Hi folks! The goal this week is to get us started on the responses and into the rhythm of interacting with each other here as well as in class.

If you want some guidance on what I’m looking for in the post, basically I’m looking for your take on what we’re going to be studying. Things like: What are you curious about when it comes to history? Is there anything about studying gender expectations in ancient cultures that makes you wary or concerned? How might Umberto Eco’s quote and what we’re talking about in class relate to how we see our collective past? How do you think the understanding of evidence might relate to the understanding of cultural gender expectations in particular?

Most important: What do you most want to explore, and why? Give it a ponder! I’m looking forward to hearing your answers. Read through each other’s responses, and respond to ideas that strike you as interesting or as prompting questions of your own.

What interests me most about gender and history is how the roles of both men and women expanded across different societies. Studying gender in history uncovers those hidden voices that were often left out of official records. It gives me a view to how power, opportunity, and even identity were divided and how those divisions still impact our societies today. A challenge that might get in the way of fully understanding ancient history with gender is that most of those records were recorded by men who were in the position of power. This excluded women's experiences and what they contributed. We only get a slight view of the women’s role during these ancient times through artifacts or myths but no concrete evidence which gives us an incomplete record of women’s experience during this time. What strikes me most is how gender in ancient times deeply influenced our societies today. Our traditions were shaped by these ancient civilizations and also reinforcing our patriarchal systems that excluded women from power but if we study for instance power queens in Egypt or even influential women can remind us that history is more complex and gender can create or change the narrative to what we know. I would like to know more about how regular everyday women lived in these ancient societies, what their daily responsibilities were, their independence if they had any, how they raised their children and passed down their culture’s history. Evaluating these stories can help us understand how gender helped shape our human history.

What interests me most about gender and history is how the roles of men and women have changed so much over time. It’s easy to think that the way things are now is how they’ve always been, but when you look back, you realize people had very different ideas about gender. That’s something I find really eye-opening.

One of the challenges in understanding ancient history, especially around gender, is that most of what survived was written by men. Because of that, women’s voices and everyday experiences are often missing, which means we only get part of the story. Even when we look at artifacts, we tend to interpret them through our own modern lens, and that can make things even more complicated.

What stands out to me about ancient cultures is how much they still influence the present. Our politics, family structures, and even the way we think about gender roles have roots in places like Greece and Rome. It’s pretty clear that the past is still very much a part of us today.

Something I’d really like to know more about is the daily lives of ordinary women. Not just queens or well-known figures, but regular women—how they lived, worked, raised families, and shaped their communities. I feel like that side of history would make everything feel more real and relatable.

Gender throughout history is typically viewed as something rigid and clear-cut, defined easily between man and woman in everyday, non-critical spaces. Obviously, this isn't true to its actual background; it's more complex than that. Many cultures have groups that have embraced diversity in gender and gender expression. Rejecting the binary and opening up more of a spectrum and new conversations altogether. It's just as a modern society, we have been shown what has been picked and pruned at for years and years, what we are taught as a basis is dated and specific to what they want us to see. We've been fed what has been deemed safe and aligns with how those in power want society to move. I am interested in the unfamiliar and lesser-known portions of gender history. Many things get in the way of understanding ancient history, which we mentioned a lot in that first meeting. Expectation/roles in a community, religion/stories and mythology (Are they meant to be interpreted as role models or cautionary tales and how not to be?), translation errors and loss of effect through said errors, etc. I have an interest in the idea that history repeats itself in slightly different forms all the time and acts as is mirror, because humans tend to fall into patterns, and I appreciate that looking back on history, you find many parallels to things happening even now. You can use it to predict outcomes, avoid terrible repeats, or simply prepare yourself, and so on. I am curious of the figures I have never heard of before and those from other cultures. I am familiar with other tales like Beowulf (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and what is often heard of the Greek Gods and Goddesses. I already see some names I'm unfamiliar with in the syllabus, and I hope to find some new favorites. :]

