Adjusting to a new environment

What's up caffeine addicts,

One of the earlier topics that we discussed in class is the stigmatism that exists around feminists. At the time, I knew that negative stereotypes around them existed, but I never realized how far it went until I started telling people that I am taking psychology of women.

In a way, it almost became an experiment; everyone always had an initial surprised reaction towards the fact that I was taking the class but it differed from then on. Some people chose to say nothing and continued on with the conversation as if I never said anything. An incredibly small amount of people thought it was cool that I was taking the class. But a vast majority of the people responded with disgust.

These people ultimately came to the same question of why the heck I was taking the class in the first place. Most of them thinking that it was completely unnecessary. One person, a female to boot, specifically said: "The only thing worse than a feminist is a male feminist."

This took me by surprise. Because I was in a performing arts high school, a vast majority of the people there were liberal feminists. They all understood the importance of feminism and even fought against the school's dress code of not allowing us to show our shoulders because they would pose a distraction. It never crossed my mind that people really felt this way about feminism until I came to this school and started taking this course.

Sadly, it began to make me ashamed of the fact that I was taking the course. I started telling people that I was taking psychology rather than telling them what the class really was. I became so obsessed with trying to fit into this new environment that I threw away a part of me that I actually believed in.

It took me a while to realize how absolutely ridiculous I was being. Learning the ways in which the media manipulates information to skew views on social issues, I figured that this was no different. The way in which people were judging me with disgust because I was taking the class was just their way of putting down the movement because of what they learned from mass media. I realized that I had to go against that by being proud of my views and by engaging in a debate with those who thought the class was useless.

Stay awesome.