Gender & Coffee House Prep
Lab: Turn in homework (see below for details). Then please use the lab to complete/prepare the following:
1. Begin choosing your coffeehouse reading selection.
2. Choose your best 3 pieces of writing, put them in the same file (as a Google Doc), proofread, then share them with me (and class editors) for Lambent. Please put your name on the file + Lambent 2017.
3. Complete homework from last class if you did not do so:
Pick a culture from the following list and research the traditional roles of women & men, noting how gender roles compare/contrast to the U.S.A. Be prepared to share your findings with the class today during the 2nd half of class.
5. If you need a prompt/assignment for your portfolio, here you go:
Functionalism: the theory based on the idea that all aspects of a society or culture serve a distinct function or purpose, and that all members of said culture/society serve an agreed upon function. Functionalism is a product of the Industrial Revolution--all people are part of a machinery found useful for a society or culture to exist and sustain itself. Or society is seen as an organism--the heart, for example, has a function. So does a President, the media, the institution of education, the Church, the urban poor, the incarcerated, the elderly, the young, etc. Find your place or role in society!
For men, the role of protector, leader, father (inherited perhaps by the concept of the patriarchy and kept healthy in Judeo-Christian religion or belief) is one of provider, ruler, breadwinner while women are accepted to be more nurturing--therefore they take on more nurturing roles in society (mothers, nurses, hairdressers, teachers, cleaners, secretaries, prostitutes, etc.) while men take on role of responsibility, protectors, movers/shakers, (political leaders, soldiers, lawyers, surgeons, professors, construction workers, engineers, businessmen, scientists, clergy, etc.)
Female philosophers like Simone de Beauvoir, who wrote The Second Sex in 1953, encouraged the feminist movement by criticizing men. Male socialization began to include more feminine traits--widening the gap between a Man's man and those seen as more feminine. Feminine traits such as having feelings, nurturing tendencies, close intimacy between males as friends or companions, were all looked upon by the system as not measuring up. Males continue to be seen as "hostile, violent, and lacking human emotion."
1. Begin choosing your coffeehouse reading selection.
2. Choose your best 3 pieces of writing, put them in the same file (as a Google Doc), proofread, then share them with me (and class editors) for Lambent. Please put your name on the file + Lambent 2017.
3. Complete homework from last class if you did not do so:
Pick a culture from the following list and research the traditional roles of women & men, noting how gender roles compare/contrast to the U.S.A. Be prepared to share your findings with the class today during the 2nd half of class.
- Iraq
- India
- Somalia
- Iceland
- Japan
- Korea
- Yemen
- Pakistan
- Syria
- Chad
- Jordan/Jordan
- Israel
- Indonesia
- Turkey
- Malaysia
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal (Girls Not Brides, documentary)
4. Examine the concept of HONOR and POWER in Things Fall Apart.
5. If you need a prompt/assignment for your portfolio, here you go:
- Two men walk into a hairdressing salon... Or: Two men meet at a mall bench while their wives are shopping...
- If you identify as a boy: write about why. What fundamentally IS a boy, a man, etc. How is this identification different from a girl/woman?
- If you identify as a girl: write about growing up as a boy. This is writing across cultures after all...
- Choose a fairy tale, film, book or television program and discuss how men are portrayed or stereotyped in the media...
- Other ideas? Do it!
Functionalism: the theory based on the idea that all aspects of a society or culture serve a distinct function or purpose, and that all members of said culture/society serve an agreed upon function. Functionalism is a product of the Industrial Revolution--all people are part of a machinery found useful for a society or culture to exist and sustain itself. Or society is seen as an organism--the heart, for example, has a function. So does a President, the media, the institution of education, the Church, the urban poor, the incarcerated, the elderly, the young, etc. Find your place or role in society!
For men, the role of protector, leader, father (inherited perhaps by the concept of the patriarchy and kept healthy in Judeo-Christian religion or belief) is one of provider, ruler, breadwinner while women are accepted to be more nurturing--therefore they take on more nurturing roles in society (mothers, nurses, hairdressers, teachers, cleaners, secretaries, prostitutes, etc.) while men take on role of responsibility, protectors, movers/shakers, (political leaders, soldiers, lawyers, surgeons, professors, construction workers, engineers, businessmen, scientists, clergy, etc.)
- Is it fair to ask men to change their role in society after thousands of years fulfilling traditionally masculine roles?
Female philosophers like Simone de Beauvoir, who wrote The Second Sex in 1953, encouraged the feminist movement by criticizing men. Male socialization began to include more feminine traits--widening the gap between a Man's man and those seen as more feminine. Feminine traits such as having feelings, nurturing tendencies, close intimacy between males as friends or companions, were all looked upon by the system as not measuring up. Males continue to be seen as "hostile, violent, and lacking human emotion."
- What is your reaction? Is this viewpoint still prevalent today? What harm might this point of view be for women? For men? For young boys or girls inheriting the world from an old generation?
Social Role Theory recognizes the historical division of labor between men and women. Different expectations in social behavior (boys will be boys, for example), began to separate during the latter part of the 20th century, and continues to create a wide gap between acceptable roles for men and acceptable roles for women. These ideas are transferred from generation to generation as "social norms"--often creating gender or sexual stereotypes.
Critics of social role theory began to appear during the 1980's. Robert Bly's book Iron John begs the question: "what have we done to our boys and men in our society?" and is a key text in popularizing and forming the academic (cultural studies) field of Men's Studies. Another recent best seller was the book The Dangerous Book For Boys by Conn Iggulden.
Classroom:
We'll screen the rest of Persepolis if we didn't finish it. Then: discuss Gender & Culture.
Homework: Complete Things Fall Apart. We'll discuss this book next class.
Classroom:
We'll screen the rest of Persepolis if we didn't finish it. Then: discuss Gender & Culture.
Homework: Complete Things Fall Apart. We'll discuss this book next class.
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