When she first came to Whitworth, Julia Stronks, professor of political science, said she did not want to teach a course about gender and politics.
"I am not a feminist scholar. I didn't have a strong background in feminist study and I had had a lot of male mentors," Stronks said.
In spite of this, Stronks was assigned to teach the course, Gender, Politics and Law, her first year at Whitworth in 1994. Stronks said the more she studied feminist and gender studies, the more interested she became. At the same time, she was experiencing gender conflict in ways she had not experienced before.
"It made me much more interested and aware of the issues involved," Stronks said. "Now it's one of my favorite classes to teach."
Stronks said she enjoys the students in the class, which she now teaches generally every other year, as the course often draws critically aware students.
"In part, I enjoy it because it's a class where my own experience relates so much to the decisions students will have to make in the future. It's fun to explore that with them," Stronks said.
Stronks, who attended Dordt College in Iowa in the 1970s, said her college environment was different than the environment today.
"For me, the big question was if I marry will my marriage limit my professional choices. In one sense, that question is not on minds in the same way, but it's still on students' minds," Stronks said. "How you answer that question will shape your future, probably still more for women than for men."
Senior Emilee Langbehn, who took the class this fall, said everyone should take the course.
"It's not a class about radical feminism. Male and female students, especially male students, should take it and just see how it changes you," Langbehn said.
Langbehn said the class changed her outlook on what feminism is and on women's issues in general.
"I came in with the idea that feminism was always radical, militant and hating men. I learned that it's about equality," Langbehn said. "And that these issues are real, factual and you can see them. And that I'm just as valuable as a man."
Langbehn said the class helped her understand her own differences.
"A lot of my life I've felt ashamed for being loud and opinionated. I've been told that I'm supposed to be more docile and I've never been like that," Langbehn said. "This class took away a lot of my shame and made me proud to be that way. I'm so much more confident with who I am."
Langbehn said women are often the minority people do not often focus on.
"Sometimes we're oppressed and we don't even know it. This class really opened my eyes to that," Langbehn said.
Contact Jasmine Linabary at jasmine.linabary@whitworthian.
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