After studying Judith Butler’s theory on gender performativity in class, we brainstormed a list of questions to ask of our memoirs in order to apply a gender lens to them. Share your top two questions. Make sure to read through all of the comments before you post so that you do not repeat questions. For your 2 comments, your job is to help each other refine the questions we plan to ask of our memoirs.
Examples:
- How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?
- Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?
- How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are these relationships sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved?
Brain on Fire by Susannah Callahan
ReplyDeleteWhen did Susannah Callahan, author of Brain on Fire exhibit behaviors that seemed odd to her? Did she consider these behaviors odd because they were things that she wouldn't typically do as a woman?
In what way does the author characterize her boyfriend, Stephen? Does his characterization fit that of the "typical" male ? Or was his characterization uninfluenced by his gender?
Maybe you’d want to consider the question: What is Susannah Callahan portraying about the narrator’s gender? Does she suggest that the females in the book hold some kind of significant meaning in the book?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteBased on how society displays gender roles in books, I would not be surprised if the way the author characterized stephen actually did fit that of the typical male.
Delete"Night" by Elie Wiesel
ReplyDelete1.) Did you see a difference in the way men and women were treated in the concentration camps?
2.)How do you suppose the experience was different at the camps between men and women?
3.)As a man did you ever feel like you had some type of advantage over women especially under the conditions of a labor camp?
Maybe you’d want to consider the question: Is there gender inequality within the concentration camps?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deleteto what extent are the genders in each camp different from each other?
DeleteConsider this: Would Ellie Wiesel have had the same experiences (the super traumatic things that happened to him) if he was a female rather than a male?
DeleteYes, but what about the children in the concentration camps? Try to tie in both the boys and girls in these camps. Going through this harsh experience in these concentration camps are never ending. So do the children get special treatment because of how young they're or do they still have to do some hard physical labor like the men and women?
DeleteBrain on Fire by Susannah Callahan
ReplyDelete1) What is the author trying to say about the narrator when she mentions that the narrator’s step father called her a “slut” in the car on their way to the hospital? Is the narrator saying something significant about the narrator's’ gender? Or how the narrator is perceived in the book?
2) How does the author characterize the other individuals in the book? Does she characterize them to follow the gender binary norm or does it not really matter?
I feel like "slut" is commonly known for women rather than males. could it be because she did a some act that, to some extent the father thought was sluttish?
DeleteEven when people call men a 'slut' they are referring it to a woman's act. I think this poses a lot of fingers pointed towards women in this sense which demonstrates that the narrator is saying something significant about her gender.
DeletePush by Sapphire:
ReplyDeleteTo what extent would the book change if precious was a male?
How does Precious and her mom relate to each other, how would they differ if the mom was a male?
To your second question, maybe the gender plays a role in how they treat each other?
DeleteYou're first question is very interesting as it adds a whole new view onto your memoir.
DeleteFor your first question maybe consider if the experience of the protagonist would've been different if she were male?
DeleteWhen dealing with your first question, take into consideration the social and personal factors that affected her as female in her struggles. Do these factors majorly contribute to her experience?
DeleteGoing off Script by Giuliana Rancic
ReplyDelete1) The main character in my book mentioned the fact that she's not good at playing sports she'd rather model, go for the crown in the Miss Universe pageant. What is this trying to portray about gender?
2) Are there anymore experiences throughout the book that correlate to gender? For example, through the use of certain actions or things some characters say.
Hmm maybe to make the first question even deeper you could consider whether or not the author really didn't like playing sports or if she didn't like it because society said that it was boy-ish?
DeleteI think you definitely have to consider societal pressure when dealing with your first question!
DeleteYeah, I think you should consider society as a factor for the first question.
DeletePush by Sapphire
ReplyDeleteHow are women portrayed as in the book?
Does the absence of significant male characters have significance?
Considering I watched the movie, the second question stuck out to me the most. How might having men in the book/movie change the scenery and topics?
DeleteMaybe question, how would the book differ of all the characters will male and not female? Will it?
DeleteUndocumented by Dan-el Padilla Peralta
ReplyDelete1) Is the immigrant experience variant by gender?
2) How do cultural gender roles of an an immigrant play out in a place with a different set of gender expectations.
I like your first question because it questions something that is talked about a lot.
DeleteI feel like gender roles can evolve from other cultures so you could also ask if they have an effect on the people adjusting to a new environment.
DeleteGoing off Script - Giuliana Rancic
ReplyDelete1. Giuliana mentions in one part of the book: "Local approval good. Universal approval better." How does this affect Giuliana's decisions in life and her person? Being a female, does she feel like she's pressured to be approved by society?
