Reading
Gender
This Study Guide prepared by:
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Elaine Bontempi,
M.Ed.
Catherine Kerley
Readings
Deborah Tannen, "Marked Women, Unmarked Men" New York Times Magazine
Deborah Tannen is best known as the author of You Just Don't Understand, which was on the New York Times Best Seller list for
nearly four years, including eight months as No. 1, and has been translated
into twenty-six languages. It was also on best seller lists in
Multiple-Choice Questions
- The term “marked” refers to
(a)
the way a word carries the meaning that goes without saying.
(b)
verbs in the present tense.
(c) the way language alters the base meaning of a word.
(d)
words that convey male.
(e)
words written on a wall.
- Word endings like ess
and ette mark words as
(a)
male.
(b) female.
(c)
non-gendered.
(d)
unmarked.
(e)
dull.
- Unlike women, men have the option of being
(a) unmarked.
(b)
incomparably narrow.
(c)
marked.
(d)
not quite serious.
(e)
insane.
- Some men see women who go without makeup as
(a)
conservative and married.
(b)
glamorous and available.
(c)
hostile and refusing to please them.
(d)
boring.
(e)
easy.
- For men, not wearing makeup is
(a)
marked.
(b)
hostile.
(c)
mind-numbing.
(d)
unmarked.
(e)
unacceptable.
- Checking “Ms.” on a form marks a woman as
(a)
married.
(b)
liberated or rebellious.
(c)
single.
(d)
unmarked.
(e)
conservative and married.
- All married women’s surnames are
(a)
unmarked.
(b)
spelled wrong.
(c) marked.
(d)
assigned by the court.
(e)
confusing.
- Fasold says that it is the
______ who is biologically marked, and that language and culture are
_______ in marking the _______.
(a)
female, fair, female.
(b)
lizard, silly, female.
(c) male, unfair, female.
(d)
male, correct, male.
(e)
female, wrong, male.
- Fasold says that if
grammar books reflected biology, the books would direct writers to use
________ to include males and females instead of ________.
(a)
us, them.
(b)
they, it.
(c)
he, she.
(d) she, he.
(e)
she, they.
- Deborah Tannen
claims women do not have the _______ to be unmarked that men have.
(a) freedom.
(b)
right.
(c)
need.
(d)
time.
(e)
buying power.
Before You
Read
What are the
linguistic and cultural signs that indicate gender? List five ways that the
English language indicates gender. List
cultural features that are gender-specific.
After You
Read
Do you agree or
disagree with Tannen's position? List five elements of her argument that you
either agree with or disagree with, and explain how and why you think the way
you do.
Web Links
Symbolic
Exclusion in Statistical Literature: The Impact of Gendered Language Linguistic
Sabotage
Concept of gender as a
social category
Gendered Terms and
Nonsexist Language
Holly Devor, "Gender Role Behavior and Attitudes” excerpt
from Gender
Blending: Confronting
the Limits of Duality.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1989.
Dr. Holly Devor is professor of sociology at the University of
Victoria, Canada. She specializes in the study of gender, sex, and sexuality in
lesbian women, transgendered females, and
female-to-male transsexuals. Her first book, Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality , in which she coined the phrase Gender
Blending , examined the social construction of gender in society and its
implications for the lives of females whose gender presentations mixed
masculinity, femininity, and other characteristics to the point that their
gender was not always recognizable to observers. Dr. Devor's
second book, FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society ,
provides a detailed, compassionate, intimate, and incisive portrait of the life
experiences of 45 female-to-male transsexuals and suggests new theoretical
frameworks for understanding the interplay of gender, sex, and sexuality. Her
current research focuses on Reed Erickson ,
a transsexed man and founder of the Erickson
Educational Foundation, who was instrumental in bringing issues of transgender
and gay rights into public awareness. Dr. Devor is a
renowned public lecturer and has made numerous appearances on television, radio
and in print media. She is available for research, consultation, and
educational work concerning female or male transgendered
or transsexual persons.
Multiple-Choice
Questions
- In some cases, cross-gendered behaviors are
________ by observers, and do not compromise the ______ of a person’s
_____.
(a)
closely observed, problems, cultural identity.
(b)
praised, fluidity, gender display.
(c) ignored, integrity, gender display.
(d)
laughed at, insanity, gender identity.
(e)
ridiculed, availability, wardrobe.
- According to Devor,
subordinate persons of either gender tend to use influence tactics and
verbal styles considered to be the
(a)
province of men.
(b)
realm of madness.
(c) province of women.
(d)
province of the future.
(e)
realm of power.
- Feminine characteristics are thought to be intrinsic
to the female facility for _______ and _______.
(a) childbirth, breastfeeding.
(b)
aggression, dominance.
(c)
homosexuality, child care.
(d)
logic, reason.
(e)
community, cooking.
- The goals of femininity and all biological
females are presumed to revolve around _______ and ________.
(a)
shopping, cooking.
(b) heterosexuality, maternity.
(c)
gossiping, sewing.
(d)
homosexuality, basketball.
(e)
heterosexuality, aggression.
- Warm and continued relations with men and an
interest in _________ require women to be heterosexually _________.
