Cacace makes real-world issues approachable with new elective
There seems to be a taboo on discussing issues of sex and sexuality in school, yet as we enter into the progressive age of the 2000’s, students and teachers alike have felt the need for the discourse on these potentially uncomfortable topics has become imperative.
The new history elective, Gender and Sexuality, provides just that forum for students to discuss the role and history of gender and sexuality in American society. Designed by history teacher Dr. Stephanie Cacace, the semester-long course is mostly lecture and discussion based.
In building the course, Cacace drew upon her extensive background in the sociology of gender, and spent her summer researching the history of sexuality. The class is broken up into two main sections. The first aims to define sex, gender and sexuality and the second to examine how those labels function in the modern day in everything from media to politics.
Within these units, the course discusses the effects of gender roles for both males and females, the history of feminism and LGBTQ rights in America, the media’s effect on gender stereotypes, gender inequality in the workplace, and abortion.
For Ling Groccia ’17, who took the class first semester, the course had a profound effect toward opening her eyes to see and understand things that students never had the opportunity to talk about in an academic setting. She cited an example from studying hegemonic masculinity, one of her favorite units. “We never really talk about masculinity or study it. So talking about it opened up a lot of insights as to why things are and how people act,” Groccia said.
Corson Ellis ’16, another former student, also enjoyed studying the hegemonic masculinity for the “really interesting nuance” it added to the study of gender. Regarding the range of sensitive topics, he added that “everything [they] studied was pretty great.”
Kieva Mark ’16 took the class and believes that the deeper understanding gained in the class goes beyond classroom skills. “With everything that’s going on lately, it’s really important to be educated about [issues like preferred pronouns, bathrooms, and gender self-identification],” she said.
Cacace echoed the need to understand gender and sexuality. “It seemed to me that there was a need that students had to talk about these issues more, in an academic sense, and I proposed the course out of that,” she explained. “Through students’ informal conversations with me, it seemed like students personally had a need. It’s a time in a person’s life when they’re starting to understand themselves in those terms. To be able to have the terminology, the philosophy, the ideas to understanding their own identities was also a need that was there for students.”
Like Mark and Cacace, Groccia valued the class because it informed her about the world outside the classroom. “As these topics become more and more talked about a lot of people still don’t know the facts regarding gender and sexuality. Especially for things like planned parenthood and abortion-- those are such important discussions, and people need to be informed to have an educated opinion and a greater understanding of different and diverse people,” she said, adding that “Because these topics are so current and prominent in our society, [the class] is so adaptable.”
Students explained that often the class would begin with a power-point and planned lesson, and sometimes a certain topic could incite a spur-of-the-moment, class-wide discussion. “It’s not always about what she wants to teach; it’s about what we want to talk about,” Ellis said. This adaptability of the class and opportunity to express themselves was what students found to be the best part of the course.
For Cacace the freedom the class provides has proved to be “the best thing and also the most challenging thing about the class.” She explains that as she enters her second semester of teaching the class she is still striving to balance planned lessons with an open forum for discussion.
Going into second semester and the second round of teaching the course, Cacace continues to mold it. “Based on what I thought the students were interested in, I shaped the units from there. I certainly feel like I learned from the [first semester], so not going through with the second semester with those modifications, but I’m still learning. It’s always changing.”
The a result of this ever-changing setting is a class that has taken on a life of its own and a personality that continues to grow and adapt, just as ideals and beliefs around gender and sexuality itself continue to take shape and adapt into mainstream culture.
This article was published in the March 2016 print issue of The Bradford.
The new history elective, Gender and Sexuality, provides just that forum for students to discuss the role and history of gender and sexuality in American society. Designed by history teacher Dr. Stephanie Cacace, the semester-long course is mostly lecture and discussion based.
In building the course, Cacace drew upon her extensive background in the sociology of gender, and spent her summer researching the history of sexuality. The class is broken up into two main sections. The first aims to define sex, gender and sexuality and the second to examine how those labels function in the modern day in everything from media to politics.
Within these units, the course discusses the effects of gender roles for both males and females, the history of feminism and LGBTQ rights in America, the media’s effect on gender stereotypes, gender inequality in the workplace, and abortion.
For Ling Groccia ’17, who took the class first semester, the course had a profound effect toward opening her eyes to see and understand things that students never had the opportunity to talk about in an academic setting. She cited an example from studying hegemonic masculinity, one of her favorite units. “We never really talk about masculinity or study it. So talking about it opened up a lot of insights as to why things are and how people act,” Groccia said.
Corson Ellis ’16, another former student, also enjoyed studying the hegemonic masculinity for the “really interesting nuance” it added to the study of gender. Regarding the range of sensitive topics, he added that “everything [they] studied was pretty great.”
Kieva Mark ’16 took the class and believes that the deeper understanding gained in the class goes beyond classroom skills. “With everything that’s going on lately, it’s really important to be educated about [issues like preferred pronouns, bathrooms, and gender self-identification],” she said.
Cacace echoed the need to understand gender and sexuality. “It seemed to me that there was a need that students had to talk about these issues more, in an academic sense, and I proposed the course out of that,” she explained. “Through students’ informal conversations with me, it seemed like students personally had a need. It’s a time in a person’s life when they’re starting to understand themselves in those terms. To be able to have the terminology, the philosophy, the ideas to understanding their own identities was also a need that was there for students.”
Like Mark and Cacace, Groccia valued the class because it informed her about the world outside the classroom. “As these topics become more and more talked about a lot of people still don’t know the facts regarding gender and sexuality. Especially for things like planned parenthood and abortion-- those are such important discussions, and people need to be informed to have an educated opinion and a greater understanding of different and diverse people,” she said, adding that “Because these topics are so current and prominent in our society, [the class] is so adaptable.”
Students explained that often the class would begin with a power-point and planned lesson, and sometimes a certain topic could incite a spur-of-the-moment, class-wide discussion. “It’s not always about what she wants to teach; it’s about what we want to talk about,” Ellis said. This adaptability of the class and opportunity to express themselves was what students found to be the best part of the course.
For Cacace the freedom the class provides has proved to be “the best thing and also the most challenging thing about the class.” She explains that as she enters her second semester of teaching the class she is still striving to balance planned lessons with an open forum for discussion.
Going into second semester and the second round of teaching the course, Cacace continues to mold it. “Based on what I thought the students were interested in, I shaped the units from there. I certainly feel like I learned from the [first semester], so not going through with the second semester with those modifications, but I’m still learning. It’s always changing.”
The a result of this ever-changing setting is a class that has taken on a life of its own and a personality that continues to grow and adapt, just as ideals and beliefs around gender and sexuality itself continue to take shape and adapt into mainstream culture.
This article was published in the March 2016 print issue of The Bradford.