2. Giuliana went on a shopping spree with all her siblings and the boys got cars and videogames while Giuliana got a doll. Why did Giuliana not hesitate when getting her baby doll? When did she realize/determine that dolls were for girls and not her brothers?
I think you should consider; does societal pressure vary based on gender?
DeleteNight by Ellie Wiesel
ReplyDelete1. How did gender play a role in the executions in the concentration camps?
2. Why were women and children put into different sections of the camps instead of who was capable of doing what? Yeah women and men should be separated due to other reasons but should they be placed into complete women sections and men sections due to gender or because of what they did before?
Your first question provokes an interesting conversation.
DeleteI like your second question but also consider, are women capable of the same treatment as men?
DeleteFor your second question, I think women and men were separated because it has always been like that in the sense that society separate the two group in sections like having different bathrooms, lockers ect.
DeletePush ' Sapphire
ReplyDelete1.Does the book display a stereotype when illustrating the life of precious ?
2,Would Precious' mother would've treated her different if she was a boy?
I like your second question because it is a thought provoking one in where we all can recognize. If we guys were girls then we most definitely would be treated different since in society's lenses women are diffident and weak.
DeleteGoing off script by Giuliana Rancic
ReplyDelete1. Giuliana wasn't able to fulfill her life long dream of becoming a TV anchorwoman because of her difficult childhood. After meeting someone really significant, she decided that Hollywood was her target. What privileges did she receive as a woman? If she was a male, would her change of career turn out to be different?
2. Considering infertility problems are most common in women, what role did that play towards her character?
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison? By Piper Kerman
ReplyDelete1. Does gender play a role in the criminal justice system? Just how different is prison for men and women?
2. Since motherhood is a characteristic common to many women in prison, is it fair that women have to undergo being separated from their children? That their children have to suffer from barely seeing their mother?
I really acknowledge your first question as is stands to separate women and men from the criminal justice system.
DeleteOrange is the new black: My year in a women's prison. By piper Kerman
ReplyDelete1. If her experience in prison would have been different if she were a man?
2. Does there exist a difference between a male and female in her novel?
Those are very interesting questions, they're thought provoking. Your questions also has evidence to back it up, not only in the novel but in real life prisons generally. Female and male prisons are significantly different, in how guards treat inmates and also the relationships between inmates as well. I would be curious to see how people would respond to your questions.
DeleteI think that the experiences that Piper goes through in jail would be similar to a male's jail, not entirely but similar in some senses like having a "jail wife"
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"6 Minutes Wrestling With Life: A Family's Tragedy to Triumph" by JohnA Passaro
ReplyDelete1) Do people look at wrestling differently when females are out there wrestling? Is it safe for them?
2) When I look at the word strength, I automatically think of a male. Aside from pure physique lets look at the psychological state of mind. Does a female have a mental capacity as tough as a rock or do they let the pressure get the best of em? Can you even compare their unstable mentality with a male's mentality?
side note: *I have nothing against females and their desire to participate in sports* lol
I like your first question because you're looking at the female aspect and if we should look at them different when they wrestle just because of the gender they represent. The fact that you're asking if it's safe for them to wrestle is just saying that women aren't strong enough physically, but also mentally and many could disagree with that.
Deletecan you clarify what you meant by pressure on your second question?
DeletePeople probably look at wrestling differently when females wrestle. Because there's a different expectations for different genders.
Delete@Joe... Well, when wrestling, the adrenaline rush before your match is just racing through your veins and I have seen people puke and faint before. A wrestler, like myself, has so much pressure on them to win because if one were to lose, it is the worst feeling in the world. So I was wondering if girls can handle that type of pressure.
DeleteAlmas--Interesting question. A few girls I know have passed 12 lb human bodies through their own bodies. Most of the girls you know will do the same thing at some point in their lives. I see no reason they couldn't handle the pressure of the adrenaline that comes with wrestling another human. To be honest, seems like small shakes compared to growing a body within your body and then passing it out with an entire audience watching. Just saying.
DeleteAlso, and again, @Almas-- can you clarify what you mean by "their unstable mentality"?
Delete@Ms. Walsh-- That is very fascinating. Well Ms. Walsh, people have been telling me I am to quick to judge when it comes to girls and sports. There is no problem with that, I can see where people are coming from. However, when I was talking about, "unstable mentality" an inner feeling of mine just wanted to say that. From personal experiences that I have encountered last year, I was watching a girls wrestling match at the MLK campus. I wanted to come out and support the girls team. I noticed there were some hunter high school students on the team and wanted to check on how they deal with the pressure before and during their match. So there was this one hunter high school girl who looked like she was going to faint any minute. She was facing an athletic girl but had no wrestling experience. The fact that the other girl was just simply more athletic automatically drained the hunter high school's girl confidence. She cracked under pressure and was not amusing to watch, neither was the other girl. The other girl was able to deal with this pressure and enjoyed herself on the mat. She got the win with straight up confidence, she was also calm and composed unlike the hunter high school girl. This is the, "unstable mentality" I was talking about. Hunter hs girl was more focused on what the other girl was going to do to her instead of what she was going to bring to the table.
