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A Single Story

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Every story has at least two sides, but what happens if you are only told one? How does this affect your perspective? According to Chimamanda Adiche, “…show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” Her quote is one of many examples of why a single story is dangerous. There are many other dangers of a single story as shown in the essay Disability by Nancy Mairs and by my own personal experiences. The essay Disability shows the consequences of a single story towards disability, disabled people, and able-bodied people, and my own experiences show how a single story affects the number of women in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math. Firstly, the dangers of a single story …show more content…

I am a female in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and when I started high school, I was shocked by the low number of women in STEM compared to the number of men. In my opinion, this is due to the misrepresentation of traditional STEM fields. Men are predominately featured in the media as having STEM based careers, which can be extremely discouraging to women who wish to pursue a career in STEM. The traditional single story depicted here is that STEM is a field for men and that it is not a place for women. This can be very intimidating as a woman who wishes to pursue a career in engineering. In my computer science class last semester, I was one of two women in a group of upwards of 20 students. It was discouraging to look around and only see one other woman in that class. The consequences of this single story are clear, if women are not encouraged to pursue careers in the field of STEM, then the overall field of STEM will not reach its full potential. Women bring a new perspective to the table, that the field of STEM is lacking, and it is crucial that they are involved in the field of STEM. This is how the single story of men in STEM careers affects STEM as a whole along with the consequences it has on our society. In conclusion, a single story is dangerous because it can subconsciously and potentially negatively affect a person’s view on a topic. This has been shown by the essay Disability about how a single story affects how we view disability, along with my own experiences, and how a single story regarding STEM affects the number of women in that field. I encourage you now to delve deeper into issues and expose yourself to the many stories of a topic. Do not limit yourself to just one story, as only one story limits

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