Gender Clash

Could this blog be full of deception murder and intrigue? Nope, it's a school blog for a Writing Class. Hello fellow Tumbles this blog is about things Gender and Sexuality based. 

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Where would you recommend living at CU? Is kittredge too far from everything?

I've only lived in 2 dorms at CU (Cheyenne Arapaho, one of the worst dorms on campus; and Hallet, one of the best dorms on campus), so I have no idea how Kittredge is on the inside, but from what people say it sounds like a nice place. It is a little far from most places on campus (especially classes), but you can still walk to anywhere you need to go. If you want a place a little bit closer you can try Hallet, I think it's the best dorm on campus. Good luck at CU!

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Week 12: Mix It Up

So I decided to write about tool number 36: Mix Narrative Modes. I'm using option 3 of creating an "educational resource" for this tool by making two passages, one that uses tool 36 well and one that doesn't. 

Also, it's the last week of Writing Tools, so I thought I'd leave with a satire of sorts (It's an old mocumentary idea that I had a couple years back called Watching Grass Grow).  

Weak: 

Thousands of grass blades die every year. They have been killed off in many ways through controlled burns, through droughts, even through outdoor events and the freezing winter weather. The grass is an essential part of our planet, creating a green beautiful climate and food for cows to eat. Nobody wants grass to die and we shouldn't have to.

Throughout this story I have interviewed countless people ranging from John Hothead (a firefighter who is opens up about the true reason for controlled burns), to Professor Luni (a conspiracy theorist who believes the government wants to destroy the grass because the green grass could threaten their very existence by leading people to question their government), we also talk to a government official who is pro grass-killing, of course.     

Strong: 

The day was freezing, temperatures below zero and nobody was outside. Why would they be, nobody wants to freeze to death! However, with everyone's hurry to get inside and keep their families warm they forgot one important thing suffering in silence, underneath the snow: The Grass! 

Thousands of grass blades die every year. They have been killed off in many ways through controlled burns, through droughts, even through outdoor events and the freezing winter weather. The grass is an essential part of our planet, creating a green beautiful climate and food for cows to eat. Nobody wants grass to die and we shouldn't have to.

Throughout this story I have interviewed countless people ranging from John Hothead (a firefighter who is opens up about the true reason for controlled burns), to Professor Luni (a conspiracy theorist who believes the government wants to destroy the grass because the green grass could threaten their very existence by leading people to question their government), we also talk to a government official who is pro grass-killing, of course.  

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  I think the reason the stronger section is indeed stronger is because the intro paragraph sets up what is going to be talked about, the serious tone of the story (but the goofy nature of the entire premise), and makes people kind of feel for the grass. 

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Week 11: Lights, Camera, Action

I racked my brain trying to come up with a funny story this week but I just couldn't, so here's an action story (that's not finished)! I used tool 34: Writing from different cinematic angles and maybe tool 35: Report and write for scenes for this story. I also chose Option 3 of writing 2 samples, one with a weak version of these tools and one with a strong version. Enjoy! 

Weaker: 

"Are you ready?" I asked Jerry.

"As ready as I'll ever be"

"OK, let's go!"

We walked into the bank calmly, making sure to spray paint all the cameras on either side of the automatic door. Even though it was hard to see our real faces we were not taking any chances. 

A security guard noticed us as we walked in, trembling in fear he drew his weapon. "FREEZE!" He yelled, standing his ground.

"Dude, are you really going to point that gun at us? You're trembling, most likely you'll miss and I'll end up shooting you with my shotgun. Please don't make me shoot you, we're just here to get paid."

Stronger: 

The building stood there, overlooking the highway on this warm autumn day. It was a medium sized building with the words "Money Money Bank " stated over the entrance, making sure that everybody knew this was a bank with lots of money. At this entrance were two people were leaning up against the cold hard brick both wearing what appeared to be their uniforms. They each had on a pair of sunglasses, wigs, hats, big leather trench coats, and nice leather gloves.  

"Are you ready?" I asked Jerry.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"OK, let's go!" 

