SoP and personal statement, Ph.D. in English & Women's Studies
I can't figure out how to end my SoP. I know that it needs to be stronger, but I've been working on these for so long that I feel that I've lost all perspective. Any help would be appreciated.
My academic background is necessarily rooted in my personal life: I was homeschooled until the age of fifteen. During that time my education was heavily research-based, because my family relied on the public library (and much later, on the Internet) for material. Because of this, the transition into high school and then into college was almost seamless because I was already in the habit of taking the initiative and supplementing class work with personal research.
The role of women of color in America has always been a topic of concern for me; in particular, I am interested in the intersectionality of sexism and racism as it affects Latina women, and in the role that faith plays in a Latina’s search for identity in America. Another facet of that identity is whether or not to become a mother, and the weight that society, ethnicity, and religious background have on that decision. I would like to raise awareness of these issues through not only publishing essays, but also by becoming a professor and offering classes that encourage cultural criticism, with a focus on privilege, parenthood as a choice and statement, and cultural identity as something rooted in faith.
In my junior year of college, I began taking steps toward this goal by executing a photo journalism experiment that focused on my sterilization. The purpose of this social media project was to lift the veil of mystery surrounding voluntary sterilization, and to put a human face on the procedure and the choice. Later in the year I had the opportunity to enter it into the university-wide Women’s and Gender Studies Contest, where I won first place in the art section.
Acceptance into University of Michigan’s English and Women’s Studies program would put me into dialogue with a faculty who could mentor me and engage all of my career goals, at once. Additionally, the proximity of University of Michigan to Detroit would give me the opportunity to focus on issues of sexism and racism in my own community.
">Personal statement
Choice has always been central to feminist schools of thought, whether it be the choice to shave or not, the choice to marry or not, or the choice to procreate. But in the body of literature available, the focus has always been on the choice of the majority: parenthood. On this subject, books, essays, films, and art of every kind has made resources available to women who want to have children, or who have them already. But for those who do not fall within the dominant group, options are much less readily available.
As I became a young woman, the opinions of family, partners, and my religion began to press on me, and I sought out any sort of information that I could to validate my choice. Aside from online communities and two books, there were hardly any positive representations of likeminded people, and I could not put a human face onto the decision to be childfree.
It was around this time that I was cleared for sterilization, after years of pressing for it. Beforehand, I had to have a psychological evaluation done. The psychiatrist, a woman herself, told me that I was robbing my partner of children. On that day I decided that I needed to do something to increase visibility and awareness for other women in my situation. Until that point I had worn the cloak of “other” - I had wrapped it ever tighter around my shoulders and grumbled about it to no one in particular. I had never once imagined that I might have something to reclaim: that I might reclaim my womanhood, distinguishing it as something particular to myself, instead of something supported by motherhood.
The decision to attend graduate school came soon thereafter; it came slowly, and from all angles, having marinated on the sidelines for years. Graduate school would offer me the opportunity to work as a professor and, through my work, empower my students and myself with a curriculum that critiqued both pop culture and academia, and made others aware of the heteronormative, ciscentric implications of privileging parents over non-parents.
My academic background is necessarily rooted in my personal life: I was homeschooled until the age of fifteen. During that time my education was heavily research-based, because my family relied on the public library (and much later, on the Internet) for material. Because of this, the transition into high school and then into college was almost seamless because I was already in the habit of taking the initiative and supplementing class work with personal research.
The role of women of color in America has always been a topic of concern for me; in particular, I am interested in the intersectionality of sexism and racism as it affects Latina women, and in the role that faith plays in a Latina’s search for identity in America. Another facet of that identity is whether or not to become a mother, and the weight that society, ethnicity, and religious background have on that decision. I would like to raise awareness of these issues through not only publishing essays, but also by becoming a professor and offering classes that encourage cultural criticism, with a focus on privilege, parenthood as a choice and statement, and cultural identity as something rooted in faith.
In my junior year of college, I began taking steps toward this goal by executing a photo journalism experiment that focused on my sterilization. The purpose of this social media project was to lift the veil of mystery surrounding voluntary sterilization, and to put a human face on the procedure and the choice. Later in the year I had the opportunity to enter it into the university-wide Women’s and Gender Studies Contest, where I won first place in the art section.
Acceptance into University of Michigan’s English and Women’s Studies program would put me into dialogue with a faculty who could mentor me and engage all of my career goals, at once. Additionally, the proximity of University of Michigan to Detroit would give me the opportunity to focus on issues of sexism and racism in my own community.
">Personal statement
Choice has always been central to feminist schools of thought, whether it be the choice to shave or not, the choice to marry or not, or the choice to procreate. But in the body of literature available, the focus has always been on the choice of the majority: parenthood. On this subject, books, essays, films, and art of every kind has made resources available to women who want to have children, or who have them already. But for those who do not fall within the dominant group, options are much less readily available.
As I became a young woman, the opinions of family, partners, and my religion began to press on me, and I sought out any sort of information that I could to validate my choice. Aside from online communities and two books, there were hardly any positive representations of likeminded people, and I could not put a human face onto the decision to be childfree.
It was around this time that I was cleared for sterilization, after years of pressing for it. Beforehand, I had to have a psychological evaluation done. The psychiatrist, a woman herself, told me that I was robbing my partner of children. On that day I decided that I needed to do something to increase visibility and awareness for other women in my situation. Until that point I had worn the cloak of “other” - I had wrapped it ever tighter around my shoulders and grumbled about it to no one in particular. I had never once imagined that I might have something to reclaim: that I might reclaim my womanhood, distinguishing it as something particular to myself, instead of something supported by motherhood.
The decision to attend graduate school came soon thereafter; it came slowly, and from all angles, having marinated on the sidelines for years. Graduate school would offer me the opportunity to work as a professor and, through my work, empower my students and myself with a curriculum that critiqued both pop culture and academia, and made others aware of the heteronormative, ciscentric implications of privileging parents over non-parents.