Week 07

"...I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose 

in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a
red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and
I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him
with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would
I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms
around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel
my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad
and yes I said yes I will Yes."

—James Joyce, Ulysses

Week 07 Tu 10.02 

Read: GUY—“Predatory Sex and Party Rape” – “’Just Guys’” 

Class: Reading discussion; Presentations; Lecture—“The Most Common Grammatical Errors—And How to Avoid Them” 

Th 10.04 

Class: Writers workshop; Reading discussion 

Due: EDITORIAL ESSAY (DRAFT 1; BRING 2 COPIES)  

Upcoming:

Week 08

Tu 10.09*

Read: eR—“What Girls Want” (Atlantic ), “Boys Get Cool Stuff, Girls Get Pink Stuff” (Salon),

“I Want a Wife” (Ms.), “99: I Enjoy Being A Girl, Sort Of” (This American Life ) [Audio],

“My Daughter Likes Being a Boy” (Salon)

Class: Reading discussion (Special guest lecturer—Nicole Maranhas, SJSU English Dept.)

*This class should be attended by women only; Email your EDITORIAL ESSAY to me by noon on Thursday the 11th

Th 10.11**

Read: eR—“220: Testosterone” (This American Life ) [Audio], “The Problem with Boys”

(Esquire ), “The Truth of Why ‘Manly’ Men Order Steak, and ‘Wimps’ Order Salad” (Forbes ),

“My Son is Gay” (Nerdy Apple), “A New Masculinity” (Postmasculine)

Class: Reading discussion

Due: EDITORIAL ESSAY (DRAFT 2; ATTACH ONE COPY OF DRAFT 1)

**This class should be attended by men only 

Editorial Essay: Guyland

Can anything be done to help this generation of young men get back on course?

Of the boys and men profiled in his book, Michael Kimmel writes:

In another era, these guys would undoubtedly be poised to take their place in the adult world, taking the first steps toward becoming the nation’s future professionals, entrepreneurs, and business leaders. They would be engaged to be married, thinking about settling down with a family, preparing for futures as civic leaders and Little League dads. Not today.

Today, many of these young men, poised between adolescence and adulthood, are more likely to feel anxious and uncertain. In college, they party hard but are soft on studying. They slip through the academic cracks, another face in a large lecture hall, getting by with little effort and less commitment. After graduation, they drift aimlessly from one dead-end job to another, spend more time online playing video games and gambling than they do on dates (and probably spend more money too), “hook up” occasionally with a “friend with benefits,” go out with their buddies, drink too much, and save too little. After college, they perpetuate that experience and move home or live in group apartments in major cities, with several other guys from their dorm or fraternity. They watch a lot of sports. They have grandiose visions for their futures and not a clue how to get from here to there. When they do try and articulate this amorphous uncertainty, they’re likely to paper over it with a simple “it’s all good.”

[ … ]

Guyland is the world in which young men live. It is both a stage of life, a liminal undefined time span between adolescence and adulthood that can often stretch for a decade or more, and a place, or, rather, a bunch of places where guys gather to be guys with each other, unhassled by the demands of parents, girlfriends, jobs, kids, and the other nuisances of adult life. In this topsy-turvy, Peter-Pan mindset, young men shirk the responsibilities of adulthood and remain fixated on the trappings of boyhood, while the boys they still are struggle heroically to prove that they are real men despite all evidence to the contrary.

If "Guyland" is indeed home to millions of young American men, what can, and should, be done to help them achieve their full potential? What can society do to better help this generation gain a clearer sense of purpose? In a concise editorial, explain how you believe we, as a country, should address the issues of this generation of young men. To support your thesis, cite evidence from Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men. 

Requirements:

• MLA Style, including parenthetical citation
• 3-page minimum
• Include a works cited page

The best papers:

• Have a title that articulates its point of view
• Stay within the parameters of the subject matter
• Have a concise thesis which clearly outlines a position
• Are written in a voice that is casual, yet informed
• Clearly support their thesis with solid evidence and a logical structure, citing from Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men
• Conclude with a summation of the argument
• Properly cite evidence using MLA's parenthetical citation method
• Are in compliance with MLA Style

Sample editorials from around the country:

• "Red Light for Texting Drivers" (Miami Herald )
• "Hate Groups Don a Hood of Respectability" (Tennessean )
• "Who's Still Undecided?" (Los Angeles Times )
• "Atheists Lobby for a Separation of God and Country" (Oregonian )

Due: Thursday, Oct. 4th (Draft 1; Bring 2 copies)  

Gender in the News: 09.27.12

Move over ladies, skin cream is a man's game now

• What a man wants: Skin cream NEW YORK TIMES 
• How do you say "that's offensive" in Japanese?: Victoria's Secret debuts geisha-themed lingerie HUFFINGTON POST
• A New York teen boys fights to stay on an all-female volleyball team NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 
• Hong Kong billionaire: I'll pay any man $65 million to woo my lesbian daughter BUSINESS INSIDER
• The history of sexual predators in the Boy Scouts comes to light LOS ANGELES TIMES
• Why don't women raise their hand more often? HUFFINGTON POST

Week 06

"He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but 

that he did not know where he ended and she began."

—Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Week 06
Tu 09.25 

Read: GUY—“’Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” – “Sports Crazy” 

Class: Reading discussion; Presentations 

Th 09.27 

Read: GUY—“’Boys and Their Toys’: Guyland’s Media” – “Hooking Up: Sex in Guyland” 

Class: Reading discussion; Lecture—“How to Build a Solid Argument” 

Due: REFLECTION 03 

Upcoming:

Week 07 Tu 10.02 

Read: GUY—“Predatory Sex and Party Rape” – “’Just Guys’” 

Class: Reading discussion; Presentations; Lecture—“The Most Common Grammatical Errors—And How to Avoid Them” 

Th 10.04 

Class: Writers workshop; Reading discussion 

Due: EDITORIAL ESSAY (DRAFT 1; BRING 2 COPIES) 

Gender in the News: 09.20.12

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Reflection 03: The Color of Love—Navigating Interracial Relationships

Interracial relationships are changing the landscape of American society

President Obama is often lauded as our first black president, but he might more accurately be identified as our first biracial president. His white mother and black father were together at a time when such relationships were largely discouraged by American society. But what was taboo then is increasingly more commonplace today. In fact, recent census date continues to illustrate surges in the number of mixed-race marriages (about 4.5 million in 2010). But while their numbers are on the rise, it would be disingenuous to imply that today's interracial relationships do not face challenges. What issues do you believe arise from these relationships in 2012 America? What issues do these couples face that same-race couples might not? Do some racial stereotypes and myths persist? On a personal level, what is your experience with mixed-race relationships?

Include at least two of the following pieces in your discussion:

• "Opening the Box" SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
• "A Mixed-Race Romance, a Family Rift" CNN
• "Black Men in Interracial Relationships" THE WASHINGTON POST
• "Latina Women Chipping Away at Stigma of Interracial Marriages" NBC LATINO
  
• "White Male Seeking Sexy Asian Women" SALON
• "In U.S. Politics, Where are the Interracial Couples?" NEW AMERICA MEDIA

Requirements:

• Must be in MLA Style
• Must be two full pages in length
• Must include a works cited page

Due: Thursday, Sept. 27th

Week 05

"How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on

treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being?"

—Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

Week 05

Tu 09.18

Read: DELUSIONS—“Gender Education” – “Epilogue: And S-t-r-e-t-c-h!”

Class: Reading discussion; Presentations

 

Th 09.20

Read: GUY—“Welcome to Guyland” – “’What’s the Rush?’: Guyland as a New Stage of Development”

Class: Reading discussion; Lecture—“On Wordiness: Exercises”

Due: EXPOSITORY ESSAY 

 

Upcoming:

Week 06
Tu 09.25 

Read: GUY—“’Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” – “Sports Crazy” 

Class: Reading discussion; Presentations 

 

Th 09.27 

Read: GUY—“’Boys and Their Toys’: Guyland’s Media” – “Hooking Up: Sex in Guyland” 

Class: Reading discussion; Lecture—“How to Build a Solid Argument” 

Due: REFLECTION 03

Note: My office hours have changed. Please note the new hours.  

 

Expository Essay: Delusions of Gender

How much do societal stereotypes influence how we view ourselves?

In Delusions of Gender, Dr. Cordelia Fine writes:

"Some psychologists refer to whatever self is in current use—the particular self-concept chosen from the multitudes—as the active self. As the name implies, this is no passive, sloblike entity that idles unchanging day after day, week after week. Rather, the active self is a dynamic chameleon, changing from moment to moment in response to its social environment. Of course, the mind can only make use of what is available—and for each of us certain portions of the self-concept come more easily to hand than do others. But in all of us, a rather large portion of the Wardrobe of Self is taken up with the stereotypical costumes of the many social identities each person has (New Yorker, father, Hispanic American, vet, squash player, man). Who you are at a particular moment—which part of your self-concept is active—turns out to be very sensitive to context. While sometimes your active self will be personal and idiosyncratic, at other times the context will bring one of your social identities hurtling towards the active self for use. With a particular social identity in place, it would not be surprising if self-perception became more stereotypical as a result. In line with this idea, gender seems to have exactly this effect."

In a concise essay, and citing only from Delusions of Gender, 1) summarize the above statement, and 2) highlight at least two real-life examples of the ways gender stereotypes influence the active self. Again, cite only from Delusions of Gender to support your thesis.

Requirements:

• MLA Style, including parenthetical citation
• 3-page minimum
• Include a works cited page

The best papers will:

• Stay within the parameters of the prompt, detailing real-life examples of this concept
• Have a concise thesis that both addresses the subject matter and  contains a viable argument
• Clearly support their thesis utilizing solid evidence presented in a logical structure
• Properly cite evidence from Delusions of Gender using MLA's parenthetical citation method
• Conclude with a summation of the main points
• Be formatted according to MLA Style 

Due: Thursday, Sept. 20th

Gender in the News: 09.12.12

Jamie Kuntz says a gay kiss got him kicked off his football team

• Gay North Dakota football player allegedly kicked off team for kissing his boyfriend CBS SPORTS
• Rev. Pat Robertson's advice to a man with a disrespectful wife: Move to Saudi Arabia so you can beat her BUZZFEED
• Women, Fifty Shades of Grey, and porn HUFFINGTON POST
• An anti-gay mailer is sent out against a GOP state senator who voted for marriage equality in New York BUZZFEED (NSFW) 
• Top Catholic priest: "A lot of the cases [of sexual abuse by priests], the youngster—14, 16, 18—is the seducer." DAILY MAIL
• Study: Sexual arousal trumps repulsion ABC NEWS

Editing Marks Guide

Here is a guide to some of the editing symbols (some standard, some my own) you'll be seeing on your papers this semester.

˄            Insert
↑            Fix spacing issue (usually when text is not properly double-spaced)

→          Indent once
→→       Indent twice
+           Good point 
?            Meaning unclear
#            Add space
" "          Add quotation marks
¶            New paragraph 
Ҩ         Delete
2X         Double space
AWK      Awkward phrasing
CS         Comma splice
FRAG     Fragment
HEAD    Issue with the header
ITL        Italics—either add or remove
RO         Run-on sentence
SP         Spelling
S/V        Subject-verb
TNR      Change to Times New Roman
WC        Word choice