We walked into the bank calmly, making sure to spray paint the cameras on either side of the automatic door. Even though It was hard to see our real faces we were not taking any chances. So many bank robbers get caught every year because they forget about the cameras, we were not going to end up like them. 

Suddenly, from the left we hear it: "FREEZE!" 

A security guard must have noticed us as we walked in, we turned toward him. The security guard had his weapon out but he seemed to be trembling in fear, beads of sweat were rolling down his face. I could make out a gold band on his ring finger, a wedding ring no doubt.

"Dude, are you really going to point that gun at us? You're trembling, most likely you'll miss and I'll end up shooting you with my shotgun. Please don't make me shoot you, think of your family! It's not worth it getting killed, we're just here to get paid."

The weaker version of the story briefly talks about the environment and the security guard, however the stronger version really fleshes out more details like how the bank and characters look and how the security guard feels (and a new detail about who he is).  

[genderclash-blog]

Grave Booster: That Spoopy Halloween

So, I originally was going to post this as Harley Quinn (who I was for Halloween), but I couldn't figure out how to write liker her, so here's a short summary of my Halloween experience instead. 

I was actually surprised to see that not very many women dressed in the sexy/slutty costumes that the industry seems to push in everyone's face. Thankfully I wasn't alone with my surprise as many people in my Masculinities and Femininities class noticed this too. I did notice some sexy/slutty costumes when coming back from trick or treating and a party the next day, but I thought there would be more.

On Halloween I did see more female costumes as being things like animals and not people as opposed to most male costumes being of people. I also noticed that most of the Halloween costumes were not scary! I'm not sure if this is a common trend for University students since I didn't really pay attention last Halloween, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. 

One costume I saw that was pretty cool was a guy who dressed in either a blue body suit or blue tights, with a skirt and an Ash Ketchum mask on the back of his head. Now I have no idea what this person was trying to be, but I loved that he was like 'screw the gender norms'. 

That's about it, here's my Halloween costume. 

And below is a picture where you can see my full costume a little better (but my face doesn't look that great, also whoever was taking this photo didn't get a good shot of the boots I was wearing)

[genderclash-blog]

Objection!

Those eyes, they just keep staring at me, knowing that some day I will crack and have to read more Understanding Rhetoric. I can't see their mouths but I bet they are laughing at me, they know they've won and I will be reading about issue 4 and 5 in their book. 

So I did, I read these two issues and they explained some pretty important ideas. 

Issue 4 

This whole chapter was dedicated on how one makes a convincing argument. It talks in a professional tone while I sit at my desk, shouting out important things to remember about arguments.

"It is important you represent more than 1 side when presenting an argument!" It yells, making sure everyone will hear it. "Here's a basic cheat sheet of what you need!" It shoves page 153 at me. Written on this page are 4 bold words WHAT (facts) HOW (circumstances) WHO (relationships) WHY (reasons). These are the 4 things that should be the basis of each argument.

There's also another mini sheet attached to page 153 titled: page 160. This sheet talks about other very important aspects of an argument such as evidence, analysis, implications, and context. 

"Do you remember Gender and Sexuality for Beginners?" whispers one of the cover faces. "Garbacik made sure to consider more than 1 side of each of her arguments. You can't escape us, you will have to use Rhetorical strategies if you want to succeed in writing!"  

Issue 5

I turn the page to move on and suddenly I'm at a crime scene. The police are here and one guy just took off his glasses while making a pun at the dead corpse on the ground. Why someone would wear glasses at this time of night I don't know, but one thing I do know is that these cops are jumping to conclusions! Thankfully there are 2 more detectives (represented by the faces on the cover of the book) who are here to stop the others from making a grave mistake! 

"You coppers need to do research! Let us show you how to it effectively!" The good detectives talk about how important it is to keep everything organized when doing research and it's important to label your findings for easy retrieval. 

"If you need a quick idea about what good research entails, here's you're source!" The woman says enthusiastically giving out page 188 to the cops. "Some resources are better than others and it depends on which kind of argument you are making! One thing is for sure, though, you must have more than one source!" 

"Let me get this straight," cop 1 says "I have to get multiple sources and organize them well. Do I just throw that all together and hope it works?" 

