Dr. Julie Shayne publishes a piece about the power of students’ voices

Dr. Shayne, Teaching Professor in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, and Global Studies has a new piece in Ms. Magazine online. The piece is titled “‘Sharing Our Stories Loosens the Grip they Have on Us’: Watching Students Claim Voice to Power” and can be read here.In it she discusses her class “The Power of Feminist Writing” and how it enabled students to transform trauma and pain into empowerment and Voice. The class is the quintessential flip of the sexist “angry feminist” narrative. Yes, as matter of fact, we are often angry. Frequently because our pain and trauma are both ignored and worse yet, blamed on us. In this class, students were told through one reading and guest after another: I hear you; it is not your fault. In the end, validation softens anger.

The class culminates with beautifully curated feminist writing portfolios that scream Voice and empowerment, some of which will be added to this site while others are too private to share. In most cases the experience was cathartic for the students and Dr. Shayne. Being in a class where no one shamed us for being angry or questioned our pain resulted in a space where we translated formerly self-blamed pain and trauma from brewing frustration into joy-filled-anger.

If you are interested in taking this class, Dr. Shayne teaches it every other year and it will likely be offered again in spring 2026. You can read another piece she wrote for Ms. after the first time she taught it and a story UWB ran about the class just as it was launching.