Interview with Bronwyn Blass, Class of 2000

From Pre-Med to GSS

By Madyson Cahill

When I sat down to interview Vanderbilt Alumni Bronwen Blass, Class of 2000, I wanted to know how her journey in Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS) – formerly known as Women’s Studies – compared to my experience today. She reminisced about her time at Vanderbilt, from protesting to being the president of student orgs, and reflected on the continue impact of the skills she learned from her GSS minor.

We opened the conversation by discussing what drove Bronwen towards a Women’s Studies minor. She excitedly explained that her first exposure to Women’s Studies was through an English class called “Women in 19th Century Literature.” She came into Vanderbilt on the pre-med track, so her freshman year coursework was primarily STEM-based, but she loved the class. After taking a number of the pre-med courses, she said, “I realized that I wasn’t interested in it at all!” I laughed with her and shared a similar story of how I realized that the pre-med track wasn’t right for me either.

Bronwen recalled beginning to search for her passion elsewhere: “When I took sociology, I thought it was so much more fascinating. That led me to thinking about how I was having a semester of -ologies like sociology, psychology, and anthropology.” Participating in these classes led her to discover the Women’s Studies department, where she was able to flourish and further her interests.

During her time at Vanderbilt, Bronwen was involved in many on-campus organizations. She recalled being the president of “Students for Women’s Concerns,” organizing protests, and publishing essays in the Hustler. One moment in particular has stuck with her through the years: “We did the first “Take Back the Night” march, and while I was there, we brought Eleanor Smeal to campus, who was the president of the Feminist Majority. I remember they had these big pink signs that said ‘Feminists are the majority.’ I lived in North house at the time, on the Peabody campus, and I had the dorm right above the front door. I put my big ol’ ‘feminist are the majority’ sign there, and I got a lot of feedback that I was making the dorm “look bad.”” We both rolled our eyes and laughed.

Outside campus, she had an internship at the National Organization for Women (NOW) in Washington, D.C. She elaborated on the impact of this opportunity, “My boss was the head of their political action committee, and I remember talking with her at the time about how she was a lawyer and the power of a law degree. In terms of my minor, I don’t know that it necessarily had an impact on my career, but I feel like it’s had an impact on my ability to think critically about the world and how I’m interacting with everyone.”

The conversation began to shift to her life in law school, and how her time at Vanderbilt gave her the experience that she needed to live her life in a way that she felt was “right.” She wanted to use what she learned to make a difference in the world, which has also translated into her personal life, “Women’s Studies also changes the way I parent. When my son was three, he was like, “Down with the patriarchy!””

Bronwen summarized the significance of her experience, explaining, “My gender studies background is part of why I am who I am. Once you start seeing things in a certain way, you can’t unsee them. I try to be the person who questions the norm and makes my friends go to political marches and things of that nature.”

Bronwen’s concluding comments helped me understand the all-encompassing significance of what I’ve learned as a Gender and Sexuality Studies major. It’s an interdisciplinary degree that validates multiple perspectives and encourages both personal and professional growth. Our conversation solidified my passion for this field, and by conveying it to others, I hope to do the same for others.