Delfin's Gender Class

Suzana states, “Why suffer when plastic surgery could solve it?”. This is a very casual discussion of plastic surgery, what are your thoughts on the normalcy of undergoing plastic surgery in Brazil?  What do you think is the driving force behind the increase of 580% in cosmetic procedures in Brazil over the span of just ten years?  What do you think the differences in attitude toward getting plastic surgery would be, coming from either someone who has invested in plastic surgery for themselves, or someone who has never undergone plastic surgery?  The author notes that Brazil has a very prominent socioeconomic hierarchy, where Tiao and Suzana are from different classes. What do you think of the “web” that is discussed in the reading, and is it something that you see in the U.S. as well? Tiao’s life is greatly controlled by the people surrounding him. Do you think Tiao would have had more freedom if Brazil were to implement more phrases like “The American Dr...

      1)     In the introduction, Cameron speaks about “generalizations about ‘men’s talk’” (201). What are some generalizations and stereotypes of what women talk about with each other, what men talk about, and what topics they usually are perceived to have in common?       2)     How do you feel about the accounts of gender being “socially constructed” instead of "natural" (202)? What are your thoughts about gender having to be reaffirmed through gender norms and whether masculinity/femininity can actually dictate gender on its own?       3)     Why do you think there is so much pressure on genders to act/talk a certain way and how do you think this varies from culture to culture? How have you see this changing in recent years, if at all?       4)     The author talks about how talk among men is often more “competitive” while among women it is more “...

Where do you think society would be if we didn’t use gender to relate to each other?   In what ways would we practice relating to each other?   In what direction is society leaning towards in the future, might there still be a need for gender-performance and the expectations that come with it, how might society change?   When did we begin to associate gender in possessions? How could this have came about?   “Gender no more resides in gesture or apparel than it lies buried in bodies and psyches” Knowing this, how can we encourage people to stop thinking in “binary ways”?

1)      Why do you think some lesbian women are reluctant to identify as butch/femme when they are already perceived to be so? 2)      The author states that many women cared less about clothes and presentation as they grew older due to feeling more secure in their identities. What changes do you think made these women feel more secure in their identities? Does this say anything about younger butch/femme identifying women that still find clothes and presentation important? 3)      Rachel Becker dressed butch on Prom Nite to attract other women and get the response she wanted. Was this due to her ability to act butch or was it the essence she had?  4)      What do you think about the idea that some lesbian women cannot pull off being butch/femme because it doesn’t come naturally or they don’t “have it”? Could this create any problems for those lesbian women?  5)   ...

Dance and Stance , Rachel Becker is getting ready when another woman comes in telling her " It looks good, only you've got it parted on the girl's side". Is the social construct of sides justly? Gender is as Gender Does? , Explain how the quote " There are no women - there are only drag queens" associates itself with other readings. Gender is as Gender Does? , How/Why is "citational practice" so important to us (regardless if it relates to gender)? & is it as important as we think? Gender is as Gender Does? & Behind the Scenes with Performance Theory , How does the "western" way of ordering experience tie into performance theory? Behind the Scenes with Performance Theory , How does Vicki Turner's use of "naturalness" and "rightness" both contradict and reenforce the title of the article Do Clothes Make the Woman?

   1)      What do you think goes into creating spaces for trans and queer people requires in terms of mental structures, activities, forming bonds of understanding with non-queer people?    2)      Were the “science lessons” more about understanding the idea of sex and gender rather than in depth understandings of sex reassignment surgery    3)      The reading makes mention about differences in the brain due to hormones, and intelligible genders. Would you say that it is alluding to gender being of spectrum yet still between the male (XY) and female (XX) binary archetypes, or explaining that gender and how it’s practices are separate from binary entirely, explain?    4)      Why does free artistic expression seem to be a good space for all genders to be in, and what form of artistic gender expression have you’ve seen, if at all?  ...

1. Do you think nationality affects a mans pride? How does it affect their masculinity? 2. The way these children talk about puberty makes them view it as a right of passage into manhood, however, those who lack the "process" are made fun of, do you think this enables the kids to lie about going through puberty in order to be accepted by the other boys? 3. Many of the physical games that contribute to "toughness" can be seen throughout the decades, when I was in school I saw the boys play these games, and when I volunteer at after school programs in HS I still saw similar games being played, why do you think this is? Is the ability to with hold strength a social construct that we have passed on to new generations? 4. Why is it that the girls and teachers are so easy to rebuke the boys as "men" but once they reach their growth spurt they are now seen as adult males? Does it feed the notation that physicality has to do with masculinity?