Zachary Said:

Grants for women going to college?

We Answered:

I wouldn't download anything if I could avoid it. The software is not any better than the free search databases and the process is basically the same. You still have to fill in your information. The only benefit I see is that you do not get your email clogged up with other kinds of offers. (like online colleges) But I know where the delete button is so that doesn't bother me.

FastWeb has proved to be useful to me- what I like is that it doesn't end with your initial sign-up. If other scholarships become available and you meet the qualifications, they contact you.

Felicia Said:

gender studies? in a university?

We Answered:

Gender studies, broadly, is the examination of gender in the context of various studies, and how it influences them. For example, a gender studies look at philosophy would try to identify if there is gender bias in the mainstream view by examining both the makeup of the authors and the content of their writing. It would examine flaws of some philosophical topics, and determine if socialized gender norms or a lack of a particular gender in that field caused the deficiency.

It's typically a very meta kind of topic. It requires stepping outside of society, an academic genre, or history and asking "what difference did gender make here, and why?"

It's not an easy discipline to go into. It draws heavily on contemporary philosophical, sociological, anthropological, and psychological theories. Because it and the movement it is associated with (and the movement that founded it) is feminism and wrongly demonized, it's the kind of discipline one doesn't get a lot of respect in. Kind of like English--which is also really hard, but not recognized as "acceptable".

I highly recommend it, though, along with other social awareness topics like racial studies. I really do think that a basic--if not comprehensive--idea of priviledges and bigotries and how society creates, fosters, and destorys them is instrumental to a truly intellectual conception of the world.