ipl-logo

In Defense Of Gender By Cyra Mcfeden Summary

639 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: English essay gender equality

An Analysis of In Defense of Gender The article, In Defense of Gender by Cyra McFadden discusses the issue of gender equality in our language. The article discusses the neutering of masculine terms in our language. Instead of writing and speaking he or himself it became, him/her, himself/herself. Also instead of titles being mailman and waiter, this neutering made it mailpersons and waitpersons. The author writes of how ludicrous it is to completely change the way we write and even speak. The author, Cyra reminisces of a time when she attended a conference and the "chairperson" is reading a text that instead of using masculine words, used he/she or himself/herself. That chairperson decides to speak these as, he-slash-she and himself-slash-herself. This reminds the author of a vocal rendition of the Manson killings with all of the "slashing" being used. Hearing someone speak this way must have been so much more bizarre than just reading it. Imagine having a conversation with someone and they began speaking using this slashing method, how comical would that be? The author discusses this …show more content…

One woman has even went as far as changing the way her married name was written. Beverly Terwoman is a writer and she writes under that pseudonym, but her husbands last name, her married name is actually Terman. The author mocks this by writing, ""Terwoman'' is not ideologically pure. It still contains ''man,'' a syllable reeking of all that is piggy and hairy-chested. Why not Beverly Terperson? Or better, since ''Terperson'' contains ''son,'' ''Terdaughter''? Or a final refinement, Beverly Ter?" According to the article Beverly Terwoman has been asked about her doing this but did not reply. Including this in the article supports the idea of just how far some feminists will go to eliminate masculine terms. I agree with the author on how this action is excessive and

Show More
Related

Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Guys And?' By Anne Curzan

577 Words | 3 Pages

In an effort for people to correctly identify themselves, languages adopt and replace numerous terms over time. When it comes to terms to define one’s gender, there is a correlation between the terms and a person’s age. Anne Curzan’s article “Guys and …?” explores the issue of finding age appropriate terms to describe women. The article discusses how this dilemma is prevalent for female college students, as at times neither “girl” nor “woman” seems suitable.

Read More

Theda Perdue And Morgan Gender Analysis

401 Words | 2 Pages

Expounding on Scott’s gender analysis are Theda Perdue and Jennifer Morgan who focus specifically on the bodies of Indian and black women. For both Cherokee and black women, they are often overshadowed by men, their stories eclipsed due to the assumption that under the institution of slavery, women’s experiences were not much different than men. Perdue and Morgan challenge this notion, demonstrating that the lives and experiences of black and Cherokee women were different than black and Cherokee men. In placing black women and Cherokee women at the center of the narrative, Perdue and Morgan seek to enhance understanding the functions Cherokee and black women played in colonial America and how they responded to the gendered roles they were expected

Read More

The Hero's Journey Gender

665 Words | 3 Pages

To be able to talk about heroes, gender, and Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, there needs to be a separation between the journey to become a hero and the plot of the story. Although an entire story can be solely based on “The Hero’s Journey,” it’s not limited to the journey. How events play out and character development among other things are apart from what Campbell describes. The journey he describes stays the same regardless of the gender of the protagonist. Gender can only affect the plot itself depending on type of world that is built.

Read More

Deborah Tannen Gender In The Classroom Summary

1345 Words | 6 Pages

A study found that a woman's voice is only heard about 40% of the time, even though they make up 60% of a class (Eddy et al.). The essay “Gender in the Classroom” by Deborah Tannen, explains some of the observed differences between women and men in the classroom. She describes some of these differences in the speaking and participation of the two genders. After giving her examples, she analyzes where these different behaviors originated from. She ends her essay with a short anecdote on her own experience as a teacher experiencing the differences between genders.

Read More

Analysis Of Dennis Baron's Essay 'Tired Pronouns'

437 Words | 2 Pages

In the world today people choose not to be simply classified as female and male anymore. While this has changed for the better for people to identify themselves however they please , with pronouns comes specific grammar. In Dennis Baron's essay “Facebook Multiples Genders but Offers Users the same Three Tired Pronouns” the author speaks upon the different weighs between gender and grammar. Therefore I claim that as gender is extended correct grammar should follow. Barons essay argues that the availability of gender preference is higher followed by the limit on grammar towards gender.

Read More

American Indian Berdache

496 Words | 2 Pages

The main point of the article is that in many cultures, there are alternatives to “man” or “woman” and that not all countries agree with the Western culture’s strict classification of male and female. Supporting Evidence The author, Walter L. Williams, first provides evidence of his main argument at the onset of the article. Before even introducing the berdache, Williams explains that Western tradition is often viewed to be normal, and anything outside of those norms may be considered abnormal. Williams then explains that to an invididual raised under Western ideals, gender is often viewed simply as male or as female.

