In 9th grade, as a person who knew nothing about Sociology, whose target major was business, whose English is his second language, and who did not care about news at all, it was unexpected that I chose to take a discussion-based sociology course in my first year of high school. To be totally honest, Sociology was just the worst alternative to fill in my schedule. 

In the first semester, I struggled in this course. My indifference to this subject made it more difficult for me to understand sociological concepts full of unfamiliar vocabularies. 

But in the second semester, everything changed.

My sociology teacher also served as the coach of the girl’s basketball team in our school. I was not surprised that he often brought basketball to the classroom. But one day before class, the teacher suddenly started to talk to me, and this conversation should be the most embarrassing one in my life at present.

“Hey Jerry, do you play any sports? Like basketball?”

“I used to play soccer in elementary and middle school, but I don’t really enjoy it. You know, maybe, I…” I was racking my brains to rephrase and find a suitable word to describe my lack of interest in sports. “You know, I never actually love those ‘boyish sports’ which are usually exhausting.” 

Almost immediately after I said my words, one of my classmates, a member of the girl’s basketball team, continued the conversation with a non-critical, soft, but powerful response. 

“Actually… Those sports are not just for boys… Right?” 

This extremely short reply was unexpected and also unexpectedly shocking to me. Weirdly, I really felt the feeling of blood rushing into my brain as often mentioned in books or movies. I was so embarrassed that I was speechless. My brain seemed unable to continue to help me rephrase. And, the awkward moment seemed to be infinitely prolonged.

I have always labeled myself as an open-minded, compassionate and considerate person. I have many female friends. I always show my understanding of them and provide emotional support. I have never been offensive to them. I thought I did my best, but I actually didn’t. Compared with the behaviors and words, I believe there is something deeper in my consciousness. I have never taken the initiative to learn, but I seem to acquiesce in many stereotypes subconsciously: for example, women are not good at science and mathematics, which is normal, and women do not often play football or basketball, and so on.

Now I realize that no matter how hard I tried to rephrase it, I could not avoid this awkward conversation. Because its trigger was not my limited English vocabulary, but my underlying biased logic. 

Since that conversation, I have become interested in sociology because it is no longer irrelevant to me, but tightly connected with me and my mindset.

The effect of that conversation extended to the outside of the classroom. Later, my unexpected agreement to watch the women's basketball game shocked my friend. It was my first time watching a basketball game, and I was impressed by the athletes' performance! 

That was where things sprouted. Then it started to flourish. My mother is an independent business woman, so I eagerly talked with my grandmother about her parenting. Her advanced ideology was unexpected. She told me that she never felt that my mother was "inferior" to the boys, and she was always the outstanding one, so she decided to let my mother get a better education to develop her potential.

Afterward, I have been more active in talking about women's power in class and in private chat. I also raise awareness of women's rights on social media. I also research on women's rights in independent study. I now realize that women always possess unlimited potential, and I want more people to realize it.