Emmerling's Spring 2006 3:00 Blogspot

Alternate Reading Prompt

2006-05-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

On ERES please read the second essay in the first section on Sexuality Health and Gender. Then read the last two articles in the second section on Sexuality Health and Gender.

For each, identify the writer's point of view (bias, preconceived ideas), the writer's intended audience, and the purpose.

For each comment on the organization and structure.

For each discuss whether you agree or disagree with the author and why. Give specific examples.

Psychology Constructs the Female

2006-05-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

please address questions 1 and 2 on page 594:

1. How does Weisstein begn the article? Why do you suppose she introduces her topic that way?

2. What is "feminine" according to the psychologists Erikson and Bettleheim? According to the author? What are the social cnsequences of this definition of the female role?

Alternate Reading Prompt

2006-05-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

For an alternate blog assignment (as opposed to Rubin et al in our text) you may choose to do some reading on ERES: Gender, Sexuality and Health: The first essay in part I AND the first TWO essays in part II (they are really short). Analyze the rhetorical aspects of audience, purpose, and tone. Note the different genres. Are they fact-based or opinion? Aftter analysing the pieces, write your reaction: do you agree or disagree and why?

Reading Prompt: Rubin et al

2006-05-03T01:39:00.000-07:00

We are phasing into the science section of the course. I would like you to address questions one and two on page 577:

Who is the audience for this article? How do the language and structure reflect the audience? Also look at the organization and comment on why the sections are separated and the functions of each section.

Why do parents focus so intensely on the gender of their newborn babies?

Enough Male Bashing!!

2006-05-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hello All--Tripp is starting a conversation based on our class discussion on 5/1. Feel free to join in the conversation. We know that when there is lively discussion on a topic, we are fine-tuning our ideas as well as collaboratively and publicly communicating with our colleagues--both critical aspects of the composing process as well as stated course objectives. Feel free to join in :

After the class discussion and a reading of the article I found myself put off. I would
like to refocus my blogspot to an issue that has been bothering me the last few class
periods. I feel that in a class about gender we focus far too much attention to the
inequalities that women face. I am not suggesting that they do not exist or that they
are not pressing and important, but let us take a moment to think about the effects of
the Feminist Movement on men and on this nation in general.

First of all, I do not think that women in the workplace take jobs from men. That being
said, I also don't believe that men put women at disadvantages in the workplace.
Honestly, I believe that if women were still barred from the office a more qualified man
would take the job in place of the female replacement. In this day in age almost
nothing is acquired without some merit; professional businesswomen deserve the positions
that they earn. But is Steinem correct? Are the sexes envious of each other or just of
each other's advantages?

I think that feminists are the warmongers of their genre. They pit man against woman,
"empowered" woman against "doormats." This type of language used by feminists to create
an emotional response is the exact type of dangerous rhetoric that is misleading toward
actual equality. There was a time when such extremism was necessary to create enough
stink to be noticed but that time is long gone. People are already listening. Women
can vote, women can run for office, women can go to university, get a job, have a
career, have a family, have both, or even have it all. Men, as stated in class, are
incapable of even nurturing children.

I was entertained by the comment in class today about feeling guilty about male
genitals, it reminded me of how the it feels to lumped together with Freud, the men of
the Chinese village in "Woman as Other," and the intellectuals in French Academia. Upon
further review I have a new answer to the question posed: "what makes feminist a
negative term?"

Feminism employs tactics to guilt and scare people into compliance, much the same as
religious extremist, tyrannical dictatorships, and organized crime does. Do you see how
painful it feels to be lumped together? I would not go so far as to call feminists
"terrorists" but I will say that all of the above groups serve their own "righteous"
purposes and take the "us against them" stance. To this effect, feminism is threatening
to any one (male or female) that doesn't fully agree. Yet somewhere along the line it
became politically incorrect to speak out against feminism, effectively disarming its
opponents.

So perhaps political correctness is the culprit to all this mayhem. Yet the latter half
of today's class was spent discussing the feminist desire to reconstitute every state's
statutes to fit a politically correct model. I will share my brutally honest opinion
about political correctness: it is one of the issues tearing this country apart. They
are like frivolous lawsuits that restrict free speech. Political correctness is the
ugly result of too many good minds with too much free time. As cultures progress they
become overly concerned with form rather than substance and political correctness is an
example of progress hindered by bureaucracy.

Sincerely

Tripp May, 3:00pm

#3 Steinem Prompt

2006-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Gloria Steinem, founder of Ms. magazine and virtually synonymous with feminism, wrote the piece you read on ERES. Comment on the piece: What was your reaction? Enlightened? Angered? Entertained? Bored? Was it persuasive in that did it make you think about things differently? Why or why not (use specific examples)?

Prompt for reading #2

2006-04-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

To begin, how does "No Name Woman," the fictional text by Maxine Hong Kingston that we read earlier, illustrate the concept of woman as "Other," as discussed in this section by de Beauvoir?

Next, I ask you to choose any of the questions on page 201 to answer. Feel free to cite (agree or disagree--cordially-- with) your colleagues. I envision this blogspot as being interactive!

Reading Prompt #1

2006-04-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hello and congrats on navigating through the blog process and making it to our spot!

For our first prompt, I am asking you to comment on question 2 on page 13 of our reader: Another definition of rhetoric is "pompous or pretentious speech." Speculate on how such a definition might have come about.

Additionally, comment on Aristotle's language (Hint--think gender).

Emmerling's Blogspot for Writing 2, 3pm, Spring 2006

2006-04-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to Writing 2! You have entered our class blogspot--a forum for responding to reading prompts and conducting class conversation. I look forward to your enthusiastic participation!