COURTESY OF NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
This symbol of gender equality features the male, female and transgender symbols with the rebellion fist used in the radical feminist movement in the center.
Last Friday, the University of Hartford announced that the B.A. in Gender Studies will be cut, among other programs. Many professors and students involved in the program are still trying to understand the reasoning behind the decision.
The reason given was that the major has low numbers, with few students having Gender Studies as their sole major. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. The program itself runs classes in many disciplines, making it easier for students to double major and meet their requirements. It is also a subject that can be looked at from many perspectives, and many students double it with something else to gain a different perspective.
Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary program, and a maximum of two classes are run under Gender Studies alone during a given semester. The rest are run under other disciplines including Sociology, Rhetoric and Professional Writing, Psychology and Communication.
Despite cutting the major, all of these classes, including those two run as Gender Studies alone, will still run to fulfill the requirements of the Gender Studies minor and the other programs they benefit.
In terms of appearances, it does not reflect well on the University to cut a humanities program specifically focused on issues of gender that are extremely prevalent today.
Look at our neighboring UConn, facing a widely publicized lawsuit for improper response to allegations of sexual assaults on campus, an issue Gender Studies classes cover extensively.
We need Gender Studies. Issues of sexism, homophobia and prejudice are still prevalent in the world and on our campus.
Look at a typical post on UHart Crushes. Last week, one post said “There is this chick that I see walking around campus every so often and u [sic] have the hugest tits I’ve ever seen.”
Call me crazy, but that’s not exactly romantic.
While it might seem flattering on to the mystery woman it refers to on the surface, the fact that this commenter sees no issue on talking about a woman’s “tits” is concerning. Referring to a woman by one specific body part, whatever body part it is, is rude and objectifying. Too often on this campus and through the anonymous outlets provided by UHart Crushes and UHart Confessions, sexist comments are allowed to slide in the name of humor.
We need education as to why these comments are offensive. Talking about a woman’s “tits” is not a compliment, it’s reducing her entire identity into a single, sexualized image. We need Gender Studies to combat this sexism and to help people understand why comments like that are offensive.
Aside from online posts, simply the fact that we have a parking lot nicknamed “rape lot” is enough to warrant a need for Gender Studies classes. Students use the term casually. You can hear people saying things like, “oh yeah, I had to park in rape lot, it sucked.” Having such a term used so casually lessens the severity of rape and makes it seem like an inevitable part of campus life.
If every student was aware of the implications of that term, maybe it wouldn’t be thrown around so loosely. Rape is a serious issue, especially on college campuses.
According to a study by Tjaden and Thoennes for the U.S. Department of Justice, 3 percent of college women report surviving rape or attempted rape in an academic year.
While 3 percent may seem like a small percentage, look at it in real numbers. The University of Hartford has approximately 4,700 full time undergraduate students. 3 percent of 4,700 is 141 students who statistically, will be victims of rape or sexual assault. Still seem like a small number?
That is even an extreme example of why we need Gender Studies.
Jokes about rape, sexist comments and plain ignorance are thrown around in classes, in the library, anywhere you go on campus. We need education to help people see why their actions and words are hurtful, to themselves and to the people around them.
The University of Hartford needs Gender Studies to protect those 141 students who will be raped.
We need Gender Studies to educate those who will blame those 141 students who will be raped and tell them it was their fault because they drank too much or wore revealing clothing.
We need Gender Studies to create decent human beings who care about these issues and know how to act in a way that promotes true equality and an understanding that we are better than prejudice, homophobia and sexism.