Name: Kevin Madden
Year in school: Senior
Majors and minors: English major with minors in GWS, Spanish, and
Honors
Hometown: Sarasota, FL
Favorite place you’ve ever traveled to: Regensburg, Germany
Favorite GWS class: Gender and the World with Travis Foster
Why do you study GWS/why is it important to
you? I study GWS because it
feels kind of subversive. It challenges me to interrogate the metanarratives I
unquestioningly accepted growing up about what it means to be a man, to be gay,
to be a feminist. I was surprised by how few of those assumptions actually held
true when I applied a bit of pressure to them. Studying GWS has equipped me
with the tools to critically engage a world that insists on telling me how to
understand my identity, and it has cultivated a deep sense of compassion for
others who have been told all their lives that they belong on the social
periphery. I don’t think so. Feminism has something to offer everyone, and as I
continue to grow through my studies, I understand more and more that having
meaningful, unique experiences is our common denominator, the unifying factor.
Solidarity through difference, whether those differences are shared or not. I
don’t think I could have comprehended that without GWS.
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