Final Reflection
I didn’t know what to expect coming into this GWSS class, and now coming out of it there were things I really enjoyed and some things I probably could have done without or just kind of disagreed with. Overall I really am glad that I took the class because it opened my eyes to a lot of issues, some I knew were out there but had never really discussed or approached from a different perspective and others that I had just never known about or been exposed to at all. One of the most horrifying and moving things we did, for me at least, was watching the documentary on the disappearance and murders of the girls in Juarez. The fact that such corruption, cold heartedness, deception and murder can go on basically in plain view and with so many people involved blows my mind. I can’t imagine what kind of life that would be, to live in constant worry that you, your daughter, your neighbor, wife or friend could be next. The acts in and of themselves are horrible and gruesome, but the fact that people know about what is going on, not just in the corrupt Mexican government and that of Juarez, but that there are people here in the United States who would have the power to make it safer or to intervene (those who own the factories or those who run them) instead turn a blind eye and do nothing. I don’t know what kind of people can do such a thing.
Other than the documentary, I really enjoyed listening to and watching the final presentations. There were some really interesting topics covered and it was great to see how they tied into feminism and especially on a local level. There were a lot of things that were scary about peoples points of view (from interviews), what they knew and didn’t know and the availability of different resources in the area. The difference in women’s pay to men’s pay here at the U was especially troubling, you would think that today even if there was a discrepancy in pay, it wouldn’t be so incredibly glaring. I guess things have changed, but they still have a long way to go.