(a)
sports, oriented.
(b)
shopping, charged.
(c)
aggression, oppositional.
(d)
fashion, active.
(e) maternity, oriented.
- Masculinity requires its actors to _______ and
their society in a hierarchical manner so they are able to ______ the
achievement of success.
(a) organize themselves, explicitly quantify.
(b)
be scattered, ignore.
(c)
organize others, qualify.
(d)
wear dresses, celebrate.
(e)
control women, brag about.
- Masculine body postures tend to be
______________ and __________________.
(a)
warm, cuddly.
(b)
subordinate, minimizing.
(c)
fake, rigid.
(d) expansive, aggressive.
(e)
ridiculous, overdone.
- Other people tend to stand ___________ people
they see as feminine.
(a)
away from.
(b)in
front of.
(c) closer to.
(d)
behind.
(e)
on top of.
- Femininity attempts to ______ the masculine
vision of heterosexual _________.
(a)
dissolve, demands.
(b) satisfy, attractiveness.
(c)
illuminate, role play.
(d)satisfy,
fashion.
(e)
make fun of, mind games.
- Gender role characteristics reflect the
ideological contentions underlying the dominant gender scheme in
(a)
European culture.
(b)
Asian society.
(c) North American society.
(d)
Native American culture.
(e)
19th Century British literature.
Before You
Read
How do you
convince a person or a group to do something if you do not have power? Do you speak directly, or do you tend to use
indirect methods. When and why?
After You
Read
After reading
this article, describe three situations from your life in which you have
witnessed people using different influence tactics to obtain a desired
result. Did gender or sexual orientation
make a difference? How?
Web Links
The Genesis
of Gender Identity in the Male
Reciprocal
Relations Between Gender Role Attitudes and Marriage
in Early Adulthood
Human Nature
and Cultural Diversity
Gender
Issues and Actions: A Community Encounter
Margaret Atwood,
"The Female Body" Michigan
Quarterly Review 29 (1990): 490-94.
Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario on November 18, 1939.
She is the author of more than twenty-five books, including fiction, poetry,
and essays. Among her most recent works are the bestselling novels Alias
Grace, Cat's Eye, and The Robber Bride, and the
collections Wilderness Tips and Bluebeard's Egg. Among the many honors she has received
are the Canadian Governor General's Award, the Sunday Times Award for Literary
Excellence in the U.K., and Le Chevalier dans l'Ordre de Arts et Les Lettres in
France. She lives in Toronto with the novelist Graeme Gibson.
Multiple-Choice
Questions
- Atwood says the in the morning, her “topic
feels like”
(a)
glue.
(b)
comfortable shoes.
(c)
stale beer.
(d) hell.
(e)
it’s nearsighted.
- The Female Body is made of
(a)
sugar and spice and everything nice.
(b) transparent plastic that lights up when you plug it in.
(c)
snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.
(d)
barrettes, beads, and feather boas.
(e)
98% water.
- The reproductive system is _________ and can
be ____________.
(a)
unnecessary, uncomfortable.
(b)
blue, changed to purple.
(c)
mandatory, manipulated.
(d)
optional, manipulated.
(e) optional, removed.
- Not only can the female body sell, it can be
(a)
traded in for a newer model.
(b)
squeezed into jeans two sizes too small.
(c) sold.
(d)
bought.
(e)
trained to breed sublimation.
- Pleasure for females is
(a)
required.
(b)
a renewable source.
(c)
handy.
(d) not a requirement.
(e)
capable of reducing the national debt.
- The male brain has a ________ connection while
the female brain has a ______ connection.
(a) thin, thick.
(b)
lack of, strong.
(c)
thick, thin.
(d)
limited, constant.
(e)
cable modem, dial up.
- The male brain is
(a)
worthless.
(b) objective.
(c)
powerful.
(d)
passionate.
(e)
without reason.
- Repression breeds
(a)
passion.
(b)
chaos.
(c)
glued on underwear.
(d)
potted azaleas.
(e) sublimation.
- Young girls have _________ beauty.
(a)
an accurate notion of.
(b)
a handle on.
(c) a false sense of.
(d)
a naked sense.
(e)
natural.
- Men ________ because women don’t understand.
(a) grind their teeth.
(b)
wear pants.
(c)
don’t wear skirts.
(d)
drink too much.
(e)
ignore their wives.
Before You
Read
List five
examples in which the female body is used to either sell or promote an item or
concept. What do these examples have in
common?
After You
Read
What are the
consequences of using the female body for selling, promoting, as barter, or as
a symbol of values or an ideal? List the
consequences in terms of self-esteem, society's idea of what a woman should
look like, how society believes a woman should behave, and men and women's
relationships in the domestic sphere.
Web Links
Ophelia Has a Lot to Answer For
Margaret
Atwood Speaks to the Toronto Council of Teachers of English
Paul Theroux,
"Being a Man" Sunrise with Seamonsters. Houghton-Mifflin, 1984.
