In Taiwan Tech's General Education course “Gender Equality and Dressing Up”, Professor Mei-Fang Shih focuses on hairstyles, makeup, and clothing to explore gender awareness. Using an action research framework, she actively breaks stereotypes and enhances empathy towards diverse genders.

The students who took the course posed for a photo after dressing up. Professor Mei-fang Shih is the 6^th person from the right.

Professor Mei-Fang Shih was awarded the Ministry of Education's 113th Year “Gender Equality Education Curriculum Development and Promotion Strategy Research Project”. She mentioned that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is gender equality, emphasizing everyone's right to freely and equally express themselves. Stereotypes dictate that females should be gentle and males should be strong, clearly dividing genders into binary categories. Therefore, her course guides students to personally experience and understand cross-gender feelings. In the reality of society, cross-dressing among transgender individuals is a more common practice. For instance, recently former President Tsai Ing-wen met Ni Feiya, a successful drag queen.

Classmates dressed up and walked around campus.

Professor Mei-Fang Shih believes that many gender-related studies focus primarily on metaphysical consciousness, attitudes, and behaviors, with less emphasis on the visual presentation aspect such as dressing. Therefore, she proposed action research on gender equality and dressing, aiming to promote that beauty should naturally be equal through course content.

Pei-Zhen Lin, a sophomore in the Department of Design, pointed out that the course content met her expectations and was very rewarding.

Pei-Zhen Lin, a sophomore in the Department of Design, expressed her initial interest in drag queen issues and had already researched the course outline before enrolling. She found the course content to be as fulfilling as expected and she gained a lot. She joked that even her classmates initially didn't recognize her after she dressed up.

Reflecting on discussions in class, Lin recalled debates about whether restrooms should be open to biological males who identify as female. She believes that besides promoting gender-friendly restrooms, it's crucial to respect those who are not yet comfortable with transgender individuals, fostering mutual understanding and acceptance of diverse perspectives.

Liang Kaiwei, a second-year student in the Department of Electrical Engineering, mentioned that there was a slight psychological barrier when dressing up, but when everyone was willing to accept it, he felt encouraged to try without feeling embarrassed or experiencing negative feelings.

Liang Kaiwei, a second-year student from the Department of Electrical Engineering mentioned that there was a slight psychological barrier when dressing up, but in an environment where everyone was willing to accept it, he felt encouraged to try without feeling embarrassed or having negative feelings. Through this course, he learned that gender equality requires thinking outside the box. He also humorously noted that he now knows how to care for his skin for future interviews or dates.

Professor Mei-Fang Shih admitted that being a makeup professional, there were no existing precedents for such a course, so she had to create the content and materials herself. She is currently accumulating feedback on how to let students experience the benefits and fun of learning, and build a solid cognitive attitude, knowledge, and skills about gender equality to enhance teaching effectiveness and plans to use it as a basis for improving future courses next semester.

The course “Gender Equality and Dressing Up” combines theory with practical cross-dressing experiences, fostering personal transformation. You can start from small steps and gradually dismantle societal judgments. In cross-gender cross-dressing, you can experience respect and tolerance for diverse genders. Empathy welcomes a more gender-equitable society.