Monica Law ’27 talks about her time on the DIS Prostitution and the Sex Trade program in Denmark.
I am a Biology major at Carleton, class of 2027, and a possible pre-med. And like many
STEM and pre-med majors, I too feared going abroad.
I mean, being a bio major is hard, but being a bio + pre-med is harder. With so many
classes to take, study abroad was just never on the table for me. And then I opened the DIS
book, and one of their courses caught my eye: Prostitution and the Sex Trade. What. The. Flip.
What do you mean, I could study prostitution and the sex trade? What does that even mean?
I have always been intrigued by Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, and this program just seemed so…fun!! At least a little more fun than Orgo. So, I started to get the ball rolling.
First, a meeting with my advisor. “Can I study abroad?” After a 30 minute conversation with my advisor, I got my first yes. Then, I met with the OCS office. “What even is a Non-Carleton?” The lovely Helena sat down with me to discuss what life at DIS would look like. It was love at first sight.
It was really important to me that I was still on track with my major, but still on an OCS that I loved. By attending DIS, a non-Carleton program, I was able to have the flexibility to do both! And even though I am not a GWSS major, being in a class that challenged my thinking has helped me become a more well-rounded STEM major.
My study abroad program had a big sex education part where my biology knowledge became very useful. Especially as someone who wanted to work in the medical field, meeting and listening to prostitutes’ stories really helped me connect that the science we know, and do not know, about our bodies is actively impacting the people around the world. Through the class, I was able to actively campaign for better sex education for a class project, be able to understand the prostitutes’ concerns regarding their reproductive health, and be able to learn more about the policies established about our bodies and how that is currently impacting us.
Besides that, it was really refreshing to be not in a lab for once. And to my surprise,
nobody in my cohort was a GWSS major! There were multiple people in the sciences
(psychology, math, etc.) and then other humanities majors (poli sci, english, etc.). We all
brought different perspectives to the table, and that made the class much more enriching.
Going abroad opened my eyes to what I was actually passionate about. I learned that I felt more passionate about public health than about being pre-med. And you know, that is ok! While I would most likely have figured out that I liked public health better sooner or later, I am glad that my risk of going abroad helped. Now that I am back at Carleton, I plan on keeping up with this newfound passion and telling everyone how I was a GWSS major for a term. And hey, maybe I will be a GWSS major AND a Bio major here at Carleton, too!
If you are thinking about exploring a passion of yours, I definitely recommend doing a study abroad program!