Paul Theroux is one of seven
children. He was raised in Massachusetts
and in the early sixties, he joined the Peace Corps. Theroux is a
prolific writer and has authored over forty books and has published articles
and short stories in a variety of newspapers and magazines. He has
traveled throughout the world and has a tremendous reputation as a travel
writer recounting his travels with humor and intelligence. Theroux
divides his time between London and Cape Cod. His novels include Chicago Loop and Mosquito Coast and travel books such as The Old Patagonian Express.
In Sunset with Seamonsters,
he has taken a look at the countries
and cultures that ring the Mediterranean, from Gibraltar through the Balkans
and back to Tangier, including conversations with American expatriate author
Paul Bowles and Naguib Mafouz.
His itinerary is never known to him, and his picture of the world is not one of
plush resorts, slaphappy tourists, and ancient ruins in the tradition of the
Grand Tour, but rather of life at street level.
Multiple-Choice Questions
- According to Paul Theroux, America’s version
of masculinity is a little like
(a)
spending every night with his mother in Queens.
(b)
killing lions.
(c)
proving that he’s just as much a monster as the next guy.
(d) having to wear an ill-fitting coat for one’s entire life.
(e)
mounting his horse and going fox hunting.
- By contrast, Theroux says femininity is
(a)
a big fun party.
(b) an oppressive state of nakedness.
(c)
an excuse for boot camp.
(d)
insulting and abusive.
(e)
a hideous and crippling lie.
- Boys who are subverted into believing in the
masculine ideal are effectively separated from women and spend the rest of
their lives believing women are
(a)
a male affliction.
(b)
destroyers of nature.
(c)
only interested in clothing.
(d)
sexually dispensable.
(e) a riddle and a nuisance.
- Theroux claims that femininity implies needing
a man
(a)
to celebrate the exclusive company of men.
(b) as witness and seducer.
(c)
to deny the natural friendship of women.
(d)
to be a poor loser.
(e)
to play a subtle power game.
- Theroux regards high school sports as
(a) a drug far worse than marijuana.
(b)
creating bad marriages.
(c)
creating pathetic oafs.
(d)
breeding moral degenerates.
(e)
an objective study.
- Any boy who expresses a desire to be alone
seems to be saying that there is
(a)
an L. L. Bean catalogue on the counter top.
(b)
no book-hater like a Little League coach.
(c)
nothing more unnatural or prison-like than boy’s camp.
(d) something wrong with him.
(e)
a female version of the male affliction.
- Theroux claims American culture does little
more than prepare men for
(a)
the Marines.
(b)
bad marriages.
(c) a modeling job in the L. L. Bean catalogue.
(d)
sadistic behavior.
(e)
inadequacy.
- All the bull-fighting and arm wrestling and elephant
hunting diminished Hemingway as a writer, but it is consistent with a
prevailing attitude in American writing that
(a)
Hemingway was too tedious to go there.
(b)
a man should carry a knife to defend himself.
(c)
everything in stereotyped manliness goes against the life of the mind.
(d)
there is a heartiness about journalism that makes it acceptable.
(e) one cannot be a male writer without first proving that one is a
man.
- Fiction writing is equated with a kind of
dispirited failure and is only manly when it
(a)
is romantic.
(b)
involves excessive drinking.
(c)
roisters up and down Manhattan in a lumberjack shirt.
(d) produces wealth.
(e)
contains oppressive role-playing.
- Women’s lib has done much more for _____ than
for ______.
(a) men, women.
(b)
William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway.
(c)
women, men.
(d)
novelists, journalists.
(e)
men, cross dressers.
Before You
Read
When have you
heard men complaining about the pressure involved in being a man? Are they
joking? Is there something valid in their position? What is it and why?
After You
Read
Describe three
men and situations that illustrate the points that Theroux is making.
Web Links
It's Still a Man's
World (by Design)
Susan Douglas, epilogue
from Where the Girls Are. Times
Books, 1995.
Professor Susan Douglas has been with the Department
of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan since 1996. In 1999, she
was awarded the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship for
her outstanding contribution to undergraduate education. Professor Douglas is
currently serving as the director of the Ph.D. Program in Mass Communication.
She has written many books, including Where the Girls Are: Growing up Female
with the Mass Media; Inventing American Broadcasting; and Listening
in: Radio and the American Imagination, which won the 2000 Sally Hacker
Popular Book Prize for the Society for the History of Technology. Media critic, American
Studies professor, and author of Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with
the Mass Media, Susan Douglas reveals how television and advertising
target images of women. She is presently researching an examination of how
motherhood has been portrayed in the mass media from the late 1960s to the
present.
Multiple-Choice Questions
- According to Susan Douglass, girls, as early
as the age of four, can understand
(a)
Saturday morning cartoons.
(b)
our commodity based culture.
(c)
how pretty Barbie is.
(d) the semiotics of gender differentiation.
(e)
that action figures are yucky boy stuff.
- After 20 years as a feminist, Douglass still
finds herself
(a)
wanting to be like June Cleaver.
(b)
hating men.
(c)
learning feminism will never work.
(d)
giving in to cultural stereotypes.
(e) with a daughter who wants nothing more that a Barbie.
- Douglass claims that television cartoons still
treat females as either _______ or _____.