"No son, you gotta make your evidence sing! Breathe life into this little guy!" The man tells the cop. " There are a few methods, you can Summarize what the source is about, paraphrase the authors arguments, or add a quote from the source to drive the point home."  

"YOU!" The cops pointed at me, "You are under arrest! You have the right to use what you learned in this issue for other classes to effectively argue your theses. You have the right to be more credible in your profession so that your scientific studies can be printed and peer reviewed in authoritative Journals so that others can site your research. Lastly, you have the right to organize your sources making your paper talk less time by easily finding what source you're looking for. Anything you misrepresent or forget to cite will be held against you in the court of law and rhetoric."   

Suddenly I woke up in a barber shop, next to me was a talking eraser and a talking pencil. 

So, that's it for the issues we had to read. I may have gotten a little carried away, so sorry it wasn't super brief. 

Stay tuned for a Halloween Blog where something spooky might just happen *cue menacing laugh*

[genderclash-blog]

Week 10; Option 3: Weak to Strong Shadows

Happy Halloween everyone! This will be the last of my series of mini Halloween related stories, so I hope you like it! I used tool number 29: Foreshadow dramatic events and powerful conclusions from our writing book. I also kind of used tool 30: To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers, but that was in both paragraphs so I don't think I'll count it. 

Weak Use of Foreshadowing:

There I sat, nervous in the waiting room. In a few minutes I was going to have my blood drawn. 

"Nick" the nurse exclaimed. "The doctor will see you now." 

"OK," I replied, getting up and walking to my doctor's office. As I came in I noticed multiple pieces of equipment for various purposes. There was a red examination table in the middle of the room and my doctor told me to lay down on it. 

"Don't worry chap, Dr. Acula will make this quick."

As I lay down I felt a sharp pain on my neck, soon everything went black. 

Good Use of Foreshadowing:

I was nervous, this was the first time I was going to get my blood drawn. I was deathly afraid of needles, but I wanted to give my blood so that I could save someone's life one day whether a young child or an old man. I arrived on time but my doctor wasn't there so the nurse let me take a seat in the waiting area. Soon my doctor emerged from the bathroom "Sorry about that chap, I got something stuck in my teeth. Shall we get our blood drawn then?" He asked. My doctor was a good looking fellow, he had short grey-ish black hair and very hypnotizing eyes. 

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be"  I replied. 

We walked into a small office, full of equipment, in the middle was a red examination table. 

"Now lay down on the table and take a deep breathe. Dr. Acula will put you to sleep." 

As I lay down I felt a sharp pain on my neck, soon everything went black. 

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I may have gone too far on the foreshadowing in my second paragraph but there's just so many ways to foreshadow a vampire attack that I couldn't stop! 

Basically I changed everything but the plot in this fix up. I added so many more scenes of foreshadowing, The new story sets up the vampire so much that, after knowing the doctor is a vampire, you can easily go back and see how almost every sentence has some kind of foreshadowing of what is going to be going down.However, the foreshadowing doesn't take away from the story and adds more details about the main character.

The use of more foreshadowing also makes the story a little bit funny (yay dark humor), and has the great moment of "OMG I could have seen this coming from the first sentence!" However, having more sentences of foreshadowing makes the piece easier, and more fun to read (which is why the second story is so much stronger). 

I really enjoyed this activity and I learned how writing foreshadowing is really fun but it takes more time because you have to shape sentences in just the way you need them to be. It's also way more fun to read stories with foreshadowing than stories without or with less foreshadowing. 

[genderclash-blog]

Week 9: Time to Quote Marijuana Doggie Bags!

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm using the books tool 28: Put odd and interesting things next to each other, and some of tool 26: Use Dialogue as a form of action. I really wanted to make up a scary story but I couldn't think of any, so here's a weird story that's still kind of Halloween themed. 

Oldie:

It was a bright summer day as I walked through my neighborhood. Suddenly I stumbled upon an odd garage sale from my neighbor Mr. Muerte. He was a lively fellow and was eager to sell me one of his wares.

"Let's see," I said as I scanned his garage for something interesting. Stuffed animals, a skeleton hand, a lampshade. 

