Gender & Identity

1. Gender & Identity

2. Lesson Plan • Gender Schema Theory & sex typing (cont.) • Readings: I/1 (transnational, historical, multicultural approach to gender) • Readings: III/4, 7 (representations: colonialism, orientalism/Africanism)

3. Exercise:feminine : masculine • sort the following attributes and behaviors into masculine / feminine categories: • nightingale, tender, flower, motorcycle, assertive, eagle, weak, strong, computer games, Barbie, barrettes, skirt, Mary, butterfly, blushing, bikini, gorilla, hurling, trousers, ant, stepping, sweater

4. Exercise:feminine : masculine • add additional attributes to this list and then create meaningful narratives out of the associative networks related to cultural categories of feminine : masculine that you have established

5. Exercise:Readings • In groups of 3-4, take an article from our textbook and provide the following: • brief summary • respond to the questions distributed in class • present your arguments as a group to the class

6. Readings: Women’s Bodies in Science and Culture • historical and medical knowledge influential in spreading information about bodies male and female and influencing society • meanings shift over time but rooted in society’s organization of knowledge • emergence of notion of sex differences as primary explanation for human diversity • how difference turns into inequality

7. Readings: Women’s Bodies in Science and Culture Reading A: Sex and the Body (Oudshoorn) • List the bio/technology paradigms related to the changing concept of the female body in the last 300 years. • Why scientific definitions can (and are) harmful in creating cultural stereotypes about men and women?

8. Readings: Women’s Bodies in Science and Culture Reading B: The Egg and the Sperm (Martin) • Give examples that show how social imagery can be imposed on biology. • Do you agree with the author that biological images create negative associations with female reproductive organs?

9. Readings: Women’s Bodies in Science and Culture Reading C: A Welcoming Soil: Islamic Humoralism (Laderman) • Using Islamic humoralism as example, explain the process by which one quality transferred to others, can create cultural definition of sex.

10. Readings: Women’s Bodies in Science and Culture Reading D: Androgynous Males and Deficient Females: Biology and Gender Boundaries in Sixteenth-Century China (Furth) • Present the argument related to androgynous males and deficient females in 16th century Chinese culture. • Do you agree with the author’s feminist explanation of this historical condition?

11. Readings: Women’s Bodies in Science and Culture Reading E: Social Construction Theory: Problems in the History of Sexuality (Vance) • What is natural and what is constructed in terms of sexual identity? (natural corresponds to essential & universal; cultural corresponds to frames that are imposed by society to determine how reality is organized) • Do you agree with the author?

12. Readings: Gender in Relation to Class, Nation, Race • Gender in relation to race, class, nationality, culture, religion, sexuality • Transnational approach to gender (focus on differences & inequalities rather than continuity) • Global economy (national and local identities questioned by movement of goods, money, and media images)

13. Readings: Representing Women in Colonial Contexts Reading A: Woman is an Island: Femininity and Colonization (Williamson) • What is the meaning of the ‘other’ mentioned by the author? Why is ‘other’ an abstraction, an ideal, and also a symbol for all that the West is not? • How can that type of thinking affect the lives of those that are not in the West?

14. Readings: Representing Women in Colonial Contexts Reading B: Excerpts from Reading National Geographic (Lutz-Collins) • Images have been influential in promoting representations of people. What are the stereotypes of women promoted in National Geographic? • Give own examples of how illustrated magazines represent women and ‘the people of the world’?

15. Readings: Representing Women in Colonial Contexts Reading C: Feminism and Difference (Lazreg) • Why are the categories, ‘Islamic women’ or ‘Muslim women’ insufficient? • Give your own examples of similar typing of groups.

16. Readings: Representing Women in Colonial Contexts Reading D: Excerpt from Images of Women: The Portrayal of Women in Photography of the Middle East (Graham-Brown) • Discuss the issue of controlling visibility of women in the Middle East and other Mediterranean society. • Why is it a problematic concept to most European cultures?

17. Readings: Gender in Relation to Modernization, Globalization • Effect of modernization policies: population control, increased industrialization, use of technology in agriculture • Transnational networks (new social movements and non-governmental organizations; new international communities and identities--connections)

18. Readings: Cyberculture Reading A: Feminism for the Incurably Informed (Balsamo) • Histories of technology exclude gender and gendered technologies (technologies related to nursing, food preparation, etc.). Why is that a problem? • Why is it important that women give their contribution in the area of information technology, shaping it in accordance with their own experience?

19. Readings: Cyberculture Reading B: The Internet and the South: Superhighway or Dirt-Tracks? (Panos Inst.) • What are the implications of the gender gap in access and use of technology bw North and South?

20. Readings: Cyberculture Reading C: Using Information Technology as a Mobilizing Force: The Case of the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (Alloo) • Give other examples from your own experience that show how information technology can be used to mobilize a community and contribute to social change that reflects the interests of that community.