Gender studies are interesting to me because it gives a new and fresh perspective on history as we know it. Women do not have the same recognition for their importance in shaping modern society. Highlighting the role and impact of women in ancient cultures sheds light on a whole collection of stories that help better understand history. Although woman make up half of our population, history will lead you to believe it was dominated by men; this can be attributed to the lack of documentation, biases, or class divide. Ancient cultures shape our current legal and belief systems; this is important to me because it helps analyze where society can improve or has improved and shaping my current beliefs. What I would want to find out more the power structures between women and men and connect it and compare to modern day power structures. When applying Umberto Eco’s quote, “Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means.”, it encourages us to resist taking what we know and learn about at face value and instead fully understand why something is written or portrayed the way it is.

What interests me about gender and history is how both men and women have changed the path of the world's history in many ways, from literature to technology, including the way we view things and the way things are used every day. The kinds of things that get in the way of understanding history are events that occur, such as wars, alterations of texts, misinterpretations, and many other factors that can alter or change how we view history. In terms of gender, most of what we know in history is pretty much on the male side, and out of everything we know in history, the historical feats of women are seen as inferior in some cases or viewed as less important. What I view as important about ancient cultures is how their values, innovations, and discoveries have changed history year after year, to the present day, which still makes us wonder what came to their minds when he/she was creating back then, to what we see today. In terms of how they influence us, their lifestyles and way of thinking have changed the way things are viewed, from concepts like the universe and how Earth looks to personal developments like the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution, among many others that have shaped our perspective on how life was throughout time. I would like to find out more about how gender issues have altered the way we view history, because there are so many women who have made many historical advances and feats that we don't know about, like Marie Curie, for example, whom I did not know about until last week, who received the Nobel prize of physics and chemistry by discovering radium and polonium, and championed the use of radiation in medicine, of which x-rays, cat scans and MRIs were invented, thanks to her findings.

My understanding of history comes less from what happened and more from what it meant to those who lived through it, which is why I am interested in gender and history. Gender was not just a social issue but an issue of social authority, finances, and life. I'm also interested in the fact that so much of what we know about the ancient world is from men in powerful positions and women in subservient or passive roles. Therefore, I am inspired by the unknown; what's not said, what's neglected, how much of the female experience (and existence of other marginalized groups) is lost in ancient and modern-day conversation.

I find nuances about ancient cultures that most resonate with how we question gender today. Control over assets, the ability to speak in public, and presence in the domestic sphere continue to spark debate regarding equity. Therefore, I'd like to learn more about the hierarchies of socioeconomic class and ethnicity in the ancient world in relation to gender. For instance, did poorer or enslaved women have boundaries as well, but to different degrees than upper-class women? Those would be differences that complicate a more nuanced existence, which challenge us beyond our status with social dynamics today.

William of Baskerville said, "Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry." This reminds me that history isn't just about remembering facts, it's also about asking what those facts meant to the people who lived them. Also how we can relate to them now and what they mean to us now. The way the ideas of masculinity, femininity, and roles in society were developed differently over the course of time is what most interests me about gender and history. Gender roles are something that affects labor, family, culture, and power. We may get a better understanding of how certain habits, such as inequality or expectations about the behavior of men and women, continue in the present by examining it in ancient history. The lack of voices from women and other excluded groups is one of the main challenges to understand historical events, especially when it comes to gender. Our own current beliefs may also be an obstacle since we run the risk of assuming standards of gender from the past. The most significant thing about ancient cultures, in my opinion, is how many of their ideas still have an impact on us now, whether through religion, laws. Debates about equality, sexuality, and family responsibilities continue to exist today, which show some of us still carry those traditions. I would like to find out more about the daily lives of women and non-elite people in ancient societies. Meaning what their day to day life looked like, how they felt about these traditions and if they ever had hope for change.

