Intro letter

Ms. Tweed,

As requested, I am writing to introduce myself to you and to the class.

I'm taking this class to begin a women's studies minor to supplement my anthropology degree. This will be my second bachelor's; I previously attended UCF for computer science from 2000 through 2003.

I've been involved in a predominantly feminist social sphere for a number of years and have become reasonably familiar with the concepts involved simply through ordinary conversation. My own current beliefs draw heavily upon feminist ideas, and feminism will undoubtedly influence my research interests as an anthropology student.

Because of feminism, I have become very aware that gender is an influence on every part of my life. The fact that I was born male and am seen as masculine (as well as white and middle-class) did make it possible for me to get a technical education and enter a technical profession with very few obstacles. My gender clearly does give me some freedoms which are easy to take for granted. But it imposes limits on me as well—it affects, for example, how I am expected to dress, how much sex I'm supposed to want, and what my tastes in movies and games should be. My masculine role conflicts with my actual desires as a gender-nonconforming person, an asexual person, and a person who actually likes story and relationships in media. The gender binary is clearly an obstacle to the kind of life I want to live, and it is in my interest to be a part of the struggle to undo it—even if it means losing the extra 23 cents per dollar that I am afforded through male privilege. (Though I'd rather just abolish the wage system altogether...)

The amount of activism I've been personally involved in is sadly limited. My previous time at college was ill-spent on Libertarian politics (I was young and foolish!), and I did serve a largely unproductive term in SGA Senate. Since I left college, my focus has been on work and social life. This past year I did attend several union rallies in solidarity with the Wisconsin protests last spring. I also joined the International Workers of the World and attended a few events with the Gainesville IWW chapter over the summer. Since the fall, however, I've been too busy with long hours at work plus restarting school at Valencia to be too engaged. This was unfortunate, since with a number of movements like Occupy and SlutWalk reaching critical mass, this was an excellent year for activism. Now that I'm on the UCF campus regularly again, I do hope to find some time to become more involved in campus activism.

I do believe that the personal is political, and I make some effort to be an activist simply through personal connections—calling out rape culture, misogyny, and homophobia when I see it, and actively sharing material relevant to social consciousness on Facebook. And given that I am in a privileged position where I am able to be out about things without much fear of reprisal from family or employers, I do think it is important for me to be vocal about my experiences as an asexual person, a polyamorous person, an atheist, and a gender-nonconforming person; that reminds people that other ways of living do exist, and makes me available as a resource to those who may have questions about their own identities.

Oh, and I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.

That should be sufficient for now. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to the class!

Scott Vogelpohl