Hi! My name is Bidushi Pyakurel. This is my last semester as a criminal justice student in BMCC. I hope to transfer to John Jay next semester and hopefully go to law school after that. I am originally from Kathmandu, Nepal and have been living in the United States (and New York) for the past 4 years. I use she/her/hers pronoun. Growing up in a third world country with predominantly patriarchal societies, I believed the US and other western countries were the epitome of gender equality and expression. However, with age and experience, I have realized that may not be the case. I guess taking this class is my attempt at understanding the nuances and intricacies of such a complex subject, especially in terms of intersectionality. I want to understand what roles race, socio-economic status, religion and other factors have on how gender and sexuality is perceived in different cultures. For example: the literacy rate for women in Nepal is almost half that of men whereas it’s the same in the US. On the other hand, while the US workforce has a significant difference in its male and female population, it is almost equal in Nepal. I assume these differences have a lot to do with the economic condition of both countries. These are some of the things I’m hoping I learn from this class. As for my hopes and dreams, I plan on going back to Nepal and investing in efforts to make education accessible to women.
On a lighter note, I love learning new skills until I’m fairly decent at them. After that, I stop doing them altogether. I have taken up sewing, making nail art, playing a guitalele (in my defense, I thought I ordered a guitar), painting, drawing anime characters, cooking, among other things. My favorite thing to do, however, has to be overanalyzing media I consume, especially TV series. One thing I’ve noticed in recent years is that the female characters I sympathize with (or at least understand their motives and reasonings) are usually disliked by male audience. Two of the examples I can think of are Diane Ngyugen from Bojack Horseman and Siobhan Roy from Succession. It is especially interesting to me since most women I talk to seem to agree that these are well-rounded, relatable characters. I would really love to get into this in class if it feels appropriate. I’m looking forward to this class and I hope I leave with a better understanding of other people’s perspective.