put into a structure the things we encounter every day; when we implement this “order” into our lives, we get a false sense of security, a sense of empowerment at being able to have control over the chaos that is our world. When we take time to actually study and analyze these categories and boundaries we have tried so hard to set however, we see that much overlapping and blurring of the lines occur, even in what is originally thought of as two very different things. Often times, there are distinctions created between two things when none is needed. One such example is the boundary set between the disciplines of humanities and science. Using the rules that define realities and dreams to define humanities and science, we see that the defining qualities and more specifically, the methods of inquiry in both science and humanities are so similar—so similar that they can be used for both—that they almost need not be different disciplines.

Introduction

Considering the other student teach-ins, I was extremely dismayed with my own performance. Being a Haverford freshman and therefore unfamiliar with Anne's teaching style and subsequent project structures, I felt as if I misunderstood the project and its intentions. I intended to open discussion that I felt was sparked earlier in the semester about sex work and in that way create an avenue for extending rich conversations that I felt were repeatedly cut short throughout our course time together. By providing a small sampling of pornography throughout the decades slightly before and since the feminist revolution, I hoped that, starting with a few discussion questions, we could  continue our questionings of whether of not "feminist pornography" can really exist. I felt attacked at times for not being the absolute authority on knowledge of pornography, which I do not feel I pretended to be at any point. That being said, I had a wonderful experience watching the presentations and seeing the vast creative efforts of everyone in the class. I would like to think of the final performance as a direct way of getting the privelege to see how each of us manifests our ideas of feminism whether it be through zines, interviews, memes, games, or senses. Feminism necessarily creeps into many disiplines and spheres within our lives and these final projects as a whole demonstrated that.

           I decided to take “Critical Feminist Studies” because I felt and still feel that there is so much I can learn about feminism, people and myself. I believed that I was a feminist prior to this class, but mostly because I didn’t really understand what feminism was. Turns out, I had a decent idea of what feminism was, but not as much about how I felt about feminism and what I am.

            I’ve learned that I don’t believe that there is a single definition for feminism. People can be their own feminist. We box too many things already and having a single set definition for feminism that everyone who wants to be a feminist must fit is too much. Feminism, to me, means doing some good in this world. It means making a change that is ready to be made. It means keeping your eyes open and caring for others. This is my definition of the feminism I want to embody. Feminism is no longer about equality between men and women. Feminism is looking for a break in binaries, creating a world where we are no longer ruled by them. There is no man or woman, or maybe it’s that there shouldn’t be.

            Can this happen? I like to hope so. I tend to be a fairly pessimistic person, however, I’m not willing to give up on certain wishes. How do we stop an inequality when there MUST be two sides? Maybe even if we do, we can’t rid the world of all the things I would like to get rid of. However, I refuse to give up.

Plans for moving forward:

This is a part of a joint project that I am working on with amorphast, S. Yeager, COLLEEN AND MEREDITH

The topics we discussed include:

Housing
Bathrooms
DLT Training
Custom’s Week
Freshmen/New Students
Discomfort/break in communication/sense of discomfort

How do we open up the dialogue, ease the sense of discomfort, and fix the break in communication when discussion certain topics such as queer?

Last year’s Hall Adviser training schedule is attached if you'd like to look at what kind of activities are involved.