This event was particularly different for me because I was hosting it.  It was part of my IDP (Intergroup Dialogue Project) final assignment and I thought going into it that it would feel like a presentation, as most projects are.  I was entirely shocked by the outcome.  Not only had more people showed up than expected, but the people who did were open to sharing their thoughts and feelings.  

The premise of this event was to talk about the “boxes” that men and women are put into simply because of their gender.  We looked to talk about what the expectations society had for men were and what the expectations society held women to were.  Instead we opened a discussion not only about gender and its impact on our lives, but also a discussion on heteronormativity, a concept that the entire presentation played into.  The fact is that gender is on a scale and people express their gender in many different ways.

It was interesting to note that the discussion was made up predominantly of women and I could not help but wonder if this was because women were more willing to discuss gender, men felt uncomfortable with the topic, or it was a coincidence that this was just how everyone’s project worked out.

While there were many crucial moments in the discussion including many stories told and ideas brought up, the most crucial was when we asked what could be done to begin overcoming these gender stereotypes.  Everyone had different ideas and the fact that we were able to discuss those ideas and start thinking about it was one step closer to breaking the box.