UP Saga 5-2: The Gender and Sexuality Elective

AY2009-2010 classes have already begun waaay waaay back, but it's only now that I've managed to deconstruct what has been happening in my UP life.  It all began when I was pre-enlisting. I could only pre-enlist 2 Mass Comm subjects since I'm required to take the Qualifying Exam before I can proceed with the rest of my coursework. (After that, it's Comprehensive Exams...*shudder*)

So to fill up the last three units (I always take 9 units load), I decided to take my first cognate. In UP, cognates are the electives you take outside of your college. PhD Communication requires 9 units of cognates. So if I'm majoring in interactive storytelling, I should be taking up cognates in UP College of Arts and Letters. But no. The moment I saw this: "WD 227: Gender and Sexuality", under the UP College of Social Work and Community Development, I just had to click on the link and pre-enlist. LOL!

It's a master's course, but the only reason I'm allowed to take this is the fact that:

1. There are very few PhD cognates to choose from.
2. The professor is a doctor. She's an MD, PhD.

I was aghast at the class size, though. 24 students! That's triple the size of a regular graduate class. The prof had the same reaction. She joked that next time, she'd add "Sexuality" to the other subject titles as well.  She wanted to divide the class in half and have the rest transfer to another subject, especially the Mass Comm students (since we're not WD majors). Unfortunately, the PhD students couldn't budge because we cannot enroll in masteral courses if the professor isn't a doctor. I also had to come up with an excuse about my dissertation being connected to the course just so I could stay put. (Well...actually, I really was changing the slant of my dissertation to involve women and sexuality since video games are a land mine for this kind of study.)

Of course, the subject was one major KALOKANESS. We were asked simple questions, but everyone -- except the Mass Comm students -- just seemed to be either outing someone or saying really personal stuff (which I'm not going to post here because I'm supposed to be under oath of confidentiality).

So what were the Mass Comm students to do? Well, I don't know if the prof noticed it but we sort of ask the other students more questions while divulging very little sexual information about ourselves. It's either we're just really curious or it's just Mass Comm's habit of being scientific about everything. The course itself has very strong emotional ties and it's taking us a while to immerse ourselves instead of acting like research scientists on a mission.

Another KALOKANESS. When the prof was distributing reporting assignments, the Mass Comm students were the first to volunteer.  Chitchat and Milflor immediately took dibs on "Beauty and Self Image".

When she announced, "Ok, session 14, Pornography. Who's taking this?"  I was already waving my hand frantically even before she got through half her sentence. Ei, I can use this thing. There's a theoretical framework here and I want to discover it. Besides, I used to run a hentai site so this turf should be relatively easy to wade in.

I do know that this subject is a far cry from the grueling pace we have at Mass Comm. Everything in UP-CMC is just so cerebral. Reliability. Validity. Quantitative. Qualitative. Measurements. Chi-Square. It's all so mathematical that you'd be shocked we're talking about Communication. But at the UP-CSWCD, I find myself a bit more relaxed...if a bit nervous about all the estrogen emanating from the classroom.  I'd call it Lesbianation, but someone might say I'm being politically incorrect and tear my head off. 

(Ok, so what am I supposed to call it? It's a building full of lesbians. It's not like I didn't live in The Providence Tower before...yet another Lesbianation. The Providence was scarier. There'd be overly macho butchessas brawling over flirty femmes every Saturday night. At least UP-CSWCD is full of intellectuals and pretty ones to boot.)

delete reply keruvinrei2 wrote on Jul 2, '09 "When she announced, "Ok, session 14, Pornography. Who's taking this?" I was already waving my hand frantically even before she got through half her sentence" I think, after running a porn site project, assignment's gonna be just fine. Hehe~ By the way, when I was a bit younger, I browsed the h**tai neko site. Just curious about "things" in life. Hehe. I never thought the one who made the site was my professor. Hahah!~

delete reply kurayami wrote on Jul 2, '09 No wonder my sister's lesbian LOL

delete reply leiheartyou wrote on Jul 2, '09 HAHA. Good luck sa report mo :D

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 3, '09, edited on Jul 3, '09 omgawd! how did you know which site it was? LOL. well, it started out as an experiment but i ended up enjoying the site. if you notice the content is really...well, some male H fans accused me of being anti-H because i kept lambasting hentai...unless it had gay themes. hahahahaha! the funny thing is, they kept visiting the site anyway.

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 3, '09, edited on Jul 3, '09 kurayami said Re: UP Saga 5-2: The Gender and Sexuality Elective  re: your sister...hahaha, i heard she is. wow. ya know what the funny thing is? i have very very few straight friends. i've been a fag hag since high school (they weren't out yet at that time) but the world of lesbians still astound me. i reconnected with my lesbian friend Kristine (we've known each other for almost 20 years, practically grew up together) recently and she told me that to get a better understanding about what's happening around me, I should watch "The L Word". i don't know if it's just hollywood, but the things that went on in there just...gah. i'm still wrapping my head around the concept. i mean, it's prolly just me but i find it imbalanced to see so many women in a TV show. i enjoyed "Queer As Folk" because it was a good mix. or more because i'm BABAENG BAKLA.

