Welcome to the WMST blog!

Last semester in my Intro to WMST course, we read Leading the Way: Young Women’s Activism for Social Change, a collection of essays by a bunch of students at Rutgers who developed their own ways of doing feminism. Professor Loe subsequently asked us to write about how we do or could do feminism in our lives. My answer was simply: I didn’t do feminism but I believed I could do it through something I enjoy doing – writing.

I’ve been blogging for about two years now. It has mostly been letting people from home know where I’ve been traveling or how I’m doing at school. But as an avid reader, I also know how influential someone’s writing can be on their audience.

I started this blog with the help of the Women’s Studies program at Colgate not just because I wanted to share my passion for women’s studies, I wanted to show that women’s studies is truly everywhere. Whether you are male or female, gay or straight, conservative or liberal, athletic or bookish or whatever you identify yourself to be or whatever you are interested in, there is something in your life that relates to women’s studies.

I think the challenge for most people when it comes to being interested in women’s studies or identifying as a feminist is that they feel that most people won’t understand. It is my hope that through this blog, people who weren’t familiar with women’s studies will realize the universality of the discipline. And I also hope that this blog will provoke further thought and challenge you to think more about women’s issues and how they affect your life.

Every week, the blog will have at least 4 entries: a brief intro to the Brown Bag, a reflection on the Brown Bag, a thoughtful musing by one of the WMST center interns, and a few thoughts by myself (Catherine). The blog will also be open for contribution from anyone (the more diverse the better!). If you have an encounter with someone, read something for a class, saw something in the news, or had an experience that relates to women’s studies, you are welcome to write a 200-600 word entry and email it to [colgatewmstblog@gmail.com] for consideration. 

            I hope you will enjoy the blog and see that women’s studies is really everywhere!

~Catherine Yeh