Assignment #1: Self-Reflection (10% of final grade)
In the first Module of the term, I will encourage you to consider our own relationship with Women’s Studies. You will write a critical analysis of your interactions with gender throughout your life and how you think they are connected to what we will learn in class. You can use the available Guiding Questions as a starting point for your essay – you are not expected to answer all of the questions, this is simply a resource for you to start reflecting on gender. In this assignment, we will use our lived experiences to theorize gender.
Guiding Questions:
What are some of your own experiences with gender and identity? How do you understand gender? Have you ever systematically considered how you developed your gender identity? Do you think your own identity influenced how you understand gender?
What are some of the meanings you and the people around you have assigned to your gender? What kind of external messages or gender cues have you received throughout your life?
What messages do you send to others regarding what it means to be a man or a woman?
Have you ever considered how gender intersects with religion, class, age, and race?
Growing up, what kind of “roles” were you expected to perform because of your gender? Did you know that gender had something to do with that? Did you ever notice a difference between what was expected of you and other people around you from a different gender?
When did you start understanding inequality? What about oppression? Why do you think that is the case?
Did you have a big “eureka” moment that shifted the way you think about gender and identity? When was that? Why at that moment?
Did you have people around you that pushed you to think differently about gender and identity? Do you think they did that intentionally? How influential were they in your uprising?
Have binary gender or sex-based terms (man/woman, male/female) limited your identity and/or discussions with others? How?
How has your schooling played into your understanding of what it means to be a man, woman, transgender person, or otherwise non-binary individual?
Have you ever been ridiculed or denied an opportunity for doing or saying something that others didn’t consider “masculine” or “feminine” enough? How did that make you feel? How did you react? How did it affect your life beyond that single incident?
Have you ever ridiculed someone else for doing something you didn’t consider “masculine” or “feminine” enough?
Has your understanding of gender identity limited your ability to listen to others?