(a) nonexistent, ancillary afterthoughts.
(b)
strong, necessary components.
(c)
strong, appealing characters.
(
d) enterprising, invisible.
(e)
beautiful, able to change a tire.
- Another aspect of female representation during
Saturday morning cartoons is that almost all female are
(a)
scared.
(b) white.
(c)
stupid.
(d)
silly.
(e)
superheroes.
- Most female Disney characters are only
fulfilled through
(a)
singing.
(b)
defeating the sadistic, evil demon.
(c)
selflessness.
(d) marriage.
(e)
reading good books.
- Feeling voiceless, and experiencing a severing
between true feelings and their own voices is a central _______ for
adolescent girls in America.
(a) psychological drama.
(b)
necessity.
c)
life preserver.
(d)
theme in Disney films.
(e)
focus.
- According to Douglass, it is important that we
teach our daughters
(a)
to shop sale racks.
(b)
to sing like Belle.
(c)
how to embrace the notions of mass media.
(d)
how to blow things up like boys do.
(e) how to talk back and make fun of mass media.
- Ads geared to each gender encourage children
to dehumanize themselves and one another, to regard people as
(a)
awesome spectators.
(b) objects to be acquired or discarded.
(c)
vengeful manipulating enemies.
(d)
sex objects and moms.
(e)
action figures.
- In order for a girl to be a desirable
commodity, she must
(a) consume the right goods.
(b)
practice shopping.
(c)
get a VISA card early in life.
(d)
resist socialization.
(e)
be smart and brave.
- Douglass describes girls - as portrayed by media
- as
(a)
being smart, brave, and assertive.
(b)
hurling projectiles at things.
(c)
dropping like a sack of onions.
(d)
monsters who crave too much power.
(e) flat, shiny surfaces who reflect coolness back on the boys.
Before You
Read
List five female
characters from Disney cartoons or animated films. What are the primary attributes of each? Do
you think these characters reinforce values found in the culture? Are they up to date values, or are they
something from the past?
After You Read
After reading
the essay, list five examples of ideal women as represented by cartoons,
animated films, television, or film.
What values and behaviors do they reflect? Are these harmful or
beneficial to society?
Web Links
From
Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games
Desperately
Seeking Difference: ABC Finds Biology Is Destiny
Gender and
Stereotyping in Children’s Toys
Cartoons Still Stereotype
Gender Roles
Alfonsina Storni,
"You Would Have Me White," in ed. Benson, Rachel. American Poets (A
Verse Translation), New York: Las Americas Publishing Co., 1968.
Alfonsina Storni was born in Sala Capriasca in the Swiss
canton of Ticina on May 22, 1892. At the age of four, she moved with her
parents to Argentina. She lived in Santa
Fe, Rosario, and Buenos Aires. She ended
her life by suicide, drowning herself in the Perla
Beach area of El Mar de Plata on October 25, 1938. Alfonsina Storni located herself in the middle of two epochs: modernism and avant-garde. However, she established a base upon which
postmodernism could be constructed.
Other influential poets with whom she has been affiliated or considered
an inspiration include Delmira Agustini,
Juana de Ibarbourou, Gabriela Mistral, Eugenia Vaz Ferreira, and Dulce Maria Loynaz.
Multiple-Choice
Questions
1.
Alfonsina Storni was born in
a.
Argentina.
b.
Germany.
c. Switzerland.
d.
Chile.
e.
America.
2.
When Storni was fur years old, her family moved to
a.
Switzerland.
b. the United States.
c. Argentina.
d.
Chile.
e.
France.
3.
How did Storni die?
a.
Old age.
b.
Electric chair.
c.
In a Nazi concentration camp.
d. Suicide by drowning.
e.
Suicide by hanging.
4.
Storni's poems were written in
a.
code.
b.
English.
c. Spanish.
d.
an archaic version of Italian used in southeast Switzerland along the border
region
e.
Arabic
5.
You want me white refers to a man's desire to have a woman be
a.
racially white, thus descended from Europeans.
b.
pure.
c.
forever virginal.
d. all of the above.
e.
non of the above.
6.
For Storni, white can also refer to the color of a
woman who is
a.
hot tempered.
b.
on a diet.
c. dead.
d.
frustrated.
e.
a bleached blonde.
7.
This poem shares aesthetic characteristics with
a.
poets such as Rimbaud and Baudelaire, who wrote about death.
b.
French symbolist poets.
c.
Shakespeare's description of Ophelia in Hamlet.
d. all of the above.
e.
none of the above.
8.
The poem is addressed to
a.
an old schoolteacher.
b. a male, probably her lover or husband.
c.
the florist who lives on the corner.
d.
the seamstress who is making her wedding dress.
e. a waiter at the coffee shop she goes to every
day.
9.
Storni is considered modernist because of
a.
the form of her poems.
b.
the themes she deals with in her poems.
c.
direct allusions to philosophical concerns.
d. all of the above.
e.
none of the above.
10.
Storni's poem is
a.
cheerful, probably used as an occasional poem for a birthday card.
b.
commemorative, dealing with Mother's Day.
c.
written as an allusion to the Holocaust.
d.
a view of the double-standard used to measure women.
e. both c and d.