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 3, '09, edited on Jul 3, '09 @lei session 14 pa naman...XD (nagloloko ang quoting system ng multiply...)

delete reply keruvinrei2 wrote on Jul 3, '09 It's on your portfolio website ms. x__x at yung name ng site ay madaling tandaan unlike others. Hahaha! Well, I think that time mabenta pa ang ganung klaseng site. If you know what I mean.. minor guys with internet availability and some guys who wants "privacy" hahaha! Haha! Long live yaoi! Hahah!~ Sometimes awkward acts are cool. Kaya naman panay ang poser ko ng "I'm a yaoi fan". Even I'm a man and NOT A GAY at all. Hehehe! Nakikisabay lang sa uso-kuno haha! Uso na kasi Gay ngayon. Lalo na dito. Hahahhahah!~

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 3, '09 keruvinrei2 said Hehehe! Nakikisabay lang sa uso-kuno haha! Uso na kasi Gay ngayon. Lalo na dito. Hahahhahah!~  ei, they call it androgynous. hehehe!

delete reply keruvinrei2 wrote on Jul 3, '09 Yun! Yun! Hehe~ Androgyny! Hehe! Astig dito mga pormang ganun.. mukhang babae yung mga lalake. Gusto ko sana pumurma ng ganun kaso baka pagkamalan akong GAY x__x eeergh!

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 3, '09 keruvinrei2 said Gusto ko sana pumurma ng ganun kaso baka pagkamalan akong GAY x__x eeergh!  bakit si hydo...sobrang crush ko siya forever kahit mukha siyang babae. hahahahahahaha! nag-asawa pa yun ha. ang cute pa ng love story nun (bago sila naghiwalay).

delete reply leiheartyou wrote on Jul 3, '09 LOL. Natutuwa ako magbasa ng usapan nio :D

delete reply keruvinrei2 wrote on Jul 3, '09 Hydo pala kala ko Hayden kho x__x heheh~ Hindi ko kilala un XD hehe. wow! may article ba siya sa net? Nakakapanghinayang bumili ng damit. Hindi pa naman ako marunong pumili ng damit. Mamaya mabili ko blouse pang-obaasan. xD

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 4, '09 keruvinrei2 said wow! may article ba siya sa net?  mygash, di mo kilala si hyde of l'arc~en~ciel? aahhh! kahapon medyo exciting yung report. yung una na-bore ako, yung sexuality and nationalism. pero nung history of heterosexuality na, nainis ako kasi bitin yung oras. the discussion was just getting interesting. next meeting mukhang masaya eh. history of celibacy.

delete reply keruvinrei2 wrote on Jul 4, '09 Alam ko yun l'arc~en~ciel pero hindi ko kilala si hyde x__x hehe Ang sarap naman ng discussion nyo miss. Dapat may sex education na tayo. Haha!~ Para mas lumawak pa yung isip ng mga students dyan =)) kayo lang ang nakikinabang ehh hahah!~

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 5, '09, edited on Jul 5, '09 keruvinrei2 said Alam ko yun l'arc~en~ciel pero hindi ko kilala si hyde x__x hehe  errr...si hyde yung frontman ng l'arc. kaloka ka. actually, one other reason why i wanted to cover pornography and all its theoretical frameworks is...well, there are some art works that may border into that kasi. i mean, where do you draw the line?

delete reply keruvinrei2 wrote on Jul 5, '09 Haha! Nakikinig ako ng mga tugtog pero MVs hindi ako nanunuod x__x haha! Kaya hindi ko rin alam yung mga mukha nila. Pati nga Arashi ehh, si MatsuJun lang ang kilala ko. T__T haha! Sabagay, yun yung natutunan ko *kahit papano* sa Aesthetics ehh.. Meron din naman artworks na na-associate sa mga adult graphics. Cool nga ng approach ehh.. Mas nakakalawak ng pag-iisip :) Like, "Food & Sex", ang similarities nila ay "satisfaction". May mga artwork na ganun, which is ang galing :D

edit delete reply skysenshi wrote on Jul 5, '09, edited on Jul 5, '09 keruvinrei2 said May mga artwork na ganun,  it's really interesting how sexuality evolved historically. dati kasi wala talaga halos limit. this is why i find the article in bump (yung Future Man) interesting, kasi it talks about the commodification of the nude body. yung limits on sexuality was actually brought about by the middle class. noon kasi sa dining tables, the nobles would openly fondle their wives' breasts and chamber pots (local equivalent: ARINOLA) were readily available for use in the dining room. pero shempre, may mga times hindi ko kinakaya yung discussions namin about this. so ibig sabihin, kahit papaano, may conservative streak pa rin pala ako. and since i'm also watching "The L Word", may Art Director dun sa story na nagkaroon ng controversy yung mga exhibits sa museum nila. sobrang di ko kinaya yung mga art works, especially the ones na may religious symbolisms. i kept asking myself, where do we draw the line? we have to draw the line somewhere kasi anything na excessive, for me personally, is bad.

delete reply keruvinrei2 wrote on Jul 5, '09 Can't wait to see kung hanggang saan pa magdedevelop yung mga ganun klaseng artworks. In modern day kasi, naaacept na natin some of these. Unlike, nung bata pa ako *naabutan ko pa pala hehe* .. sobrang conservative. Yung The L Word miss.. mukhang interesting,, sana may mahanap ako sa net. Hehe~

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