Androcentrism: male-centeredness
This is not just the historically crude perception that men are inherently superior to women but a more treacherous underpinning of that perception: a definition of males and male experience as a neutral standard or norm, and females and female experience as a sex-specific deviation from that norm.
Gender Polarization:
Once again, this is not just the historically crude perception that women and men are fundamentally different from one another but the more subtle and insidious use of that perceived difference as an organizing principle for the social life of the culture. It is thus not simply that women and men are seen to be different but that this male-female difference is superimposed on so many aspects of the social world that a cultural connection is thereby forged between sex and virtually every other aspect of human experience, including modes of dress and social roles and even ways of expressing emotion and experiencing sexual desire.
Biological Essentialism:
Rationalizes and legitimizes the two above by treating them as the natural and inevitable consequences of the intrinsic biological natures of women and men.
—Sandra Lipsitz Bem, The Lenses of Gender (2)
Required Readings
- Weedon, Feminist Practice, Preface, Ch. 1 “Feminism and Theory” (1-11)
- Holmes and Meyerhoff, The Handbook of Language and Gender, Intro (1-17), McElhinny Ch. 1 “Theorizing Gender in Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Anthropology” (21-42) [Moodle2]
- Elgin, Native Tongue: Preface, Chapters 1 & 2 (5-33); Introduction, A First Dictionary and Grammar of Láadan [Moodle2]
- Research paper information
Additional Resources
- Sandra Lipsitz Bem, The Lenses of Gender: Preface, Introduction, Chapter 5 “The Construction of Gender Identity” [Moodle2]
- Sample journal entry 1
- Sample journal entry 2
Other Works by These Authors
- Elgin, Suzette Haden
Earthsong; Native Tongue III
The Judas Rose (Native Tongue, Book 2)
Twelve Fair Kingdoms
Star-Anchored, Star-Angered (Doubleday Science Fiction)
The Grand Jubilee (Ozark Fantasy Trilogy, Book 2)
And Then There’ll Be Fireworks : Book Three of the Ozark Fantasy Trilogy
Yonder Comes the Other End of Time (Daw Collectors Book, No 663)
Due This Week
Weekly journal entry including main points from readings, major points about language treated by Elgin in Native Tongue, and observations about language from daily life.
Gender Assignment: Come up with 5 examples of traditional representations of gender roles in current society (use any cultural artifact, like TV-show premises, book/movie plots or characters, song lyrics, quotes from the news or from discussions of current events, etc.) and 5 examples of intentional transgression of gender roles in current society. Be prepared to present your examples to the class and to discuss how language mediates and maintains these representations and constructions of gender. Visuals (you may send me digital files by Tuesday to upload) and/or handouts preferred. Bring copies of all your examples to be kept by professor.