The Bullsheet

Stas,

I find myself at almost a loss for words at your submission. I think your logic for why the J requirement would not “solve any of the campus’s [campus’] woes” is, simply, a reason to reinstate the J requirement.

You reason, as a white, “(mostly)” heterosexual male, you will never be able to “understand what it is like to be black/ a woman/gay.” As a white, heterosexual, middle-class, fully able, twenty-year old feminist woman, I will never be able to be of another socially constructed race or ethnicity. However, I can actively try to understand the social locations “different” than my own. Individual experiences can be remarkably significant in understanding oppression and privilege, however, all individuals, regardless of social location, can examine institutionalized power structures and systems that serve to oppress socially “othered” individuals while simultaneously privileging socially selected individuals. Your submission is full of “othering” rhetoric in which you construct and define yourself based on “who you are not.” By doing this you objectify individuals and essentialize certain characteristics with socially constructed groups while upholding a privileged “norm.”

J requirement courses may not change people’s perceptions, but these courses have the potential to expose individuals to new concepts that highlight systems of power all people participate in, regardless of social location. A person may think because s/he does not make blatant racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, albeist remarks, that s/he is not racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, or albeist. But these courses often challenge society to question how individuals, intentionally and unintentionally, uphold these power structures. You will never be able to separate your social location from who you are, Stas, but you can attempt to understand how it privileges/oppresses you while simultaneously affecting others. Education and academia are full of “social conditioning programs.” Life is socialization. History classes you took in elementary school told certain narratives of selective people, privileging or silencing individuals. The J requirement courses offer counter narratives or alternative ideas to hegemonic discourses. As an academic feminist of three years, I do not have many answers or solutions to oppression and privilege, but I believe that the J requirement is a powerful agent silenced on Denison’s campus.

I don’t understanding the logics of your last paragraph. You are at a liberal arts college, and consequently, you have to take courses in various departments or programs.

Most importantly, your statements regarding homosexuality are dehumanizing. You state, “I’m fairly confident that had I come here and been forced to take a queer studies course, I would have grown to resent gays, partially because their existence had caused such a course to exist, robbing me of my already too few electives. It would have made it harder for me to embrace the more ‘progressive’ stance on homosexuality.” I really don’t know how to respond to that other than I’m sorry learning and knowledge curtail your ability to accept and love individuals.

I disagree. Your email isn’t “fucking hilarious.”

-Alana Slezak
Slayter Box 7824