"Wait! Why do you have a skeleton hand mixed in with your toys?" I asked.

"Oh, that's where you are. Thanks for pointing that out!" Mr. Muerte exclaimed, grabbing the skeleton hand and popping it back into place at the end of his left arm. 

Goodie:

"Ah, another beautiful bright day in autumn!" I exclaimed, walking out my front door. I planned on walking around my neighborhood to see what everyone was up to, suddenly I saw my neighbor, Mr. Muerte having a garage sale. 

"Hi, Mr. Muerte what's up?" I asked.

"Not much, I have tons of things for sale" Mr. Muerte responded.

"OK, let's see. Stuffed animals, broken dolls, a skeleton of a hand, a fishing pole. Wait! Why do you have a skeleton hand mixed in with your toys?" 

"Oh, that's where you are. Thanks for pointing that out!" Mr. Muerte exclaimed, grabbing the skeleton hand and popping it back into place at the end of his left arm. 

I think my second paragraph works out a little better as I used dialogue to describe the day and what was happening at the garage sale, and I put some intersting things next to the skeleton hand such as broken dolls and a fishing pole. Why does death have a fishing pole and not a scythe? What's up with those broken dolls? These things intrigue the reader. 

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Chapter 8 + Ending: TRANSforming The World

Summary:

Chapter 8: Garbacik talks about how western medical and psychological views have influenced public perception of trangender people. She also talks about early contributes of studies on trans people (such as Harry Benjamin)

Looking Forward: Garbacik talks about her point in the book; gender norms (and binary) and heteronormativity are problematic for society. Also inclusion FTW! 

Response

Chapter 8: Having medical and psychologists contribute to the pathologization of trans people wasn't very surprising as institutions tended to label anything that was not the norm as society and tried to study that. (going back to Faucoult and Queer Theory).

I see Harry Benjamin's standards of care as a stepping stone inbetween the old nothing/condemning trans people to tollerance of trans people. His standards of care assumes that the trans individual does not know as much about their experience as a therapist (they have to see a psychologist for 90 days, and they must have a letter from that therapist  to get their hormones, they also must live as their true gender for a year before any surgery can happen). He also says that being trans is an illness needing to be cured. It's amazing that this is still a standard of care some people use even though it's from more than 50 years ago! You'd think everyone would have moved onto a better standard of care and idea about trans people by now. 

It was really interesting to read that sexual reassignment surgery was first attempted by German doctors in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as I thought it might have started in the late 1940's - 1950. 

It's also interesting (and kind of great) that some cultures do see trans people as being the gender they feel they are and not the sex they were born as. Some middle east countries let people change their gender if they have a homosexual relationship because they see that the person changing their gender must not be the gender they identify as. Although, of course, the big downside is that they are condemning homosexuality and saying that nobody actually likes the same sex.  

It's also interesting (and terrible) how trans people are represented in the media, from being comic relief to being men/women in drag (like in the movies Dallas Buyers Club, Transparent, or Boys Don't Cry). At least there's decent trans representation in Orange is the New Black. The way trans people are represented really continues to keep the archaic view that trans people are really just their birth gender and not their actual gender.  

Lastly, I'm glad some of the pictures were helpful (mostly the parts with statistics)

Looking Forward: I agree with what Garbacik says; gender norms hurt everyone because nobody can match up to them and it creates self-concious people wanting to be those norms and getting criticized if they do not fit into the gender norms. it's also great to be more inclusive and spreading awareness of LGBT people is always good too.  

Woo, we finished reading the book! Celebration time! 

[genderclash-blog]

Chapter 7: Queer Theory AKA Let's Blow Up The World And Start Over

Summary 

Garbacik starts off with talking about different Queer Theorists such as Judith Butler and David Halperin. She says that as a noun queer means opposition to heteronormativity (which is thus defined by heteronormativity). As a a verb queer means to make inclusive. Garbacik also talks about what queer theorists think about gender and Butlers idea of performativity being that gender is created by constantly citing the societal standard to perform the actions they do.   

Garbacik also talks about issues people have with queer theory such as it's seemingly devaluing of masculinity and femininity and fear it might lead some people to become marginalized because of their gender idenity.  