Before You
Read
List five
attributes of a woman who is "white." Provide an example for each.
After You
Read
Reread the poem,
considering the idea that white represents death. What additional interpretation and meanings
come to the surface if you use this interpretative strategy?
Web Links
Female
Stereotypes in Literature (With a Focus on Latin American Writers)
Selected poems of Alfonsina Storni
Jill Birnie Henke et. al.
“Construction of the Female Self: Feminist Readings of the Disney Heroine”
(1996).
Jill Birnie Henke teaches in the Communication and Theatre
Department at Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania.
Multiple-Choice Questions
- Disney’s interpretation of children’s
literature and history remain those of
(a)
the Imagineers.
(b) white, middle-class, patriarchal society.
(c)
American folklore.
(d)
the cultural experience of American children.
(e)
a cultural repertoire of ongoing performances.
- Disney’s stories present
(a)
inaccurate retellings of ancient myths.
(b)
the genius of the Imagineers.
(c)
positive gender roles.
(d)
glimpses of matriarchal society.
(e) powerful and sustained messages about gender and social relations.
- Orenstein claims that gender is constructed in
the classroom to maintain a hidden curriculum that teaches girls to
(a)
be compulsive shoppers.
(b)
view silence and compliance as vices.
(c) view silence and compliance as virtues.
(d)
be competitive academically.
(e)
dress like boys.
- The perfect girl, in white-middle-class
America, is
(a) always kind and nice.
(b)
bossy and rude.
(c)
hides under her desks.
(d)
speaks only when spoken to.
(e)
demands attention of everyone around her.
- Brown and Gilligan argue that on the way to
womanhood, a girl experiences
(a)
too many VISA applications.
(b)
an assurance of self.
(c)
the realization that being silent is boring.
(d)
other girls can be really mean.
(e) a loss of voice and a loss of self.
- Girls learn that speaking up can be _________
because it might _______.
(a)
fun and empowering, help them be respected.
(b)
dangerous and a waste of time, get them in trouble.
(c)
painless and safe, get them a scholarship.
(d) disruptive and dangerous, put relationships at risk.
(e)
rude and bossy, cause them to lose friends.
- Disney’s early heroines, Aurora and
Cinderella, are portrayed as
(a)
strong willed and obstinate.
(b) helpless, passive victims.
(c)
fat and ugly.
(d)
crying all the time.
(e)
smart and industrious.
- Of all Disney’s characters, Pocahontas seems
to
(a) break new ground.
(b)
be the most insulting.
(c)
be the most historically accurate.
(d)
be the most passive.
(e)
have the most realistic body type.
- Cinderella best illustrates
the Disney pattern of
(a)
depicting positive female role models.
(b)
liberating women from traditional roles.
(c)
racial stereotyping.
(d) subjugating and stifling heroine’s voices and selfhood.
(e)
accurately depicting step parents.
- The growing empowerment of Disney’s female
characters can be seen in the shifting depictions of their
(a)
clothing.
(b) intimate relationships.
(c)
racial profiling.
(d)
animal friends.
(e)
body types.
Before You
Read
List five
"classic" female Disney cartoon characters, and three from the post
1980s female Disney cartoons characters.
What are the predominate attributes of each?
After You
Read
Compare and
contrast the "classic" female Disney cartoon characters with post
1980s characters. How are they
similar? How are they different? What do you believe accounts for the
changes? Do these correlate with changes
in society, or do they reflect nostalgia for past values?
Web Links
Teaching Gender Roles:
Fairy Tales and Beyond
The Cinderella Story
and Postmodernism
Feminism and Post (19th Century)
History in Eastern Europe
Jane Yolen, "America's Cinderella" Children's Literature in Education, vol. 8 no. 1 (1977) pp 21 ñ29.
Jane Yolen
is an author of children's books, fantasy, and science fiction. She is also a
poet, a teacher of writing and literature, and a reviewer of children's
literature. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the
Aesop of the twentieth century. Jane Yolen's books
and stories have won the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher
Medals, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoetic
Fantasy Awards, the Golden Kite Award, the Jewish Book Award, and the
Association of Jewish Libraries Award. This web book presents information about
over two hundred books she has written for children. It also contains essays,
poems, answers to frequently asked questions, a brief biography, her travel
schedule, and links to resources for teachers and writers. It is intended for
children, teachers, writers, storytellers, and lovers of children's
literature. http://www.janeyolen.com/
Multiple Choice Questions
- Yolen finds the origin of
the Cinderella story in
(a)
Germany.
(b) ninth century China.
(c)
Greek mythology.
(d)
Norse mythology.
(e)
American folklore.
- Yolen describes
American’s Cinderella as a “nice” girl who awaits
(a)
her prince while doing her chores.
(b)
her step-mother’s next demand.
(c)
midnight so she can sneak out of the house.
(d)
rescue while performing rites and rituals at her mother’s grave.
(e) her rescue with patience and a song.
- Making Cinderella into the Disney version
(a) cheapens our most cherished dreams and makes a mockery of the true
magic within us all.
(b)
is the adolescent dream come true.
