Women’s and Gender studies was an unexpected class on my Fall 2021 course load, but a course I am so glad I took. This course focused on the study of women and their autonomy. Some of the topics researched within the class was the history of abortion, abortion methods, absue of women in slavery, and the history of birth control. Additionally, each week’s topic fell within the frameworks of reproductive justice which are; the right not to have a child, the right to have a child, and the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments. Although these are topics I was not initially interested in, Dr. Dudley-Shotwell’s enthusiastic teaching methods made the class interesting.
Each week we were assigned a reading we were required to annotate, but we were also assigned a piece of media to watch. This included documentaries, podcasts, Youtube videos, and interviews. These pieces were always the most exciting to watch or listen to as they were more engaging. They allowed us to really understand the idea behind reproductive justice and see the emotion attached with the cause. In order to fulfill the Honors requirement, Honors students were responsible for promoting the ideals of reproductive justice in a unique way. I did this by creating an Instagram (@fightingforreproductivejustice). I worked with another student who helped create informationals about reproductive justice that I posted on the account. We promoted the account on campus and gained followers by keeping our account active. This experience was super unique as students were given total freedom on how to promote this cause. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the class and learned so much from it!
Below I have attached one of my blog posts from the course that discussed the ideals of reproductive justice with supportive text features.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1apKCNZ0DvVFPhZrzWXs-fYuaQlogHN9PKPpou6GEUgs/edit?usp=sharing