Response

So I'm taking a queer theory class this semester so this whole chapter was basically about things I already read about. From normal being just a concept or ideal (since nobody's completely normal but society pushes those ideals onto us anyways), to gender being about citing the norms. 

Queer theory also points out the problems of having a binary system and it's great that more and more people are seeing gender and sexuality as more of a spectrum and not a binary. 

There's also the issues queer theorists have with single issue politics leaving others behind (and issues about queer theory with people who speak for certain groups even though they don't identify as being in them). 

Anyway, I didn't really find the pictures helpful (with the exception of the queer shirt being on both men and women). I also wished she would have defined heteronormativity because some people might not know what it means (it basically means being the norm, like being heterosexual, white, married to one woman, having a child, etc.)

I do like how she talked about what queer theorists believed and problems some people have with them. I do agree with the people who think  queer theory is more concerned with institutions and academic theories than politics that change people's lives since many readings seem to attack institutions and basically Foucault's History about Sexuality was one of the first books in Queer Theory and that had the power of institutions as it's main focus.

This chapter also is huge in Garbacik's main idea of the book: that we need to rethink our assumptions on gender, because queer theory is all about rethinking gender and sexuality and what is normal and what is not. 

[genderclash-blog]

Week 8: Showing Off with Neon Peacocks

I decided to use tool 21 "Know when to back off and when to show off" and because it's still October I decided to continue telling another Halloween-esque story (one that's not so spooky though). 

In the Past

The man opened his eyes, the sky was blue and peacocks were dancing around laughing at him. "You're a living dead, you're a living dead" They chanted pointing at the man as he stood up. 

Suddenly everything stopped, and the man opened his eyes for a second time, darkness stared back at him. "Ah, it was only a dream" he thought to himself, as he rolled over on his side, creating a scraping noise that pierced the heavens as his bony body scraped upon the side of his obliterated casket.  

Revision

The man opened his eyes, the sky was blue and peacocks as tall as skyscrapers were dancing around him like figure skaters going for the gold on Olympic night. These neon colored peacocks shined like a light-brite as they cackled gleefully at the man "you're a living dead, you're a living dead." They chanted in unison, pointing to the man with their neon colored feathers as the man stood up.  

Suddenly everything stopped and the man opened his eyes for a second time. All he saw was the dark of the night. "It was only a dream," he thought to himself as he rolled over, his bony body scraping against the side of his rotting casket. 

I understood what the author was saying, although it was kind of hard for me to transfer this kind of idea into fiction writing so I gave it my best shot. Because the peacocks are more playful and not really important to the plot (it's a dream sequence too, which is an excuse to be trippy), I decided to add in some exaggerations making the dream sequence more fun. Then, when the man wakes up, I took away the exaggeration and tried to understate things, giving the second paragraph a more serious tone. Thus building up to the important revelation in the second paragraph that the man really is a living dead while also being a surprise because that only seemed like it was part of the dream. 

From chapter 23 I think this will help by showing me what passages I might want to take out while reading out loud. 

Chapter 24 sounds like it will be helpful in writing as I can outline ideas about what I want in my writing before I write the paper. Then I have some ideas about what I want to write about while also having some leeway so I can write something new if the moonlight strikes me. 

[genderclash-blog]

Chapter 6: ACTIVIST!

In Chapter 6 Garbicik seems to be losing her mind as the entire chapter has the one sentence "All work and no play makes Garbickik a dull woman"..... OK maybe that didn't actually happen, don't fall asleep while reading this book while also watching The Shining!

Seriously though, this chapter is about the history of Gay and Lesbian Activism. It talks about the Mattachine Society coming about in 1950 being concerned about male homosexuality issues. Another group of the 1950's was the Daughters of Bilitis. These were women who wanted to change negative ideas about lesbianism and were concerned for homosexuals. They thought we should be sympathetic and not persecute them as well as to have lesbians assimilate and be more feminine. 

Later, Garbicik talks about important events such as the lavender scare (this went along with the red scare but instead of the persecution of communists it was the persecution of homosexuals). Stonewall in 1969 was also an important issue (although it was interesting how Garbicik left out some groups when talking about the people fighting back and doing the riots, predominantly only focusing on gay individuals). This created more radical lesbian and gay activist groups.