(c)
gives the story the staying power it never would have achieved without Disney.
(d)
finally brought the long-loved story to life.
(e)
proves that a “naked shoeless race could not have invented Cinderella.”
- To truly mark the change in the American
Cinderella, one must turn to
(a)
German folklore.
(b)
Disney.
(c) mass-market books.
(d)
Rogers and Hammerstein.
(e)
the Brothers Grimm.
- The point of the Cinderella books is not the
story, but the
(a) gimmick.
(b)
illustrations.
(c)
lack of forgiveness.
(d)
sentimentalized pretty girl figure.
(e)
emphasis on living happily ever after.
- Most Cinderella tales are missing the
__________ that was present in the original.
(a) forgiveness.
(b)
retribution.
(c)
cute animals.
(d)
kind step-mother.
(e)
witchcraft.
- Yolen points out that
Cinderella’s identity is known only when
(a)
she’s covered with soot.
(b)
the clock strikes midnight.
(c) her clothes are magically transformed.
(d)
her step-sisters cut off parts of their feet.
(e)
the mice tell the prince who she is.
- Yolen claims the
mass-market Cinderella presents American children with
(a)
fun costumes.
(b)
an excellent role model.
(c) the wrong dream.
(d)
free tickets to Disney World.
(e)
the magic they were missing.
- The American Cinderella is
(a)
a strong heroic model for little girls.
(b)
a useless ninny.
(c)
the model for Xena.
(d) a sorry excuse for a heroine.
(e)
a drill sergeant.
- Yolen considers the
Disney version of Cinderella to be
(a)
a triumph.
(b) a disaster.
(c)
boring.
(d)
risqué.
(e)
perfection.
Before You
Read
What are some
"life lessons" that the Cinderella story teaches young girls and
boys?
After You
Read
Do you agree or
disagree with this essay? List five
reasons, with an example from the text to support each of your points.
Web Links
Phallus Tales: Gender
Roles in the Brothers Grimm
Gender Equity: Political
Feminism Goes to School
Maxine Hong Kingston,
"No Name Woman" from Woman
Warrior. Vintage Books, 1986.
Maxine Hong Kingston was born on October
27, 1940 in Stockton, California. She was the first of six American-born children;
her parents, Tom and Ying Lan Hong, had had two
children in China before they came to America. Her mother trained as a midwife
in To Keung School of Midwifery in Canton. Her father
had been brought up a scholar and taught in his village of Sun Woi, near Canton. Tom Hong left China for America in 1924,
but finding no work for a poet or calligrapher, he took a job in a laundry. He
was swindled out of his share of the laundry, but Ying Lan
joined him in 1939 in New York City, and they moved to Stockton where Hong had
been offered a job in a gambling house. Maxine was named after a lucky blond
gambler who frequented the establishment. In 1976, while Kingston was teaching
creative writing at the Mid-Pacific Institute, a private school, she published
her first book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. One
reviewer, Michael T. Malloy, described the book as having an exotic setting but
dealing with the same subjects as mainstream American feminist literature,
specifically the "Me and Mom" genre. Other reviewers were surprised
by its fresh subject matter and style, and they sang the praises of this
poetic, fierce, delicate, original novel/memoir. Kingston strove for a Chinese
rhythm to her voice, a typical Chinese-American speech, and rich imagery; her
first book was a great success. In the end of Woman Warrior, her
shy girl character finds resolution as she breaks female silence and inherits
an oral tradition that she carries on as a written tradition.
Multiple Choice Questions
- Kingston says that her mother told stories
like the one about her aunt to
(a)
confuse the gods.
(b)
mark the beginning of menstruation.
(c)
distinguish Chinese traditions from American traditions.
(d) test their strength to establish realities.
(e)
scare girls into protecting their virginity.
- According to Kingston, Chinese emigrants
confused the gods by
(a)
threatening to convert to Christianity.
(b) misleading them with crooked streets and false names.
(c)
shouting their real names in the rice fields.
(d)
spelling their names incorrectly.
(e)
acting insane.
- Daughters-in-law lived
(a) with their husband’s family.
(b)
with their brother’s family.
(c)
with their own family.
(d)
in a separate dwelling.
(e)
in the middle of the courtyard.
- The parents of a woman’s husband had the right
to
(a)
stone her.
(b)
sell her.
(c)
educate her.
(d)
mortgage her.
(e) a, b, and d.
- If women cared about their appearance, they
were labeled
(a)
fashionable.
(b)
boring.
(c) eccentric.
(d)
invisible.
(e)
proper wives.
- Chinese goddesses and warriors stood
(a) with straight backs.
(b)
with their backs bent in the shape of a question mark.
(c)
in front of a mirror for most of the day.
(d)
facing away from their enemies.
(e)
is a hip shod stance like classic Greek sculpture.
- During her pregnancy and labor, Kinston’s aunt
_________ her inseminator.
(a)
openly accused.
(b)
couldn’t remember the identity of.
(c)
lived with.
(d)
blessed.
(e) protected the identity of.
- Kingston would add “brother” to the names of
the boys she knew because
(a)
she wanted to be a boy.
