Kazuko TANAKA
ICU Professor/CGS Director【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the ninth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
The Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies (PGSS) was established in 2005 as ICU’s fourth undergraduate interdisciplinary program. It aims to be truly interdisciplinary by incorporating the natural sciences into the traditional framework of gender studies with its bias towards the social sciences and the humanities. This undertaking was achieved due to ICU’s trademark liberal arts education system, which upholds both breadth and depth of knowledge. The interdisciplinary strengths of PGSS will be further harnessed as the university is set to adopt an even more flexible department system in 2008.
Continue reading Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies (PGSS).
Many people who have only known me since I started university are surprised when I tell them that, in high school, I had demonstrated little interest in sexuality, let alone gender. In fact, I used to be quite vocal in my opinions about things like how a girl should at least be able to cook and sew. I think I was caught in an idee fixe that I had to be a “good girl” who is liked by everyone. At that time I had no idea that I was merely acting the part. Even though I had certainly felt restricted in some way, I tried hard not to be conscious of it.
On October 5th, 2007, CGS and the ICU Placement Office co-hosted a seminar entitled “Why Suffer from Job Burnout? Tips for Your Future Career.” The speaker, Ms. Naoko Takayama, discussed the psychological pressures that people face in the workplace and offered advice from a counseler’s viewpoint on how to avoid these problems, based on case examples of her own clients. In order to make the topic accessible for students about to embark on their job hunting and other people interested in the possible problems of the workplace, she used detailed handouts and other interesting devices such as personal checklists to enable participants to identify their own individual issues.
On September 12th, 2007, Sumposion, an LGBIT student group at ICU, submitted a petition to the university, demanding a more LGBIT-friendly campus. The petition included proposals for reform ranging from raising the awareness of faculty members to upgrading facilities such as lavatories and locker rooms.