Read More

Examples Of Sexism In The Birth House By Ami Mckay

765 Words | 4 Pages

Never in my entire life have I read a novel that forced me to throw the novel down multiple times within the opening chapters. The Birth House by Ami McKay evoked a plethora of emotions in me, ranging from deep sorrow and sadness to a sharp anger at the exasperating amount of sexism throughout the novel. As the novel begun, I genuinely felt a surprisingly amount of anger that I’ve never felt before towards a novel. The overwhelming amount of sexist claims, in particular when we are first introduced to Mr. Ketch infuriated me. The first moment I found appalling was when Mrs. Ketch gives birth and Mr. Ketch responds with “I’m just lookin’ at what’s mine” (16) completely disregarding the pain and agony of his wife’s birthing experience.

Read More

Gendered Verbal Communication Chapter Summary

673 Words | 3 Pages

This blog entry will focus on chapter 5: Gendered Verbal Communication. Inside this chapter, Julia Woods’ talks about how verbal communication has influenced our understanding of gender and also how language influences society’s expectations for each gender. This chapter is interesting because it describes how concepts of gender and communication influence our daily lives. As it is clear, the quote above supports this notion.

Read More

The Negative Impact Of Gender Roles In Nine Days By Toni Jordan

1194 Words | 5 Pages

Societal beliefs have impacted how individuals live their everyday life, such as how they are supposed to act, speak, dress, and conduct themselves based upon their assigned sex. The novel Nine Days written by Toni Jordan (2012), follows the Westaway family during the significant moments of their lives, over the course of 70 years as they learn how to cope with the negative societal expectations that the society enforces. Societal beliefs have progressed over time, showing that traditional gender roles have modified, nuclear families are not the basis of complete families and until now war shows desirious for power. Jordan highlights the negative impact of gender roles, suggesting that gender roles have restricted the lives of both men and

Read More

The Stepford Wives Essay On Gender

1049 Words | 5 Pages

Director Frank Oz’s film, The Stepford Wives, was published on June 4, 2004. In his film, Oz created a remake of the original 1975 film, showcasing a utopian place where women and men are both perfect and cannot embrace change, and includes a new ending to demonstrate gender inequalities progression. James Tiptree Jr.'s short story, The Women Men Don’t See, was published in 1973. In their novel, Tiptree showcased the struggles in genders in which both men's and women’s gender are defined in expectations and desires. Tiptree writes out that gender is a social construct by presenting white dominant males’ points of view to present a society where women are oppressed by white men.

Read More

The Crucible Gender Analysis

1121 Words | 5 Pages

Gender roles are present everywhere and are more and more prevalent the further back you go. They define relationships and heavily influence people's actions. Gender roles can hurt those that are trapped in them because they are not allowed the freedom of living like they want. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, one key relationship in the story is wrecked by gender roles.

Read More

West And Zimmerman Analysis

495 Words | 2 Pages

“Doing Gender” by West and Zimmerman is similar to Butler’s “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” However, West and Zimmerman build upon the ideas that Butler puts forth. Butler focuses on gender as performance and how gender is made up by specific actions. While West and Zimmerman take the concept of performance and constitution and applies it to a new concept, the sex category and how sex categories and gender are intertwined in society. Sex categories and gender, according to West and Zimmerman, are different and interconnected.

Read More

Raisin In The Sun Gender Roles Essay

950 Words | 4 Pages

Raisin in the Sun: Gender Roles Defied Following the event of World War Two, America during the 1950s was an era of economic prosperity. Male soldiers had just returned home from war to see America “at the summit of the world”(Churchill). Many Americans were confident that the future held nothing other than peace and prosperity, so they decided to start families. However, the 1950s was also a time of radical changes. Because most of the men in the family had departed to fight in the war, women were left at home to do the housework.

Read More

The Book Thief: Character Analysis

470 Words | 2 Pages

A good example of this would be, “What was that, Saumensch?” (Zusak, 70) This term appears a lot in the book since “Saumensch” is what Rosa likes to call Liesel. This term was what bugged me the most since “Saumensch” is not a nice thing to call someone, as it is an insult to a woman. The male translation would be “Saukerl.”

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Gender Identity

1045 Words | 5 Pages

Gender is it a concept or is it made apparent by our DNA when you are born or does it change as you grow older? Often gender is something that society defines at birth. According to society certain gender roles are pre established when we are born. The majority of society believes that if you are born to a specific gender you should adhere to the gender roles while other people believe that instead we may be born to a gender but it does not always decide if you are that gender. Science has proven that just because you are born a male or female does not mean that you mentally see yourself as that gender.

Read More

More about In Defense Of Gender By Cyra Mcfeden Summary

Related Topics

Open Document