(b) it made them less scary.
(c)
she wanted to be able to dance with them.
(d)
she thought they were all ugly.
(e)
she was trying to trick the gods.
- Among the very poor and the wealthy, brothers
(a) married their adopted sisters.
(b)
were allowed to beat their sisters.
(c)
had to pay their sister’s dowry.
(d)
had to find husbands for their sisters.
(e)
could only dance with their sisters.
- Kingston believes her aunt’s child
was__________, because _________.
(a)
still born, she killed herself.
(b)
a boy, she might have been forgiven if it were a girl.
(c)
a girl, she gave birth in a pig sty.
(d) a girl, she might have been forgiven if it were a boy.
(e)
a boy, she killed it.
Before You
Read
List what you
consider to be stereotypes surrounding Chinese women. How di you form
these ideas?
After You
Read
Some writes have
argued that Maxine Hong Kingston reinforces racist stereotypes regarding traditional
and immigrant Chinese cultures, and in particular about Chinese women. Do you
agree? Disagree? Does this essay portray itself as being a true representation
of Chinese women's collective heritage?
Does it present women in a positive or negative way?
Web Links
Voices from
the Gaps: Women Writers of Color
The
Fictive Documentary: Maxine Hong Kingston's "No Name Woman"
Sandra Cisneros,
"Woman Hollering Creek" from Woman
Hollering Creek. Vintage Books, 1992.
Throughout Sandra Cisneros' life, her Mexican-American
mother, her Mexican father, her six brothers, and she would move between Mexico
City and Chicago, never allowing her much time to get settled in any one place.
Her loneliness from not having sisters or friends drove her to reading and burying
herself in books. In high school she wrote poetry and was the literary
magazine's editor, but according to Cisneros, she didn't really start writing
until her first creative writing class in college in 1974. After that it took a
while to find her own voice. She explains, "I rejected what was at hand
and emulated the voices of the poets I admired in books: big male voices like
James Wright and Richard Hugo and Theodore Roethke,
all wrong for me."(Ghosts 72). Cisneros then realized that she needed to
write what she knew, and adopted a writing style that was purposely opposite of
that of her classmates. Five years after receiving her M. A. from the writing
program at the University of Iowa, she returned to Loyola University in
Chicago, where she had previously earned a B.A. in English, to work as an
administrative assistant. Prior to this job, she worked in the Chicano barrio
in Chicago teaching to high school dropouts. Through these jobs, she gained
more experience with the problems of young Latinas.
Cisneros' writing has been shaped by her
experiences. Because of her unique background, Cisneros is very different from
traditional American writers. She has something to say that they don't know
about. She also has her own way of saying it. Her first book, The
House on Mango Street, is an elegant literary piece, somewhere
between fiction and poetry. She doesn't just make up characters, but writes
about real people that she has encountered in her lifetime. Cisneros' work
explores issues that are important to her: feminism, love, oppression, and
religion. In Ghosts and Voices: Writing From Obsession she says,
"If I were asked what it is I write about, I would have to say I write
about those ghosts inside that haunt me, that will not let me sleep, of that
which even memory does not like to mention."(73).
Multiple-Choice Questions
- In the town where Cleófilas grew up, there isn’t much to do except
(a) play cards with
her aunts and godmothers;
(b) go shopping.
(c) make new dresses.
(d) work in the garden.
(e) make pottery to sell
to the tourists.
- What Cleófilas has always waited for is
(a) to get away from her
father.
(b) a trip to America.
(c) a color TV.
(d) passion.
(e) to have her own
children.
- The natives called the creek they crossed on the way to San
Antonio
(a) arroyo.
(b) Woman Hollering.
(c) Soledad.
(d) Dolores.
(e) telenovelas.
- Dolores’s house smelled like
(a) grief.
(b) rice and beans.
(c) her garden.
(d) too much incense
and candles.
(e) stagnant water.
- The smell of roses reminded Cleófilas of
(a) home.
(b) her mother.
(c) the dead.
(d) her wedding.
(e) soap operas.
- Dolores’ garden was famous for its
(a) medicinal herbs.
(b) stone path.
(c) labyrinth.
(d) roses.
(e) sunflowers.
- The first time Cleófilas’ husband hit her, she
(a) hit him back.
(b) shot him.
(c) did nothing.
(d) called the police.
(e) ran away.
- Cleófilas decided the men in her town were trying to find
(a) truth at the
bottom of a bottle.
(b) sudden wealth.
(c) a way to get the
rest of their families to America.
(d) better paying jobs.
(e) a way to get a
college degree.
- Cleófilas decided Woman Hollering Creek is named for
(a) a Mexican saint.
(b) Erzulie.
(c) Medea.
(d) La Llorona.
(e) Dolores.
- Felice says women can only be famous is they are
(a) wealthy.
(b) fertile.
(c) a virgin.
(d) murderous.
(e) independent.
Before You
Read
List the
stereotypes or ideas from current cultures that you have formed with respect to
Latina women. Where di you obtain the information for
each?
After You
Read
Examine how this
essay presents a new way to protest the status quo, and to fight for human
dignity. How do women attempt to rehumanize themselves?
