Looking back

I’ve always told myself that I didn’t really need to dig deeper into topics, because anything that could be said already has been said, and is only a Google search away.

Well, that was me just being lazy, because I’ve discovered and learned so much from the different topics we’ve covered this past 15 weeks.

An accurate picture of me, during my writing process

For example, I became “woke,” as the colloquial venacular is, during our second topics, on Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Before doing research and reading up on the issue, I never saw a significant inequality between men and women when it came to opportunities.

Perhaps it is because I treated everyone equally, that I expected everyone else to do the same. But through my research, I came to realize that, while people are acutely aware of the inequality and are actively trying to equalize opportunities for women, there still exists a gender inequality.

That didn’t make sense to me, so as I continue with my research, I came to the conclusion that societial perception of women, influenced by the media specifically, has a huge impact on how girls seem themselves, and how society’s collective subconscious sees them.

When I came to that conclusion, I realized that I had, up to that point, been looking at things from a completely incorrect viewpoint. I was a passive commentator, who knew what my own worldview was, without understanding the worldview of those in the trenches.

But it wasn’t just research that helped me expand my perspective, it was the times when I read other people’s blog, when I discussed these issues with my classmates, and when we edited each others paper that I truly empathized with a viewpoint that I would not have otherwise considered.

I’ve also found the act of blogging to be intellecually challenging, because it forces me to clarify my stance on issues, supported with evidence. I may not continue blogging, but I will most definetly start reading for lesiure, to gain a better understanding of current issues, so that I am no longer speaking from ignorance.