Introduction

Hi all! My name is Adrienne, and I’m a student at Brooklyn College who is currently double majoring in Health and Nutrition Science and Sociology. I’m also technologically challenged and just recently learned how to access all of the content on this site— women and technology at it’s finest.

A few days ago, I bought frozen yogurt from a Yogo truck parked in SoHo. Had to try to buy. The owner of the truck gave my me and my friend our complicated yogurt order and refused to accept my money. He took out a dollar, told me to write my number on it and put it in the tip jar, and handed me back the rest of what I had paid. I refused to accept the money I owed him because it wouldn’t have been fair to take the yogurt without paying, but what made him think that he could get someone’s number because he offered free frozen yogurt (which was mediocre and nothing compared to Red Mango’s froyo)? What made him think my half-vanilla, half-tart yogurt topped with strawberries, blueberries, granola, and cookie crumbs and maybe some bananas and mochi was worth my number or my dignity?

I’ve always been interested in gender roles and stereotypes and expectations that frustrate me, but incidents like the one described above make me more eager to learn about the social rules and norms that deem that sort of behavior socially acceptable.
And feminism’s intersection with technology, which could either be egalitarian or patronizing to women, is also fascinating.

Another Auditor Intro!

Hello all!
My name is Paula Garcia-Salazar, a pretty late addition here! I’m going to be joining the other members of this class who are auditing the course.I’m a junior at City College, with a double major in Political Science and International Studies and a minor in Studio Art.
I come into this course with some cursory but informal knowledge of feminism and women’s/gender studies. Everything I know has come from personal investigations through technology– a reason this class was specially appealing to me.
My interest in this field stems from my countless of Political Science and International Studies classes that had a unsatisfactory or completely non-existent focus on this very important topic. I also have an interest in exploring ways to express myself through technology, so this course seems to cover all my bases! Bear with me as I have, again, never taken any formal feminist theory courses, but I am so excited to learn!

Introductions

Hey Everyone!

My name is Myrna Hanna and I’m a sophomore at CCNY. I’m currently undecided, but I’m leaning towards majoring in chemical engineering. I was just added to this course, because there were some techinicalities with my ePermit, but I’m very excited. This is the second Macaulay class I will be taking this semester, the first being the third required seminar– Science and Technology with Professor Charles Liu. I have never taken a course like this before, both the topic, and the hybrid nature, but in my past seminar my professor was big on analyzing the socioeconomic roles women played in various communities in NYC, which piqued my interest. I wanted to learn more about the different roles women play in the various aspects that shape our society, and techonology is one of the most driving forces. Most of the classes I’ve taken so far have been math and science oriented, so this class will be a refreshing change!

Intro – Liz

Hi everyone!

My name is Elizabeth Kelman. I usually go by Liz. Like Kaitlyn, I graduated last semester but thought this class sounded awesome so I’m auditing. I went to CCNY, where I minored in Spanish and Women’s Studies, but for my major I did a CUNY BA interdisciplinary degree in Global Health so I took a lot of my classes at Hunter and did the Macaulay capstone/thesis colloquium with Lee Quinby. I’m really interested in gender studies and knew that I would miss having structured academic discussions and readings, so I’m looking forward to the next few months. I’m particularly looking forward to reading more Margaret Atwood and the Hunger Games (finally!), as well as the Cyborg Manifesto, which we read for my Intro to Women’s Studies class but didn’t discuss much. That piece, as well as some of the other readings we’ll be doing, are especially relevant to my academic/professional interests because technology and biomedicine are very closely tied–it’s not just new media that connects tech, gender and health/medicine!