DeleteUndocumented by Dan-el Padilla Peralta
ReplyDelete1. Was there any shift in the perception of gender roles once coming to America?
2. Does Dan-el's mother choosing to stay in America without her husband defy social norm?
I think for your second question you could also ask whether or not his journey would be different if he stayed in America with his father instead of mother.
DeleteBook: 6 Minutes Wrestling With Life: A Family's Tragedy To Triumph
ReplyDelete1. Are women treated differently as they wrestle oppose to men?
2. If he was a female instead of a male, would more attention be given or not?
Those are interesting questions, I wouldn't know how to respond exactly, but I like that it makes me think and consider things from a point of view I haven't considered before in wrestling. Wrestling isn't generally seen as a woman's sport so i'd say there would be a lot of attention given, most likely she would be put to wrestle another woman I think since if she were to fight a man she would be crushed, I think that's how most people would see it. But if she did however fight a man and beat him, his career would be shamed by many people and she would of received double the praise and fear perhaps, I doubt that would happen if it were two people of the same sex and so that comes to show how unequal we still are in terms of gender.
DeleteWomen are definitely treated differently when they wrestle because females are labeled as weak and delicate and wrestling is a tough sport where one gets severely hurt and traditionally a women is not supposed to do something so rough.
DeleteWomen leagues in general, with perhaps the exception of tennis, are not watched nearly as much as mens leagues. This is largely due to the opinion that it does not make sense to watch women's devision in sports, since you are watching teams that are less powerful than their men counterparts. I wont comment as to whether this is justified, but I do believe that is the nature of viewer mentality.
Delete1.) Would the book tone and mood matter when it comes to gender?
ReplyDelete2.) how much different were genders viewed from each other when it came to jews in concentration camps?
1. How does Peralta's gender compare to a female undergoing the same journey?
ReplyDelete2. Was he seen differently and treated differently because of his gender?
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan.
ReplyDelete1) Do you think that maybe Susannah is treated differently at the hospital because she is a woman? How might she be treated if she was a man?
2) Is doctor Bailey jumping to conclusions when assuming Susannah's problem is due to drinking? Why might he be jumping to such conclusions despite of Susannah's drastic change of psychotic state? Does he perhaps expect her to be naturally emotional as a woman considering he has no prior knowledge to who she was before her condition, or as a man he's too prideful to admit that despite of the tests and his assumptions, he was wrong and there is clearly something wrong with her?
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan.
Delete1) For a scientific explanation, is there a justified difference in diagnosis between women that exhibit psychotic tendencies and men that display the same?
2) If Susannah was male, would it be possible that she herself would look at her condition differently?
Book: Brain On Fire by Sussanah Cahalan
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Sussanah's boss is being lenient towards her even when she calls in sick constantly and when she is at work, she does not do what she is supposed because she is a woman? Would he be more strict if the worker was a male?
When Sussanah is at the movies with her dad, she gets very emotional whereas her dad is nonchalant. Is this a way of showing that one gender is more emotional than the other?
Book: Orange is the Black by piper kernan
ReplyDelete1. Would Piper being in prison actually make her question her own sexuality?
2. Do the women within this prison feel as if they become more masculine and might feel their gender as a man or would they still feel as if they are female?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteBook: Orange is the Black by piper kerman
ReplyDelete1. why is that there are two jails, one for men and women? Why not create a facility for both and make it co-ed? I know its obvious but i just always had this question in mind***
2. Why Is it that when women or male are within prison that they start to feel different, whether feminine or masculine?? Do they present themselves differently at the end or are they still going to feel the same way as they entered prison?
I think it's better to separate the genders in a jail, because people do crazy things in jail.
DeleteI agree, normally I think genders are separated in order to discourage rape and abuse. People of the same gender also rape each other, but perhaps to a lower extent than the amount of rape there would be if prisons were co-ed.
DeleteThe book I'm reading is Undocumented by: Dan-el Padilla
ReplyDelete1. Does Dan-el face a bigger burden as an immigrant boy because more responsiblities are imposed on him because of his gender?
2. Is Dan-el's personality affected by the fact that he was raised by a single mother and no father figure?
(this was Ivy's response not mine)
Delete