To sum it up Garbicik talked about the homophile movement where people wanted to inform others about homosexuality, to the gay liberation movement that says "screw society" and debated gender behavior, the neuclear family, and monogamy while also looking down on assimilation. Basically this is where queer theorists are (at least from what I've read in my Queer Theory class). And then modern day activism with assimilation politics (the more formal and normal agenda).

Response

This chapter covered a lot. I thought it was interesting how the gay liberation movement sounds like what Queer Theorists want, however it is not what is happening now. It would have been interesting if Garbicik really dug deep into how and why the Gay Liberation Movement changed and talk about the impact it had on people. I also think it's interesting that most people think the "A" in LGBTQIA only stands for Ally when it also stands for Asexuality. It could have something to do with assimilation politics that many LGBT organizations use (going with the "we're just like you but gay" model and pushing for single issues that only benefit some people, like Gay marriage, when there are much more harmful issues to talk about like LGBT homelessness). It would be interesting to find out why this is, since asexuality has been a term since the early 2000's.  

[genderclash-blog]

Week 8: What's Our Orientation, Captain?

Garbacik talks about sexual orientation in chapter 5 of her book. 

She talks about gender roles constructs heterosexuality in our society as well as two different thinkers in the whole sexuality debate.

One of these groups of thinkers are called Essentialists. These people see identity as a natural and unchangeable fact unique to each individual and determined at birth; they're basically people who would be singing "Born this Way" or at the very least agree with the message.

The other group of thinkers are called Constructionists. These people suggest that one's sexual orientation can't be understood as falling into one category with the same label irrespective of where or when one lives; basically they say identity changes over ones life and that you are not the you 1 hour ago because something may have happened within the hour that changed you some way (most likely small)... OK maybe not all of them are that philosophical.

Response

I think it was interesting to look at the world fro ma constructionists point of view as you can point to examples in the real world where peoples sexuality changes like some trans people whose sexuality changes with hormones. You can also point to real world examples of why people might not say that their sexuality changed like the biphobia in LGBT spaces and the homophobia in straight spaces. Its also interesting to think about why this narrative got dropped in favor of an essentialist model for LGBT activists. I can see a few reasons for this. First, the essentialist model makes it more similar to other civil rights campagins (more specifically the African-American civil rights campaigns, ironically many issues that LGBT people of color have aren't seen in mainstream LGBT activism which is terrible). It also stops people from saying "just change". 

Essentialism also has some evidence as with the programs that are supposed to "fix" homosexuality end up hurting those people because they feel even more shame about wanting the relationships they want.   

I also thought that it was interesting how homosexual acts were once seen as OK and an illicit activity anyone might do and now people are arguing about it.

Personally I don't think this debate should matter as we should someones sexual orientation whatever it is as long as they're both consenting adults who actually cares?   

The way that Garbacik sets up this chapter also draws parallels with the chapter about the biology of sex and gender where scientists were determined to find differences between Men and Women here scientists are trying to do the same but with Heterosexual and Homosexuals.   

It's also harmful to have heterosexuality seen as the norm or standard because it makes other sexual orientations seem as something less and avoids taking a closer look at heterosexuality. 

[genderclash-blog]

Week 8: Construction Junction, What's Your Function? Building Up Gender Roles For You To Follow

What's going on in Chapter 4 of Gender and Sexuality for Beginners? Well a talk of on the modern construction of gender roles, of course! 

Garbacik talks about how people are socialized into gender roles right after they are brought into this world ("get the emergency pink coded blankets nurse John this ones a girl! Wait, never mind it's actually a boy, get the emergency blue blanket!). Garbacik also says that parenting and early social interaction has a huge impact on the construction of identities for all genders. 

Response

I liked the intro comic and how the first page of the chapter was divided into stereotypical toys of both boys and girls and I also liked the statistics. If ound that it was interesting how parents unintentionally conditioned their children to act their birth gender by their actions and thoughts even if they didn't realize it. I also found it interesting how child psychologists encouraged gender distinctions to be actively taught and how culture continues to try and dived both men and women. This gives credence to some queer theorists that I've read such as Judith Butler who said that actively enforcing gender shows how unstable and constructed our gender ideas are. 