I’ve had mixed experiences with hybrid courses, but love this FemTechNet set-up. I think the dual identity–as a student in an individual course as well as a member of the larger learning community–feels especially comfortable as a Macaulay student, where we have a similar experience of being part of a small community within the larger CUNY system and our home campuses. I am not sure whether I can make the in-person classes, but I hope I can–if only to meet all of you and put faces to your names and avatars 🙂

Introduction

Hi all- my name is Oriana Asano, but please call me Ana! I’m a junior at Baruch College and majoring in Advertising/Marketing with a tentative minor in Art History. I’m taking this class because I am a hardcore feminist, plain and simple. I haven’t had the opportunity to take a gender studies/feminist class and am curious and excited about what we’ll learn since all of my knowledge is self-taught and very informal. I’m hoping to gain more organized communication skills when talking about gendered issues, an opportunity to discuss these issues with other feminists (in real life!) and become more educated about feminist topics. Of course, I’m totally down to make some feminist friends. (For some reason, they seem hard to come by.)

Hi, I’m Sophia

Hey all,

My name is Sophia. This is my second year at Hunter, and the second course I will have taken through the Macaulay campus. The first was “Sexuality and American Culture” with Professor Lee Quinby. I declared myself an English major a few weeks ago, but I plan to double-up with a Women & Gender Studies major later on.

I have been very curious about the recent surge in development of online platforms for education, and discovering one dedicated to feminist scholarship at the forefront of such efforts is really exciting to me! Personally, I am somewhat skeptical of technology–I don’t interact on social networks or have an iPhone(!), for example– but I realize the immense influence technology has on our lives regardless of conscious or monitored individual usage. And just as I believe that technology can harm us, I think it also has a great capacity to liberate.

I’m really looking forward to engaging with a new group of people (especially after reading all of your introductions and realizing what a diverse group we are!) about feminism. I’m also eager to improve my ability to articulate ideas around gender, sexuality and women’s issues (and race, and class issues) because I often have a hard time finding the right way to talk about such touchy topics.

See you! Sophia

Introduction

I’m Mehnaj Ahmed, a sophomore at City College majoring in math/math education. I became interested in feminism after reading The Handmaid’s Tale in middle school, and then taking a combined race/class/gender studies class in high school. I’m auditing this class and that means I’m probably not going to be at any of the face-to-face sessions, but I’m still super excited about the reading content and the novel teaching techniques associated with a hybrid class.

I heard about this course and FemTechNet in an article in Mother Jones a couple of weeks ago, and as if by chance, I read in the Macaulay newsletter about this course. It’s interesting to see the interplay between technology and notions of gender, and I’m excited to see that through a more academic lens in this class. Online incidents prove repeatedly that we are not in a post-feminist world (just look at any comment section for proof) as much as people would like to believe. I can’t wait to learn more about all of these exciting things!

Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Connie Lui and I’m a junior in Brooklyn College.  I’m a Political Science major with a concentration in International Relations and a Spanish major. I’ve taken a Gender and Religion class before and loved it so I thought this class would be an interesting comparison. Technology has become a huge part of my life and it’s somewhat amazing that I’ve been able to witness the huge boom in technology. I’m interested to see how gender roles have changed due to this reliance in technology. In the past I was studying how gender roles changed throughout time and the difference in gender roles between different religions and regions. I have never thought about how there could be a cause and effect between gender and technology and am eager to learn more about it and the issues that both gender and technology have.

Introduction

Hello everyone. My name is Jonah Garnick and I’m a sophomore at Hunter. I’m double majoring in Urban Studies and Africana Puerto Rican Latino Studies, and minoring in Public Policy. I chose to take this class for two main coinciding reasons. The first being relevance, as we all are millennials, technology plays a very very important role in our lives. I think it is key to not just accept technology as something we use but also consider the cultural implications of it, specifically how it relates to gender. Secondly, my area of study primarily focuses on the oppression of people of color and  people from the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder. When considering these identity politics, I think it is devastating to not take a step back and consider the struggles and critical theories behind other groups, such as women. Recognizing the intersectionality between different peoples is key to solving any sort of problem that affects either party.

I have never taken an online class before, and was a little bit hesitant, but am looking forward to trying it out!