In spring of 2021, I took the course GWS 220 Sex and Gender Worldwide. This class aimed to help student unlearn their biases regarding the treatment towards women worldwide, as well as to educate how women’s issues vary and intersect with each other. A large portion of the class highlighted how feminism can mean different things to various groups of women. For example, the picture of feminism that most people think of when they hear that word is largely based on ideas of feminism perpetuated by cisgender, American, white women. In the class, we read several different articles and readings that explained how America’s status as a world superpower and its history as a colonizer has contributed to American ideals being pushed forth and promoted as the “correct” ones. Women of color have different experiences as women and with feminism than white women, and other intersections of their identities can influence their unique experiences, such as their sexual orientation, body ability or disability, economic status, etc. For example, while white women may face sexism, black women face both sexism and racism, which can overlap in a way that white women do not experience.

 

The many reflections that we wrote throughout the semester included prompts that were meant to help think about these issues critically and examine cultural differences in topics relating to sex and gender. One assignment that was particularly eye opening for me was the final project, in which I had to create an infographic on a topic of my choosing. I chose to research parentification, a concept I had become interested in after I had heard the term for the very first time a few years ago. In short, parentification is when a parent and child experience role reversal: the child is the one taking care of emotional or physical responsibilities that are often expected of parents. I was interested in this issue and how it specifically affects girls because I had a suspicion that when girls experience parentification with their mothers, it’s likely that the traditional responsibilities that are usually expected of mothers, such as cooking, cleaning, and childcare, are then pushed onto them. It was difficult to find statistics on the frequency of parentification and this made me realize that it’s probably a very subjective issue. How do we determine when giving chores to children goes too far and becomes parentification? Ultimately, we’re making these judgements based on our personal experiences, including our cultural background. In some cultures, it’s an expectation for children to help out their parents to a certain degree, and some may not see parentification as an issue or have different standards of what counts as too much. I believe that these factors could be a large reason why I couldn’t find many statistics, however it’s common to hear anecdotes of children who were parentified that feel it caused them numerous negative side effects. It also appeared that certain groups may be more affected than others, as I found multiple studies revolving around the risk of children of immigrants becoming parentified due to multiple unique factors.

 

Although I always remind myself that cultural differences play a bigger role than I realize, it often takes moments like these for it to really sink in. This class in particular has made me reexamine my personal values and ask myself why I believe in them, often concluding that they align with the morals I’ve developed as a result of the culture to which I belong. I had to really sit down and think about how my ideas of feminism and social justice came to be as a result of my environment and culture.

 

Having assignments like these where I could think critically about social justice issues was very helpful in developing my knowledge of intersectional feminism. It left me with a fuller idea of what it entails and ideas of how I can challenge myself to reframe my way of thinking. In the future, I would like to take what I both learned and unlearned and use it to deeply examine issues that I have a strong emotional reaction towards. For example, when I learn about a cultural practice that elicits a feeling such as surprise, disgust, or confusion, I want to ask myself why I reacted that way, and if there’s another perspective that I can try to view the issue from. In doing so, I hope to become a more inclusive feminist. The information I learned is applicable to my major as well, as the majority of psychology study participants are from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies. Intersectional feminism will be an integral part of improving not only the field of psychology, but numerous other fields as well.

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Attached below is a PDF of the infographic I created.