An area of interest to me has always been the study of science. I am majoring in wildlife ecology and have had an internship with the Lakeshore Water Institute & Department of Natural Resources. Essentially I just can't get enough of science, but a question comes to mind. Have I been working hard for what I've done, or have I been getting unknowingly backed by the system? This is where my own intersectionality comes into play, with intersectionality being defined as, "multiple social categories (eg., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status) intersect at the micro level of individual experience to reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro, social-structural level” (TC 114). I will look at the key social categories listed by the book and observe whether I have been helped or hurt by certain things.
Firstly, I am a white male. I think this has proved to contain an amount of privilege for me because of the way our educational system is set up. Even though I've loved science since I was young, science has historically been a male dominated field, and only now are many people looking to extend STEM fields to women and more people of color. I think with that comes socio-economic status. I come from a middle class family and so that has made paying for my education slightly more challenging to me. While it has been slightly more difficult than if I came from an elite and affluent household, I have still had it much better than many in America and other countries who don't even have the luxury of school either based on funds of inaccessibility. I am at an advantage in terms of physical ableness, as I am able to do the many physically demanding tasks being a field researcher can call for without much thought, although I think my anxiety puts me at a minor disadvantage for an obvious reason. Although I do firmly believe I have worked hard to get where I am right now, I think that I have not worked nearly as hard as someone else might have to if they come from a drastically different background who wished to do the same things as me. I think this serves as an important reminder that no matter where somebody is in life, you should always try to be respectful because they may have gone through many different struggles to get where they are now, and that can vary widely on the micro level, and trends can be seen at the macro level.
To me I think of middle class as more the norm than being rich, especially since I see a lot of people who fit into the low class category
ReplyDeleteI like that you talked about how you ARE privileged, you don't try to beat around the fact that you have certain privileges that others may not have.
ReplyDeleteYour are right to be so open-minded to the fact that nobody has the same experiences and everyone needs to be respected as their own individual. There is not a person in the world who hasn't experienced oppression in some kind of way regardless of the privileges someone may have, there will be struggles.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to consider in what ways STEM fields are male-dominated--and how certain areas within STEM are more equal than others. We are lucky on our campus to have talented STEM professors of all genders!
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