Thank a Feminist. Read the box entitled “Thank a Feminist” on page 12. For four days and nights (two during the week and the weekend), make notes about the nature of your activities, acquaintances, the people you meet or simply talk to, memberships, where you go, and when all of these scenarios occur. Consider the ways in which your life would have been different one hundred years ago. Would you have been permitted in the same places? Would you have safely left your home at the same times? Performed the same activities? Why or why not? Would the labor in your household have been divided differently? Would your social life have been different? In what ways? Would your leisure time have been spent differently? How so? Why? Finally, what areas of your life have been made possible via feminism? Who might you thank, and how?
Examining Privilege. Following Peggy Mcintosh’s example in “White Privilege and Male Privilege,” begin to notice two ways in which you receive privilege (based on, e.g., your race, class, gender, age, sexual orientation, mental and/or physical ability, and/or religious affiliation). For each of the ways identified above, make a list of ten to fifteen current situations and/or conditions in which you receive unearned privilege due to your membership in that particular group. You should have two (2) lists of 10-15 examples each. Following your lists, write a two-page critical reflection essay of your personal experience with power, privilege, and oppression.
Read a Romance Novel. Romance fiction became the largest share of the consumer book market in 2007 with nearly $1.4 billion in revenue. Romance publishers released over 8,000 titles, a 26% increase over 2006 (Romance Writers of America). Read a romance novel by one of the genre’s top five publishers: Harlequin, Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, or Kensington. As you read the novel, also read the way gender is portrayed in the narrative. How does the text describe integral female and male characters? Discuss the personality traits of the heroine(s) and/or hero(es). What are their economic resources and social standing? What messages does the novel advance, reinforce, or challenge about masculinity, femininity, love, romance, and sexuality? Discuss gender stereotypes, gender identity, and gender roles in relation to the text. How do the hero(es) and/or heroine(s) experience falling in love? Does the story rank falling in love and work? If so, how so? Does the ranking change for a male versus a female character? How are women’s multiple identities (e.g., as worker, friend, daughter, sister, and romantic partner) represented as linked or separated? Does the novel portray sexual intimacy? Between which genders? Is coercion involved? Do the sexually active characters consider the issues surrounding sexually transmitted disease or contraception? How does the novel’s engagement with social stereotypes and scripts influence readers’ understanding of their own experiences? What do you think makes this genre so popular among female readers?
Looking Good, Feeling Sexy, Getting a Man. Collect four different women’s magazines such as (but not limited to) Allure, Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, Elle, Glamour, O (The Oprah Magazine), Parents, Prevention, Redbook, Self, Vogue, W, and Women's Day. Read through the magazines and complete the chart below, listing the number of articles you find about each topic under each magazine title.
| | 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. |
| Makeup | | | | |
| Clothes | | | | |
| Hair | | | | |
| Sex/Dating | | | | |
| Dieting/Exercise | | | | |
| Food/Recipes | | | | |
| Home Décor | | | | |
| Work | | | | |
| Politics/Current Events | | | | |
| Self-help | | | | |
Read the magazine genre descriptions on page 509. Looking at your own research samples as a group, answer the following questions. Who is pictured on the cover? What article titles dominate the cover? What do you observe from your analysis? What messages about gender are these magazines presenting? What products are advertised in each magazine? How do these products differ from the products advertised in gender-neutral magazines (e.g., Newsweek, The Atlantic)? What do the visual images in the advertisements suggest? What do the words tell readers? What messages do these advertisements send about women’s bodies? (How) does this affect the way women are viewed by others?
What Makes a Family? Survey ten people in your residence hall or other organization on the structures of their families of origin. Whom do the interviewees consider to be in their families? What relation do these people have to your interviewees? Do (or did) all of their identified family members live in the same house? Who were the interviewees’ primary caregivers while they were children? Who was primarily responsible for the financial well-being of the family? For the emotional well-being of the family? Was the family of origin closely connected to extended family? If so, which extended family members and in what ways? Compare your findings with your own family model. What do your findings lead you to surmise about what makes a family? How closely do the families of your interviewees (and your own) resemble the dominant notion of the nuclear family (e.g., a husband and wife in their first marriage and their two or three biological, heterosexual children, all of the same race/ethnicity/religion/etc.)? What do you think is the impact of our stereotype of the nuclear family on social policy? How do you think this stereotype affects real families dealing with the real problems of everyday family life?
The League of Women Voters. Read the Learning Activity on page 615, “The League of Women Voters.” Choose one “project,” “issue,” or “take action” item from the website’s drop-down menus. Read around the LWV website to learn about the item you’ve chosen. What is LWV doing on this issue, project, or action item? Will you get involved? How so? Why? If you will not get involved, then why not? What other opportunity for activism, if any, might you explore next? Explain your reasoning.
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