Is it an easy task? Why or why not?
Web Links
A Formalist Reading of Sandra Cisneros's "Woman
Hollering Creek"
Hispanic
American Literature: Sandra Cisneros
Voices from the
Gaps: Women Writers of Color
Online
Literary Criticism Collection
Visual Analysis
Tina Modotti. Mother and child, Tehuantepec,
1929.
http://masters-of-photography.com/M/modotti/modotti_mother_child.html
Essay Questions
1. What des this
photograph suggest about women's roles?
2. Notice how
the face of the woman has been cropped out, as well as her legs, leaving only
her torso and one arm. What does the
viewer's gaze rest on first? What is
second? What are the messages implicit in this photo, and how are they
reinforced by the way that the photograph has been cropped?
Tina Modotti. Woman of Tehuantepec
carrying jecapixtle, 1929.
http://masters-of-photography.com/M/modotti/modotti_jecapixtle.html
Essay Questions
1. Describe
specific details in this photograph that suggest that the woman's main role in life
and her identity revolve around work, service, and servitude.
2. What are the
gender specific items in this photograph that allow you to determine that this
is a woman?
Cindy
Sherman. Untitled
Film Still #14, 1978.
http://masters-of-photography.com/S/sherman/sherman_14.html
Essay Questions
1. Look at the mirror, the photograph, and the
woman's expression. How does this
photograph reinforce ideas about the impact of the gaze on the female's sense
of self (the idea that a woman knows herself primarily by how she is perceived
by others, and reflected in the world around her)?
2. Write a creative essay or a story that frames
what is occurring in this scene. Imagine
that the woman is speaking to a man who is looking at her. What is her position in relation to the man?
Cindy
Sherman. Untitled
Film Still #50, 1979.
http://masters-of-photography.com/S/sherman/sherman_50.html
Essay Questions
1. Look at the elements in this photograph. Is the setting "feminine" or "masculine"?
How do you know? What are the clues? Describe the furniture, the sculptures,
the lamp, the table, the ashtrays, and the rugs. What makes them seem "masculine" or
"feminine"?
2. Write a creative essay or a story that frames
what is occurring in this scene. Imagine
that the woman is speaking to a man who is looking at her. What is her position in relation to the
man? How does this women differ from the
one in the previous photograph?
Cindy Sherman. Untitled #96, 1981.
http://masters-of-photography.com/S/sherman/sherman_96.html
Essay Questions
1. What is this woman doing? What is the
expression on her face communication to the viewer? Does she seem receptive and/or passive, or
pro-active and closed? Why? Is this a character
of photographic approaches toward the female subject? Contemplate this thought: Voyeurism is implied violation.
2. Write a creative essay or
a story that frames what is occurring in this scene. Imagine that the woman is speaking to a man
who is looking at her. What is her
position in relation to the man? How
does this women differ from the one in the previous photograph?
Read and Respond
Jacquelyn Kilpatrick.
“Disney's 'Politically Correct' Pocahontas”
(Race in Contemporary American Cinema: Part 5) Cineaste v21, n4 (Fall,
1995):36.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Pocahontas.html
Katherine
Kim. “The Disney Peril” Mulan Through the Looking Glass: Mothers Who Think. Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/07/07feature.html
Danielle Crittendon. “Cinderella as Role Model” The Women’s Quarterly: Independent Women’s Forum.
http://www.iwf.org/pubs/twq/wi96b.shtml
Essay
Question
Imagine that you
are embarking on an experiment to model your life after a Disney character:
Pocahontas, Mulan, or Cinderella. Write a scene from your life in which you, as
Pocahontas, Mulan, or Cinderella, do teh following:
·
purchase clothing for a special occasion
·
change your hairstyle
·
visit a career or guidance counselor
·
decorate your home for a special occasion to which you had
invited visitors.
Be as true to
Disney as you possibly can. Would anyone
notice the difference in your behavior or taste? Why or why not?
Controversies
Woman as Goddess: Camille Paglia
Tours Strip Clubs. Reported by Melanie Wells from Penthouse Magazine, October 1994, page 56. http://www.matriarch.com/camille.htm
Interview
with the Vamp: Why Camille Paglia hates affirmative action, defends Rush Limbaugh, and
respects Ayn Rand Interviewed by Virginia I. Postrel. http://reason.com/9508/PAGLIA.aug.shtml
Kevin Michael Grace. “Sex kittens with
painted claws Are the Spice Girls Feminists or Bimbos? Or Both?” http://www.axionet.com/bcreport/web/980302f.html
Reena Mistry. Madonna and Gender Trouble. http://www.theory.org.uk/madonna.htm
Annalee Newitz “Madonna’s
Revenge” Bad Subjects Issue # 9, November 1993.
http://eserver.org/bs/09/Newitz.html
Wendy McElroy. “A Feminist Defense of
Pornography.” Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 17, Number 4. http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/mcelroy_17_4.html
Caitlin Flanagan. “The
Wedding Merchants” The Atlantic Unbound.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/02/flanagan-p1.htm
Rebecca Taylor. “My So-Called Wedding.” Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/11/07/one_wedding/