Everyone Should Be Curious

     While reading Being Curious About Our Lack Of Feminist Curiosity and The Surprised Feminist, I couldn't help but think to myself that this reading could have been assigned for the first week of this class. It lays out a major issue in every society: the fact that we are not curious. As such, we do not question the things around us, namely patriarchy.
     I liked this reading a lot because I felt it to be very applicable to me, personally. At the beginning of this course, I was not very curious in the way that Enloe describes. I did not identify as a feminist because I did not question many aspects of patriarchy. I just viewed many things as "normal" or just thought that I could attribute something to a specific situation, not the general way things are. It annoys me that I say this about myself because I feel like it makes me seem stupid. But at the same time, I am not annoyed with myself per se, but our society; we are brought up to not be curious. It is in human nature to make observations and generalize (as I learned as a freshman in Intro to Psych). However, this is a flaw in human nature because we do not do more than generalize. We do not ask why something is generally a certain way. Additionally, I am more annoyed with society because many things that should be questioned are hidden, in a sense. We are not made aware of such things. In grade school, we are taught "this is the way it is" about all subjects. Curiosity wasn't valued.
     After reading how Enloe has taken it upon herself to be more curious, I was inspired to do the same. I think that I have, to some degree, become more curious about feminism and patriarchy. I think it's important that everyone become more curious because it seems that everyone is so passive. I've tried having conversations with my friends about topics of substance and they don't like thinking that their "normal" could be questioned. I think people like to have stability, and being curious threatens that.
     At first, I thought this article would have been a good read at the beginning of the semester, but now I think it was a good way to bring the class full circle. It, in a way, summarizes how we should approach feminism and sends us out to do so on our own.