Morrow 1

Kayla Morrow
Final Reflection
Professor Byrd 3102
28 April 2016
Final Reflection
Changing Realities of Womens Lives. What does that mean to me? It means
everything. This class has taught me so much about things Ive never knew before. Ive learned
how to communicate my ideas better and to be able to voice my opinion without fear of being
persecuted. This class to me is like a sisterhood. Ive never had siblings so being able to form a
sisterhood in this class has meant everything to me. I will definitely miss it all next year
whenever its over.
However, when it comes to something I truly learned, its different than last semester.
Last semester I learned a whole lot about myself and who I was. This semester I still did, but it
comes from an academic stand point. Weve all heard the term intersectionality but have we
ever really heard it used correctly before this class? I know I hadnt. This semester I learned a
whole lot about how intersectionality ties in with race, class, and gender. I owe a lot of this
knowledge to the work I completed with the Feminist Wire activities and listening to their group
talk about intersectionality.
This is especially important because I was like everyone else before learning about
intersectionality. I never truly seen how privileged I was before. I saw myself as a white female
and that was it. I never looked into it as how I was actually privileged because I was white. I
knew of racial oppression, but I never fully put it into perspective to see that I was more
privileged than most females of differing races than I. This experience has helped me

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academically because now I can correctly inform people about what intersectionality actually
means and correct the ignorant statements that still come out of peoples mouths. I know those
statements because in all honesty, Ive probably said them before too whenever I was
uninformed.
The most significant challenge I overcame this semester was being able to talk about my
abuse. It has not been easy for me and before this semester I did not speak about it hardly ever.
This semester I was able to fully participate it domestic assault awareness events without
shutting down every time someone spoke about violence. I couldnt do that in previous
semesters. It makes me proud that I can finally accept what has happened to me and use my
knowledge for the good of others. I learned a lot about my self and that I hope I can take my
stories and help someone else who is in need. I also learned I am not alone hearing everyone
speak at the Take Back the Night event truly helped me realize that Ive got a huge support
group. I didnt have the courage to speak at the event myself, but maybe in future years I can
actually share my story to the public.
As far as this semester goes, I wouldnt necessarily want to change anything. But, if I had
a chance to go back, I would try to be more outgoing when it comes to our activism projects. I
feel like I have a lot of good ideas and proposals, but Im very shy outside of our class. I wish I
could be like some of the people who can go up to random people and speak about
intersectionality or feminism. I can speak to my friends and family, but not total strangers. I think
that in time I will be able to voice my opinion to the public but as of right now Im still too
introverted to do so. If I could have changed it this semester, I would have because I think to
truly be passionate about a topic, you must be able to voice your opinion without fear. Im
definitely working on it though.

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All of our events contributed correlated to a specific topic in feminism and
intersectionality. For example, we had two events that correlated to domestic assault awareness;
one event that correlated with gender norms; one event that correlated to intersectionality; and
one event that correlated to the pay gap. The significance of my involvement in all of these
events is to learn about feminism from all sorts of topics. This semester I learned that feminism
isnt just about womens rights. Its about EVERYONEs rights. That includes women, men,
trans, blacks, whites, etc. The whole point of feminism is to speak about how everyone deserves
the same rights as the white man is naturally given. At the beginning of the semester, I would
have never thought we would include events such as the Feminist Wire because I didnt realize
how important intersectionality was to feminism. But in a nutshell, the significance of everything
we did this semester was to show that everyone should have the same rights.
This semester we completed 5 service projects, each with a different agenda than the
other. I loved each and everyone one of this projects, but each for different reasons.
The first event we completed was the fundraising for the Vagina Monologues. Before this
semester, I never even heard of the book. Whenever I heard what the Vagina Monologues stood
for, I couldn't be more than happy to attend the event. The thing I liked the most about this event
was that we took the time to bake cookies and other baked goods, as well as other products such
as vagina pops and buttons, so all the proceeds could go to the Vagina Monologues. Being able to
raise money for such an important cause was even more fun than actually attending the play that
was put on.
The second event we completed this semester was the Anita Sarkeesian talk. This event
was different than anything we ever attended before because it wasnt about gender issues or the
rights of people in our society. It was about video games. I was a little bored whenever I found

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out that we had to go to this event because I wasnt interested in hearing about a woman who
played video games. However, when I actually got to the event I seen why she was such a hit on
youtube. It wasnt because she played video games it was how she incorporated feminism into
video games. My favorite part of her talk was when she showed how women were sexualized in
video games or how they were second class to men. Before her talk, I never looked at video
games that way. Now whenever I play them, I can see the issues that she talks about first hand
and it infuriates me.
The third event we completed this semester was the Feminist Wire. This was one of the
biggest events we put on this semester and I see why now that Ive attended. Leading up to the
event, we completed three phases of journals. Before the event, I had no idea how they were
going to add up. Now that the event is over I see how the first phase of the letter was to get us up
to par with the topic, the second was to see how we felt about the changing of the mascot, and
the third was to see how Luby was actually privileged. The whole talk of intersectionality that
they had helped me to really understand what privilege is. The part that resonated with me the
most was the idea of peaceful protest for the Black Lives Matter movement. I dont think the
young woman was trying to start an argument, I think she was trying to really find a way for
herself to be a part of the movement the way she agreed with it. I dont necessarily like how he
tore her apart on stage I think it couldve been handled better. But, whenever I think about it,
Im glad the event happened the way it did because it really stayed with me. I will never forget
that moment.
Our fourth and my favorite event was Take Back the Night. I dont think Ive ever cried
as much in my life. Hearing the stories of the two guest speakers shown me that my abuse could
have been worse and there is always someone who has it worse than I do. I couldnt imagine

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being in either one of their shows. The most important part of that event to me is that they both
took their abuse and found a way to help others. I think thats the best thing someone can do
whenever something bad has happened to them find a way to turn it into a positive experience
in life.
The last event we completed was Equal Pay Day. This was an interesting event for me
because we took so much time inside of class to come up with creative ways to show the pay gap
from men and women and also compared that to different races. I think that was the best way to
get people to realize that unless they are a white man, then they arent making what they should.
I also think it was a great idea to go around and have people sign the petition for equal wages. I
wasnt able to be at the event long due to classes, but for the people who were there from the
time we started till we ended: the event was amazing and I think we actually made a different.
Maybe not a national difference, but I think we shed some light on the subject for people on
campus to see how terrible the glass ceiling actually is.
This semester and this class have taught me so much academically and personally. Im
sad to see the semester ending but I know the sisterhood Ive formed with my classmates is
never-ending. I wish I had more time to take other classes involving feminism but this is the last
time Ill be able to fit it into my schedule. Ive had a fun semester and I cant wait to see where
Im going with the knowledge Ive already gained.