aybala50's blog

In a class on gender and sexuality last semester, I focused my attention on transgender students at Bryn Mawr, and those that haven't been able to come to Bryn Mawr College because of their sex. Throughout the semester I met with administrators, deans, staff and students around campus trying to learn more about the school's policy on admitting transwomen as well as transmen. Following are the links to these works. 

1) All "Women's" College 

2) Moving towards a right relationship between Bryn Mawr
     College and Transgender Students  

3) At Bryn Mawr: Exploring Transgender Further

In my second web event I questioned Bryn Mawr Colleges admission policy regarding transgender students. I wrote a mock scenario in which a prospective transwoman has a discussion with her mother about wanting to attend Bryn Mawr. In preparation for this project I talked to a few people in administrative positions at the College and was faced with requests at remaining anonymous in their answers. Because of the lack of receiving answers to my questions, I posed my web event as a question. Are transwoman allowed to apply to and attend Bryn Mawr College?

In my third web event, I traced the history of the College in regards to its mission and history of transgender topics. There have been several web events posted by Bryn Mawr students on Serendip, which were very informative and useful in my own movement towards gaining more knowledge of how to build a right relationship between Bryn Mawr College and transgender students. In this web event my focus switched from not only transwomen, but also transmen. I also used information on the Transgender Task Force, which was created in 2007. I noted that President McAuliffe approved the recommendations made by the task force in 2009.

Now, where do I go next? I’ve noted what I believe is Bryn Mawr’s role in the 21^st century regarding transgender students. However, I don’t have enough facts. I lack information…knowledge…

The following is a link to the movement I wanted to present towards a right relationship between Bryn Mawr College (or maybe all single-sex schools?) and transgender students. I chose to use a prezi to present this information to show that there has been movement, but also that I would like to see more movement. 

There is a zoom in/zoom out button at the right side of the screen, which you might like to use as some of the slides might be more comfortably viewed when zoomed in on. I have a slide with a link to my sources at the end of the presentation. I hope my movement through this work makes sense to all of you!

http://prezi.com/ywplr8dhknut/movement/ 

Both the conversation and the letter are fictitious. I do not know what the college's response would be to a student who sent in a letter of a similar manner. I can speculate based on informal conversations and in these conversatinons I was never given a definitive answer, which is what inspired this project.

Sex: biological distinctions between males and females
Gender: based on societal factors such as values, perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes

Casey- A high school senior in the process of deciding what colleges to apply to. She is a trans woman who has male biological sex organs.

__________

Mom: Hey Casey, how is the application stuff going? Can I help?

Casey: Good and I think I'm ok

Mom: Just okay? When is everything due? Are you on top of it?

Casey: I still have a few weeks before the apps are due. Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to apply to Bryn Mawr College ED

Mom: ED is really serious. Are you sure? Tell me more about Bryn Mawr

Casey: I really think it's the right place for me Mom. Bryn Mawr is an amazing liberal arts school, it's not too far from home and it's an all women's college

I found this on one of my friends facebook page. I thought it was pretty interesting, but it's also interesting to me that it seems so gender-biased. The group of people standing there are wearing all the same clothes and they are all wearing suits. So is this directed only for men? Or only for people who enjoy wearing suits? 

Hey guys, this is just a site I came across and I'm wondering what you guys think about it? At first I was struck by the image and then I started reading about the description of this program:

"The mission of the "In Your Footsteps" organization is to unite the disabled community as a family and to have those who aren't as comfortable with their disability more comfortable by providing them with a mentor they can relate to and educate them on disability culture and history." (http://www.inyourfootsteps.org/

A world has been created in which people are uncomfortable being themselves. This is not only a thought I have on a person who is not "normal", because I do not believe that anyone is normal. Even those who seem normal, I think, are trying to fit a norm rather than being who they are and what they want to do and be etc. Often times I also feel like people don't even realize that they are trying to be normal..it's just..what? The normal thing to do? 

Is there really such a thing as "normal"? Even in a smaller group which is, for example, consisting of all females...maybe each person is female in their own way? Just some thoughts...

Hi everyone, I'm Aybala a senior psychology major at Bryn Mawr College. I have a minor in Education and I've been trying to take classes from as many different disciplines as possible. I honestly just want to see what everythings about. I took Gender and Technology with Anne last semester and felt that I should know a lot more before I move on to learn about something different.