Gender in books

Walking into Monday's lecture, I was surprised to the similarities to Mr. Robertson's lecture earlier this year about language. What was different and what I thought was the most interesting part, was the fact that we discussed books that have effected us and changed our opinions. I had never really thought about this before but looking back, Govs, specifically the literature has had a large impact of my current views and my education on these topics. It made me think about the education others receive and how much they effect this country's views or ignorance to many discriminatory issues. For example, reading books like Americanah and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents really opened my eyes to issues of intersectionality and how immigration and differing cultures can effect and add to the complexity of this problem. Reading the books obviously opened my eyes to the issues, but what really made me think about it was our class discussions. Discussions were very important because it was when terms like "intersectionality" were introduced and able to be discussed. Hearing multiple opinions and perspectives is really what shaped my own opinion on issues. The problem is that most kids my age don't really have the same experience as I do/did. Most teenagers don't go to prep schools with 15 kids in each class and have class discussions frequently, many probably don't even have the reading requirements we do at Govs. I think this leads to a lot of people my age (who eventually become adults) to be uninformed and unaware of a lot of issues that can effect how gender and discrimination are looked at. I think it's important to have more meaningful discussions and relate them to book as tangible examples that men and women face. Many of these books are not nonfiction but are very realistic and could be based partially on the author's life or someone they know. I think in general, a large part of the literature we read imitates life and a good amount is set in recent years. This makes it easier to understand because it's set in a familiar time and culture. Going through this presentation and reading, has really made me think about how important it is to discuss and read books that have to do with major issues in our society, whether it's race, gender, sexuality, school books and class discussions can be an important tool to shaping opinions of the country.