1.

This feminist topic goes heavily into the gender binary construct, meaning often times
many people have addressed this problem with higher education. Simply taking a
women’s studies class or students at colleges spreading awareness about societal
standards. Other times, people find friends that find acceptance in who they are versus
how well they ‘fit in’.

2. Developing this research was a lot of guess and check. I didn’t exactly know how to
express my question as well as what research was intitled. It took a lot of time in looking
for resources and again, guessing what was a source in order to more clarify my research.
As I continued doing so, I was able to develop a research question that had more clarity.
The research not only helped me understand my frustration with my personal actions in
the subject matter, but it was able to give me a common ground for how I wasn’t the
‘only one’ with this problem. I processed this information through gathering overall
thesis statements between each source. This led me to be able to use the majority of my
sources to devise an attainable solution.

3. I think the people who would find it most interesting are of the course the trans
community and the general college population. Although my research stemmed from
questioning actions within the trans people, it does reach a big scope of people. I the trans
community would benefit the most as this project is meant to change the perspective of
others about themselves and other people. It’s about promoting diversity and self-
expression, which if successful will create a safer environment for everyone.

4. It was hard to come up with solutions because they had to be attainable. One of the issues
I ran into was when I interviewed Anna Organo and talked about root causes of
homophobia, transphobia, racial discrimination, and etc. We came to the conclusion that
although times are most certainly changing from fifty years ago, the generational
influences that a population has is the most effective and long lasting. After all, racial
discrimination was supposedly to be eliminated when the fourteenth amendment passed
in 1868. This solution’s biggest flaw is how slow the change will be as well as only being
limited to UNC Charlotte. Although the idea of expansion past the college would be in
mind too.

5. Solution 1: When looking at my logistics, something that sticks out the most is setting up
the co-op workshops and tabling. To table, it takes a lot more than just standing out there,
you have to have things for people to want to come for tabling as well as have a short
speech about what your trying to promote. Co-op workshops to me seem a little bit hard
simply because of participation as well as getting ideas for what the workshops will be. I
think the easiest thing to implement would be putting up posters and just handing flyers
out to random people.
Solution 2: I feel like tabling won’t be as bad because it isn’t the main source of getting
out information. I’d say it’d be the easiest because it’ll really only consist of spreading
word out about the end of the year party. I also think if I consistently talk to different
 people, it won’t be hard to find willing participants to put their face on the media page. I
think what will be hard is getting people to follow the page.

6. I feel proud of finding the answers and explanations I was looking for, although my
solutions, I still feel a little off about. Mainly because there isn’t really much I can do in
terms of actually solving anything. It would take a course of over years to truly ‘fix’ and
eliminate the idea of gender roles and the gender binary construct. I’ve learned a lot about
how overperforming works and how it’s a mask we hide under. Psychologically, we do it
more subconsciously than consciously. One of the things I find, more like a flaw in my
research is that there isn’t a lot of psychology-based research about people’s performance
in different aspects of their lives. Of course, I’m very satisfied that I found a research
study about transmen at work, but there should be more. When comparing my FSP and
MGP, I most definitely think my MGP was better and more organized. I knew exactly
what I wanted to do, how I wanted to implement it, and where it was going. Unlike my
FSP where I didn’t know how to express my research question. At the same time, I kept
improving and learning as I continued to research more and more. Although my research
did start off with knowing nothing and how to address the problem.

7. I think implementing it would be beneficial for others and for myself because I’m all
about going into a career about reform. I of course have made an attainable solution, but
I’m unsure if I’d be able to given the amount of time it would take and also having a job.
At the same time, I do plan on receiving internships allowing me to work in the criminal
justice prison systems. Another hindrance would be that if someone is implementing self-
expression as well as education within trans people, someone who is willing to come out
to the college of their gender identity should be running it or else it seems like credibility
would be lost with the research. The benefits of implementing this project is how much
volunteering and outreach there is. It’d be a great resume builder.

8. As a first-year student, who’s never done a single AP class in high school, I can say the
experience with this project was a huge sink or swim experience. It’s great that I’ve
received such a research project early on in order to learn the ins and outs of how
developing research works as well as understanding what kinds of events can be held by
students. This project aligns with the goals of educating people in the Gender Excellence
Community. It’s also opened my eyes to a new perspective of what feminism and
activism is to me. Feminism/ activism starts with addressing and understanding a
problem within society and then spreads the word. Eventually leading into more than just
consciousness raising, but also rallies, movements, laws, and etc.