Features

If you haven't heard of the Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC) or Carleton's Mixed Martial Arts classes, chances are you're at least aware of the buzz surrounding the now hugely popular sport that is MMA.

But is it a sport, or is it something deeper?

“It helps you to learn more about yourself, you're going to learn you're breaking points in MMA. It's tough, it's hard, and it's not for everybody," said Craig Brown, from Fit MMA Ottawa fresh from a fight.

I have heard it many times that everything is political. Everything from what toothpaste you choose to use when brushing your teeth in the morning, to what conversations you have with friends late at night, can be decidedly political. If this is the case — and I’m inclined to believe it is — trying to understand precisely where my ideologies fit within a political context has been the source of much confusion, doubt and even guilt.

Carleton students are finally learning the “F word.”

But confronted with the word “feminist,” some students appear to have certain engrained misconceptions.

When Carleton women and literature professor, Esther Post, asks her first-year students who they think feminists are she says she gets responses such as, “head-shaved, male-bashing, bra-burning lesbians.” But she says these are misguided stereotypes.

Forty years ago the historical study of women became an academic discipline. But today international changes to women’s studies programs are seeing a gender and sexuality studies amalgamation, Carleton included.