Comic Strip Regarding Gender Roles

Here's a Garfield comic strip on gender roles, representing what characteristics are expected of men and women.

https://hrlibrary.wikispaces.com/file/view/Gender_Roles_Garfield.gif/31707857/Gender_Roles_Garfield.gif

- Merry Chin

Stay at home dad

Here's an article about how gender role has switched over the years. It'a about a stay at home dad of 2 daughters who loves to be one and actually have written a book about it

http://stayathomedads.about.com/od/sahdstories/a/tobyswager.htm

Here's an interesting cartoon I found on society's idea of gender roles

Week 7 Discussion Questions

Hi,

Please submit your questions for Week 7.

Gender Roles Changing

The following article is about changing gender roles in American society today. The article uses a lot of statistics. Do you think this makes the author's argument more credible or do you think the excess of statistics takes away from the argument?

http://workingmoms.about.com/od/workingmomsresearch/a/GenderRoles.htm

Gender Roles and Women

Here is an interesting article on gender roles and degrading women.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/14015/gender_roles_and_degrading_women_in.html

- Merry Chin

The Third Gender Option

In Australia, intersex people are now allowed to list their genders as X on their passports. Prior to this, there were the two conventional genders that could be listed on passports: male and female. Now, however, in hopes of abolishing discrimination against transgenders and hermaphrodites, intersex people are no longer forced to decide between genders.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/15/australian-passports-third-gender-option

Beauty In the eye of the beholder (week 6)

The readings for week 6 are entertaining because I feel like they're talking about something we can all relate to one way or another, beauty and desire! I can't tell you all how many times i've stressed over how much i've changed just over the past year. The first poem for the week 6 readings by Garcilaso is your typical renaissance sonnet using the metaphor of nature and the seasons to equate youth with beauty. and of course, its about a woman! I found a really interesting Forbes article about how women in the working world worry about how aging affects their office life. It's so real and honest because it has quotes from real working women from forums on twitter and Facebook commenting on how they feel threatened by younger women with impressive resumés at their jobs.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/12/aging-beauty-youth-forbes-woman-well-being-work.html

Runaway Groom

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40821215/ns/today-today_people/t/runaway-groom-jilted-bride-sues-ex-fiance-k/

This article is about a woman who sued her fiance because he canceled their wedding four days before it was scheduled to happen. The woman was responsible for organizing and paying for the wedding.

Just thought I'd post that here since we were talking about how there aren't too many runaway grooms in the world during the Wednesday Lecture thingy. The article isn't new or anything but it's something so let's not complain.

From Chastity to Chaz Bono

Here is an article about recently "re-assigned" Chaz Bono. Recently, Chaz has been getting a lot of publicity because he is the son of famous couple Sonny & Cher Bono.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/09/chaz-bono-gender-transformation-through-years-photos

male vs female

http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume7/issue3/features/campbell.html

i found this article about gender conflict as an evolutionary force, so i hope you enjoy it.

Women in Saudi Arabia are allowed to vote

According to a news posted by quite a few mainstream media, like CNN, Washington Post, etc., women in Saudi Arabia are allowed to vote from 2015. This is a groundbreaking news for women activists in the country and event in the world. It's a representation of an important step for the country's civilized movements. Here is the link the news,

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/25/world/meast/saudi-women-vote/?hpt=wo_c2

Single-Sex Education in Schools

Growing up in a single-sex education system in elementary school, I found this article to be really interesting. It suggests that these institutions are responsible for reinforcing sex and gender stereotypes, especially in an age when gender roles are shifting and transforming.

Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/education/23single.html?_r=1

Foot Binding in China

It seems China is a mysterious country in the eyes of western people. However, gender conflict is China is as the same as that in other countries. Foot binding is a very representative example and here is an NPR article about it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8966942

Unbending Gender

I came across a very interesting book called Unbending Gender: why family and work conflict and what to do about it by Joan Williams. This book adresses the issue of how gender effects men, women, and children. Although this book discusses many different topics, it focuses mainly on feminism. It gets described that the workplace revolves around men and women get discrominated against. This book challenges assumptions on gender roles. It shows how workplaces are designed around men and the impact it has on the family system. She wants women and bed to live a healthier, more productive work life and therefore proposes a set of policies.

Week 6 Discussion Questions

Hi all,

Please submit your questions for Week 6.

Anorexia Recovery

As we've been discussing anorexia in detail in class, I have begun to wonder when and how someone recovers from the disorder. And more importantly, what does it mean to be "recovered"?

Here is a great article in the New York Times by Abby Ellin that discusses what it means to be recovered from anorexia:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/health/26anorexia.html

One important distinction that the author makes apparent is that recovery is two-fold: there is the physical recovery from the eating disorder where the individual gains back weight, but there is also the mental recovery where the individual must be able and willing to let go of obsessive control of what they eat.

One of the doctors interviewed suggests that recovery merely means eating ordinarily, or "having a normal relationship with food". But what does it mean to have a normal relationship with food? Isn't everyone different?

History of Eating Disorders

It thought it was interesting how all the articles that we read discussed holy anorexics from the 1700's, and then the modern anorexics from the 1900's. However, there was a big gap in time between the two types of anorexics. It was never explained how the cultural change created the shift from holy anorexics to modern anorexics. I found the following article:

http://www.randomhistory.com/2008/08/08_eating.html

But even in this, the 1800's seemed to be excluded from the history of anorexia.

PETA Porn campaign

Here's an article about PETA using porn to promote veganism. This organization has been known to be sexist in its campaigns, this campaign objectifying women. They claimed that they were attempting to target a different audience, but it seems to me like the target audience in this case would be men who typically access internet pornography

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/09/19/idINIndia-59427620110919

Holy anorexia

I thought that this week's readings were particularly interesting because I never thought of anorexia as a means for people to "take control" of their lives. It's always been associated with psychological disorders, but the reasons those disorders occur are never really considered. In "Holy Anorexia" the author discusses that mostly women give up eating as a method of control.