Also a question: How would gender be viewed if gender distinctions were not actively taught?  

[genderclash-blog]

Reading Response Adventures: Gather 'Round for a History Lesson

The book: Gender and Sexuality for Beginners. The task: Read the first 3 chapters, summarize and respond to each of them. 

Will this task prove possible or will our blogger go crazy reading? Find out this time on Reading Response Adventures!   

Chapter 1: THE BIOLOGY OF SEX AND GENDER

This chapter talked about the sex and gender binary (like what happens to intersex individuals) and how our culture sees physical characteristics as one's gender identity as well as one's sex instead of just one's sex. It also talks about the debate about biological differences between male and female.  

Response:

First, I like comic in the beginning as it gives the reader an idea about whats going to be talked about in chapter. I also liked the corpus callosum picture too, however I thought most of the other pictures weren't really that helpful (except for the notes to the side). 

I think Garbacik is trying to get the reader to understand the difference between sex and gender identity as well as showing how society constructs these ideas. She talks about intersex people showing how the idea of a binary model of sex is a ridiculous idea. It's nice how she used a lot of different sources in this chapter too, it helps her ethos. 

A few questions raised in this chapter is: How are certain people attracted to feminine things while others are attracted to masculine things? What happens if neither person is pushed into the binary system as a child, would they still (mostly) pick toys of their assigned gender or would they mostly pick toys from the other gender, or would be be equal?

Our blogger has finished the first chapter and is keeping up speed, will learning about the construction of gender roles stop 'em?

Chapter 2: HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER ROLES 

This chapter talked about our evolution from animals for a little bit and then talked about how gender roles are constructed and what men's and women's roles are at different time periods.

Response:

Again I find the intro comic helpful, as well as the evolution model (pg 28, 29). There were a few other images that helped out too like the Vitruvian Man by Da Vinci, but I didn't find the pictures of famous people all that helpful. I would have liked to have maybe seen pictures of different scriptures from different ideologies or a God of the more patriarchal religions and a Goddess of a less patriarchal religion comparison.  

This chapter helps in understanding how the binary model of sexuality and gender is problematic because it talks about how gender roles are constructed by society. 

It's interesting to see how monotheistic religion helped create gender roles (although not that surprising) along with Greek and Roman mythology. It's also cool to see how different gender roles are around the world. 

As I went through this chapter I started wondering What caused people to write about differences in gender in religion? Also, how did it get so popular when the norm was with both male and female deities?

It's getting down to the wire, our blogger only has one more chapter to go! Will the history of feminism and the discarding of it's misconceptions set our blogger crazy? 

Chapter 3: FEMINISM 

The history of feminism was talked about in this chapter. First wave feminism and the right to vote (and contraception), second wave feminism and their concern with rape, and third wave feminism concerned with sexual abuse, eating disorders, and low self-esteem issues.

Response 

Fighting for equal rights shows how a binary model of sexuality and gender can repress one group and give another group more power. 

It's interesting how a man (John Stuart Mill) helped influence feminism and it's interesting how biblical scripture was quoted in speeches for equal rights since the last chapter talked about how monotheistic religions helped create gender roles. It's also disappointing that black women were largely barred from first wave feminism even though it was started out on anti-slavery activism.

Some questions that come to mind were: Why were black women ignored during first wave feminism? How did this exclusion impact black women today?

Our blogger has completed the task of reading 3 chapters and the imaginary crowd goes wild! What do you have to say about this task, blogger? "Well, it seemed a little tough at first since I normally don't read this many pages for a single assignment. But I'm glad I was able to complete the task. Also I'm sorry this blog post is kinda long, I hope I kept it a little entertaining." 

[genderclash-blog]

Grade Booster Option: Give a Riff, Change a Tone

Making up creepy stories is way too addictive so I decided to try to integrate Tool 17: Riff on the creative language of others, into another super short horror story I wrote. This is the result.

