Reflection Paper

Everyone knows a woman that dresses feminine—in long, flowy dresses, bright pink lipstick, and towering high heels. Personally, my usual attire is composed of a flower headband and a pastel yellow sundress. People typically expect straight women to uphold a certain feministic standard and anticipate that lesbian women appear masculine. Lesbians are stereotyped to have short hair, wear striped flannels and boyfriend jeans, and not wear makeup. Masculine-appearing women are assumed to be gay; however, there is a group of lesbian women who dress femininely. Lipstick lesbians, or LLs, are a part of the feminine lesbian community. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community has built up recently and an abundance of stereotypes as well. Contrary to popular belief, lesbians are not bound to one appearance. We as humans should have the opportunity to express ourselves in whichever way we desire. Similar to everyone else, lesbians’ appearances do not have to be strictly based off of who they are attracted to. Lipstick lesbians positively influence lesbian stereotypes because they defy masculine appearance and are unafraid to express themselves. By recognizing that lesbians who dress femininely are still lesbians, individuals can avoid awkward and uncomfortable situations by being respectful and acknowledging their boundaries.

Classrooms come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, and in each classroom, there is a unique structure that can enhance or hinder a student’s understanding of a new concept. Despite the wide variety of teaching methods, there is a clear goal in each classroom. Every instructor aims to teach students the required materials to successfully complete the course, in addition to meaningful life skills. However, lecture style classes do not accomplish anything aside from regurgitating information and showing off how knowledgeable a professor is on his topic. In fact, a recent study on active learning in stem fields showed that students in traditional lecture style classes are 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in active learning classrooms (random website thing). That is why, as an instructor, I am committed to make teaching a collaborative process to enhance my student’s mastery of the concepts and life skills, through a classroom structure that facilitates meaningful discourse on main ideas.

As my first semester at Rosemont College is coming to an end soon, I would like to tell you how I got here and how will I stay here. While applying to college Rosemont was not first choice. It was on the bottom of my list. But when I came to visits and listened to what the tour guides were saying I thought Rosemont would be the place for me. The biggest problem, for me was I wanted to stay close to home. I have family at home that I really did not want to be away from, it was my first time being away from home. I know that being away from home would be a change for me, it was a hard decision to make but I made it! The first step of getting to Rosemont was applying into then coming to visit, after my first visit I was still uninterested into the school. The campus was dull and dry and I did not see any students walking around or any of them coming out of class. Shortly after Spring Break of 2017 I had to make a choice. I began to look at the bigger picture of why I wanted to go. While Rosemont was not a place that I wanted to come, but I knew that I would get all my work done and more. I was happy I made the decision I made, because I am staying focus getting all of my work done.

There have been a great deal butch women who are constantly on the style pages because of their dress choices. The dress of people who identify as butch typically involved females wearing men/masculine clothing as opposed to female/feminine clothing. This can include shorter hairstyles, looser fitting clothing, less makeup, etc. As described in an interview with Margaret Curran, a lesbian woman who is more than confident in her identity, butch can be defined as “Butch, to me, is a female who dresses completely masculine and acts masculine as well. Butch is commonly used to describe the dominant in a lesbian relationship, but a butch doesn’t always have to be a lesbian” (Curran, 2016). She goes on to describe the butch aesthetic as something that always felt natural to her. Discussing her insecurities and struggles, she stated, “I have never felt comfortable in ‘typical female clothing,’ I never felt like myself in it. Growing up, my mother always forced me to wear dresses and skirts and “dress like a girl.” I always complained and I truly believe she just didn’t understand why I didn’t like it. I just didn’t. It wasn’t who I was/am” (Curran). Popular media and society may disregard women who follow a butch aesthetic, yet expect women to be overly feminine and whole-heartedly follow the femme aesthetic. The most accurate way of describing the struggle that butch women can

Social factors have made a huge impact by controlling what we perceive as being acceptable for both male and female, if not they are labeled “not being feminine enough” or being tomb girls for being a bodybuilder or participating in ruff sports, along with males being labeled as “not masculine enough” for being small and soft spoken.

Gender and masculinity are not just a topic related to males but females as well. When it comes to females being lesbian it is considered socially acceptable but males are not allowed to be. A lesbian is considered sexy, a male’s fantasy but a male himself being attracted to another male is not, I believe this is extremely biased. Some females are referred to as “tomboys” growing up and usually grow out of it before high school, but some females just do not like dressing up, prefer no makeup and just being comfortable. If a female decides to continue this as they get older people begin to question their sexuality and just assume they are lesbian or bisexual. I can speak from personally experience as I have always not worn makeup, was not a fan of girly things, and played sports my whole life so people began to question my sexuality. It has a lasting effect on you and is always in the back of your mind. River High has a group of girls in a similar situation and they are known as the “basketball girls.” The reason is because they play sports and do not dress up it assumed they are lesbian but this surprisingly boosts their

I paused when someone questions my masculinity. It was a sign that I had absorbed what society views how a man should behave. I never understood why this is so. Throughout my life, I have loved giving my friends hugs and getting close to them and going shopping for as long as I can remember. Surprisingly, I even recall asking my mother and father that I wanted a Barbie for Christmas. At American University, I hope to continue these discussions with AU students and form a group where we support each other to accept ourselves and understand these gender

The idea that “feminine equals gay” is absolutely ridiculous. Gender equality has come a long way, but there is still a lot further to go because men and a women should have not only the same economic rights, but also the same social acceptances, and this includes makeup.

