I Should've Read This Sooner... The Importance of Education and Rewriting Public Policy

 


I Should've Read This Sooner...

The Importance of Education and Rewriting Public Policy 

   

     I've never read a book like Gender Queer before, and I wish I did sooner. I thought the memoir was extremely well-written, engaging, and most importantly informative. I won't lie, I was not expecting such graphic scenes to occur while reading ( to be blunt; maybe reading this in a public space on your laptop with full brightness while babysitting isn't the best decision), but then again, It's my fault for not reading the disclaimers...THAT BEING SAID, the information this book holds is without question innately valuable. 

    I've always been a proponent of education, education in all forms. To understand something or someone, I believe you must be educated, or educate yourself. Before coming to Loyola, I believed I was thoroughly educated. I was informed about history, economics, religion, reading in many forms, and various subjects of science. I felt like I was as open-minded as possible and well in the loop on all things pop culture, environmental ethics, and DEIJ, thus: thoroughly educated. I'm sure it's obvious now, that I was indeed very wrong. It's sort of the... "you can't know what you don't know until you do"... kind of vibe, and a lot of my ignorance surrounded topics of gender and sexuality. 

            For example; if I were asked to come up with a public policy that included the "common good," I'd begun to realize that my "common good" was an exclusive "group" or "type" of people simply because of lack of education. Which is why... I am extremely grateful for Gender Queer. 

    Maia highlights struggles e experience daily that I have been fortunate enough to not have to question. Yes, I've definitely pondered questions of "who I am in the world" as almost everyone does, but I've been lucky enough to have books that represent people who look like me, feel like me, and think like me. Resources that use language I can relate to. I'm almost ashamed of myself for claiming to be inclusive, when probably 4 months ago, I had subconsciously not even made space for people like Maia. Yes, I've been respectful of people's choices in pronouns, identity, and sexuality (as everyone should ALWAYS be), but I never really took the initiative to educate myself on understanding the reason behind these choices -  I learned, adjusted, and to me - that was it. I found the final pages of Gender Queer to be especially revealing. Respect isn't just acceptance, it's understanding. It's education. While Maia's family tries to change their old habits out of love for Maia, em point out their lack of understanding or adjustments on a deeply personal level. 

    The scene with Maia's cousin, wife, and their new child really touched my heart. I realized that if I am going to create more inclusive spaces wherever I am, or in my heart, I not only have to be respectful and understanding -- but also have to be willing to change and inspire new public policies, rewrite old paradigms, and perhaps new "laws." Our language is limiting, and there is no reason not to create new paradigms that allow for more inclusivity. That means creating new gender-neutral words, for names we use daily ( in Maia's case, "aunt"). Or creating code that doesn't auto-correct "em" to "they" when used in a sentence. Making small changes like these can create big, long-lasting positive impacts on people's lives through easy, low-cost changes. Yes, it might take a little bit more intentionality, but if we can create an environment where the most amount of people feel heard, loved, supported, and welcomed - why wouldn't we?

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