The interest in history stems from curiosity. I find intriguing how gender, throughout history, has influenced the roles that men and women have in present time. Whether it is a household or society role, there are certain expectations that originate from ancient civilizations. With traits of evidence from the past, it can give a glimpse of how people lived in times. However, understanding ancient history can be obstructed for several reasons. For starters, majority of the evidence preserved was written or told to by men. This can cause a dilemma when it comes to the relation of gender due to the stories only being one sided. The evidence would be interpreted by a man's point of view which can cause loss of insight for the woman's story in history. Apart from only men interpretation, only the upper class would have the privilege to document any type of evidence which would leave the rest of the working class with no voice. As the quote stated, when reading, one must not only read words but interpret the reading. With interpretation, questions will arise to have a better understanding. Meaningful importance to comprehend: Why is the author writing this? What can influence the writing? What significant context can be found based on how the author may be describing things? What strikes me the most in regard to gender and history is the impact certain beliefs such as, mythology, had to support and influence roles. What I would like to learn more about is the significant roles that women in working class had. Ultimately, I would like to know if there are any primary sources that were written by women.

Regarding gender and history, I am interested in how ancient women have fought against male-oriented societal norms and claimed their rights, freedom, and equality. Since ancient societies were male-dominated, the recorded stories have been passed down based on their thoughts and perspectives. This makes it difficult to understand, especially about gender in ancient history, because the story maybe incomplete or biased.. What strikes me most about ancient culture is how they laid the foundation for everything that started, like science and technology, art, philosophy, culture, and religion. Even at that time, without any resources, how the great thinking mind managed to achieve everything and passed it down for a better modern civilization.  Just like the quote mentioned, books should be read to find the literal meaning and the lesson behind them. I would also like to learn about the stereotypes of women in ancient history by exploring the readings from the recommended book and sources.

Regarding gender and history, I am interested in how ancient women have fought against male-oriented societal norms and claimed their rights, freedom, and equality. Since ancient societies were male-dominated, the recorded stories have been passed down based on their thoughts and perspectives. This makes it difficult to fully understand gender in ancient history because the story we know today might be incomplete or biased. What strikes me most about ancient culture is how they laid the foundation for everything that started, like science and technology, art, philosophy, culture, and religion. Even at that time, without any resources, how the great thinking mind managed to achieve everything and passed it down for a better modern civilization.  Just like the mentioned quote, I agree that books should be read to find the literal meaning and the lesson behind them. So, I would also like to learn about the stereotypes of women in ancient history by exploring the readings from the recommended book and sources.

To begin with, what interests me about gender and history is how it shows the way people’s roles were shaped and how that still affects us today. Since I want to be a history teacher for middle or high school, I also think about how I could share that with my future students and make it connect to their everyday lives. Moreover, I believe what gets in the way of understanding ancient history, especially about gender, is that most of what we read comes from men in power. Therefore, we don’t always hear the voices of women or regular people, which means part of the story is missing.

Furthermore, what I find most important about ancient cultures is how much they still influence us in our laws, traditions, and even family roles. I’m a really curious person, and I always want to know more and keep asking questions, and that is one of the main reasons why I enjoy studying history. Finally, something I would like to learn more about is the daily life of ordinary people, not just kings and queens, because I feel that makes history more real and relatable.

What draws me to the study of gender and history is how closely it ties into everyday life and the expectations people carry, both in the past and now. Since I’m working in production management while also studying business management and accounting, I tend to notice how responsibilities, authority, and roles are divided. Looking back at ancient cultures, it’s clear that gender shaped those divisions in ways that still leave a mark today. One of the biggest challenges in understanding ancient history, especially regarding gender, is the lack of complete evidence. Much of what we know is filtered through texts written by men in power. What strikes me as most important about ancient cultures is how their values, traditions, and structures continue to influence modern society. What I’d like to find out more about is how different cultures, beyond just Greece or Rome approached gender. For example, how did ancient Middle Eastern or Asian societies view family, work, and leadership in terms of gender roles?