OLDIE

I was happy when John told me he wanted to come for dinner. I haven't had anything good to eat in a couple weeks. John arrived and, thankfully, he didn't suspect that his food would be drugged. Soon he was passed out and I was able to decent on the body, spices in hand. 

REVISION

I was happy when John told me he wanted to come for dinner. Too bad John doesn't know what I eat. Oh well, John sure is finger lickin' good!  

As you can see this story changed from something that could be terrifying to something more comical as the speaker is making fun of KFC's slogan while presumably eating John, possibly one of his fingers. I like my revision because it's funny but at the same time kind of creepy and I love horror comedy/dark humor. I was also not trying to be so creepy with this mini-story. I also like how short it is, saying so much in so little words is hard but also pretty fun to try to do it (especially with horror stories). 

[genderclash-blog]

Week 7: Clowning the Pace

Everyday is Halloween in October! So I decided why not write another creepy creative mini-story. This is basically based on The Clown Statue Urban Legend and reading super short creepy 2 sentence stories.  

OLDIE

I wish this clown would stop looking at me, it's 3 AM and I need some sleep. I called the family I'm overnight babysitting for and they said they don't have any clown items. I really wish this clown would stop staring at me and grinning, those sharp pointy teeth glistening in the moonlight. This clown wants me, I know it. The clown got up and started to stagger toward me. 'Like a good nightmare, Clownboy is here' rang through my head. "You dropped this" he said as he handed me a knife with a bloody fingerprint on the side, the kind only a child could make. 

REVISION

I wish this clown would stop looking at me, it's 3 AM and I need some sleep. I don't know how a clown got in here, my family doesn't have one. I really wish this clown would stop staring at me and grinning. 

I used tool 18: set the pace with sentence length. It changed the meaning of the story a little bit but I think it's for the better. The pacing is done so that all these sentences are about the same length except for the last sentence which is a little bit smaller and makes the reader assume the worst has happened to the speaker of the story. Horror is said to be more terrifying if left to the readers imagination, so I think it is also scarier to let the reader imagine the look of the clown and what might happen instead of describe what the clown looks like and what happened. 

[genderclash-blog]

Don't Shut that Exclusivity Door

The book stood on my wooden shelf, looking at me, taunting me, it's been there for a little over a month now and has yet to be touched. Today, however, it's time has come. I knew I had to read this book and I knew my homework was to write about. Book you are going down (and by going down I mean I'm going to read you and then write a short summary and analyze you)! There, no more staring contests! 

For homework this week we were to read both Issue 3: Writing Identities in Understanding Rhetoric and the intro of Gender and Sexuality for Beginners by Jaimee Garbacik. 

Garbacik tells us that she is in the LGBTQIA community by lumping herself in with other LGBTQIA people early on (beginning of the 3rd paragraph), showing that she is more on the side of the LGBTQIA people and will probably be more sympathetic to their issues. However Garbacik also says that she is not a scholar of these issues which kind of hurts her credibility. To fix this Garbacik says that she has interviewed service providers, academics, activists, and many queer young people showing how she has done research on these topics giving her more credibility. She also says that she is trying to provide a balanced, accessible, and on-the-ground way of writing about these issues which make her sound a little more credible.

Now that you know about the author it's time for a summary about the introduction as well as a surprise analysis!

Inclusion and exclusion were the main themes of the introduction as Garbacik and she talked about how when we create groups some people always tend to be left out (she uses how hard it is to achieve inclusivity in LGBTQIA groups as an example). Garbacik makes an effort to talk about young people and how they have some good ideas and know more than adults give them credit for. 

The reason Garbacik is writing this book now seems to be due to the fact that more people are paying attention to queer youths. Looking through this book I think that it will take an educating stance referencing people all across the LGBTQIA spectrum (most probably youths) as well statistics from institutions. This book will also take a critical look at our society and is probably pushing for an agenda of inclusiveness. 

Garbacik employed many rhetorical strategies throughout this introduction, she uses ethos to tell people about her as well as how she interviewed many people. Garbacik uses logos when she gives statistics of queer youth and suicides, which ties into pathos in how we are to feel about queer youths.