For my service learning project I worked in Mrs. Evelyn Costa's first grade class at Meadowlane Elementary. Meadowlane is located at 4280 W 8th Avenue in Hialeah, Florida and was constructed in 1957. There are one thousand one hundred and seventy seven students enrolled at Meadowlane Elementary school. Meadowlane has fifty three classrooms and fourteen portables and there are one hundred and seventy nine students per grade level. The school was built on nine acres of land. The student population of meadowlane Elementary is comprised of 97% Hispanic, 2% White, and 1% Asian.

Over the course of the semester, there has been numerous amount of areas where I believe I have improved in comparison to high school. What has helped me in my writing is the writing class and the in-class writing workshop. The writing class that is located in the Kremen education building has helped me with my writing greatly because in the writing center the person in charge teach us lenses and we apply those lenses to the writing, draft, or reading that someone brings in. The in-class writing workshop has helped me because other students get to read my writing. This is helpful because I get feedback from many students and they let me know what needs to be fixed. A new tool I have been using is They Say I Say. The book is very helpful because of the information and examples it provides such as the templates. I have been applying the templates into my essays and I have seen a significant difference.

As children, we are indoctrinated into the social construct of heteronormativity. Based on our biological sex at birth, we are given blue or pink clothes, play princesses or superheroes, and are told either, “cross your legs and sit like a lady” or “act like a man and stop crying”. As adults, we watch movies and TV shows where the husband comes home from a long day at work to greet his wife who has just finished making dinner. Heteronormativity refers to those norms related to gender and sexuality which keep in place patriarchy and compulsory heterosexuality as well as other systems and ideologies related to power (Sharma 2009). Gay, lesbian, queer, homosexual, agender, androgynous, bigender, bisexual, butch, femme, dyke, stud, lipstick lesbian, gender fluid; There are a seemingly endless terministic screens used to label women who love women, but they all come down to one meaning, we aren’t normal. “Even if any given terminology is a reflection of reality, by its very nature as a terminology it is a selection of reality; and to this extent it must also function as a deflection of reality” (Burke 1968). Viewing lesbians through heteronormative gender roles oversimplifies complex identities into false dichotomies.

Since the beginning of the semester, my writing has changed and evolved to accommodate and sustain longer essays. With longer essays, there is more room for in-depth analysis. Further analyzing a topic has led me to findings that I did not know existed. As I continue to write, I uncover addition and superior methods to approach my writing to the benefit of me and therefore, my audience. Throughout the semester, I have incorporated techniques to further my narrative throughout my writing.

I have learned many aphorisms, or lessons, throughout my life so far. My family, friends, teachers, and pretty much everyone has taught me something in one way or another. These lessons usually come through in a change in my life. One change important to me was getting a job. This job has given me a positive learning experience (for the most part) and an education of working with others. Well, here’s what I know about going to work.

Overall, I feel as if our presentation went very well. If there was anything I could change it would be having more class dialogue and it not seem so one sided. I also would have liked to ask more questions considering the class already had prior knowledge, of this content. The questions that I would have like to have asked most are the higher order thinking questions; such as, how and why. An example would be, “Why would you select the more colorful curriculum map over the one already filled out?” The anticipated response would hopefully be: “The colorful curriculum map is broken down into each month in the school year; whereas, the filled in map only has two months.” When creating a curriculum map is should be done for the entire school year and not just a month or so at a time. While assessing all of the feedback that was obtained, it was noted that everyone gave extremely positive with minimal critiques. I enjoyed how the class respected our wishes of giving only constructive feedback. The few suggestions for improvement were for me for to speak up, for Brianna to stand up and maybe move around the room, slow down a little (which was corrected as we presented and noted by some), one person said give more guidance on what to write in the organizer, and one said she wished we would have informed them sooner that not all the puzzle pieces would be complete. When it came to the organizer we did not really focus to much on that because we know everyone learns in a different

This last trimester I attended the class, Introduction to College Writing. I enjoyed the class and enjoyed the challenges the class brought. I have always loved to write papers, but my grade did not always reflect my enthusiasm. I took honors classes most of my high school career, learning how to write a very specific type of essay, with strict structures and numerous restrictions. This class taught me how to write different types of papers, and put my personality into the paper. I am ready for English 102 due to the skills that I acquired during this course.