Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

For this discussion, I'd like to see you dig into how we learn gender: both what are the mechanisms and what are the messages.  Remember what the word *gender* means, because it's quite different from the word *sex* even though nearly everyone uses the two interchangeably.  Feminists have long asserted that there is fundamental distinction between sex and gender. Why do you think that this distinction has been of central importance to feminism? What purpose does it serve and why is it of continuing significance?

Our readings for the lessons argue that "Gender is a practice in which all people engage; it is something we perform over and over in our daily lives."  What does it mean to say that gender is a performance and why might it be useful to understanding how we all perform our gender? How do we perform femininity and masculinity in today's society - what are some of the contemporary norms associated with femininity and masculinity? Can you give examples of the various institutions that teach and maintain these norms... how are these gender norms passed on from one generation to the next?

What are the limitations of masculine and feminine scripts? You might also want to explore the socially constructed traits associated with femininity and/or masculinity. How do these limit and/or provide opportunities for women and/or men? How have notions of appropriate feminine behavior changed over the last century?  What are the consequences of a strict dichotomy between masculinity and femininity? 

(Approx 750 words & 2 direct quotes & 1 weblink & 1 image)