ANother point I thought was interesting is that they relate anorexia nervosa back to only women and attribute their eating habits to hysteria and genital disease. Once again. the idea that women's sexuality is the root of their problems and societal problems is revisited.

I found a video of a woman who is recovering from anorexia, and she claims that her disease began when she was 13 because she thought that her weight was a burden on her mother. This speaks to the idea that family and environment can contribute to the way one views themselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUSGOB-0V8

Abortion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/va-board-of-health-approves-stricter-rules-for-abortion-clinics/2011/09/14/gIQAVhybVK_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/virginias-abortion-end-run/2011/09/16/gIQAZZeZdK_story.html

Here are two articles on abortion in Virginia. They discuss the difficulty in getting an abortion in Virginia because of abortion clinic closures due to "political battle".

- Merry Chin

holy anorexia

here is another article that summarizes how through history the holy anorexia has evolved.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/mar/04/mentalhealth.health

Cheers and Jeers

I found an article indicating that female are important for global economy and expansion. It also presents a comprehensive strategy that helps to achieve expansion in Asia's economy. This article is interesting as I found an article last year last week stating that women are still severely underrepresented in board rooms in political arenas and corporations.

http://womensenews.org/story/cheers-and-jeers/110916/clinton-calls-women-key-economy-poverty-rises

Halfbortion?

This article discusses the latest controversy to enter the great abortion battle - a process known as "Twin reduction" through which the parent is able to selectively abort one of the two fetuses she is carrying.

Should this still be classified as regular abortion? In states where abortion is considered illegal, should this procedure also be illegal? Above all, is choosing to terminate the life of one fetus while the other lives ethical?

Couples Throw "Reveal Parties" to Divulge Unborn Baby's Gender

I came across an interesting article where couples are now starting to throw parties to reveal their baby's gender to close friends and family. It instantly reminded me of some things mentioned in my WRIT140 class (related to gender studies) about how gender is established at an early stage whereby female infants are given pink gifts and male infants are given blue ones. It looks like these parties are going to become the earliest stage of establishing typical gender roles now...

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2011-09-15/Couples-throw-reveal-parties-to-divulge-unborn-babys-gender/50418316/1

I found an article on USA today that is very inspiring. It is called Mountain 2 Mountain by James Mills. This article is about a fascinating woman, Shannon Galpin, who was tired of hearing about the gender equality problems that exist in Afghanistan so she decided to take action. She sold her house and started a non-profit organization called Mountain 2 Mountain. It provides education opportunities that “empower women to take control of their lives”. Her way of looking at it is, if boys and girls go to school, how much more likely is peace foreseeable in the future. Shannon said, “I want to see ripple effects in Afghanistan that effect the ability of women to have control over their destiny.”

(http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/destinations/venturethere/post/2011/01/Mountain-2-Mountain/140638/@~partnerLink)

About Freud

Our reading Holy Anorexia covers some theories of Freud and I found an open class of Yale University about him.

It is pretty interesting since the video includes Freud's personality, his theory and other people's comments on him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7emS3ye3cVU

Thomas Beatie

We saw an interview with Beatie in the section last week. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jho1UCPDqXg

Week 5 Discussion Questions

Please submit your questions for Week 5.

3 Years After His First Baby...

Thomas Beatie has had 2 more children since 2008. I don't know how to post the actual article on this blog like Jenn did, so I apologize for the inconvenience! ):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019579/Worlds-pregnant-man-Thomas-Beatie-unveils-muscular-body-3-babies.html

Week 4 Discussion Questions

Please submit your questions for Week 4.

Gender in School Social Life

Link to original article from nytimes.com

August 30, 2011, 5:40 AM

Who Has the Power in School Social Life?

By SHANNON DOYNE and HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO

Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

• See all Student Opinion »

In the Motherlode blog column “After Class, Skimpy Equality,” Lisa Belkin observes that in the classroom, female students are often confident, but socially, “equality, respect and self-worth” often go out the window. Is the gender dynamic at your school or college like this?

In the column, Ms. Belkin describes the gender dynamic at Princeton and other colleges, starting with an anecdote:

At Duke University last fall, members of the Sigma Nu fraternity e-mailed 300 of their female classmates about an off-campus Halloween party. “Hey Ladies,” the invitation leered, complete with a misspelling, “Whether your dressing up as a slutty nurse, a slutty doctor, a slutty schoolgirl or just a total slut, we invite you …”

Yes, there was outrage: in the form of fliers plastered around the Duke campus reprinting the offending e-mail and asking, “Is this why you came to Duke?” And there was official indignation: The recently formed Greek Women’s Initiative will be tackling the subject of gender relations.

But a less-noted fact remains: hundreds of Duke women went to that Halloween party and many dressed as they had been asked.

As parents around the country send their children to campuses for the start of another academic year, what are we to make of the fact that lessons of equality, respect and self-worth have been heard when it comes to the classroom, but lost somewhere on the way to the clubs? Why has the pendulum swung back to a feeling that sexualization of women is fun and funny rather than insulting and uncomfortable? Why are so many women O.K. with that?

Students: Give us your take on this column. Based on your own experience, do you agree with Ms. Belkin’s observation that girls’ equality, respect and self-worth are often suspended when it comes to socializing? And why do you think this happens? Is it, as one female student put it, “just a generational difference”? Or do you agree with another young woman, who said, “I think when I grow up I will look back and think it’s unhealthy. Because it’s animalistic”?