Tuesday's class was, in a word, entertaining. I found the gender-switching/role-playing exercises hysterical but relevant, as each skit facilitated in-depth discussions about our society's prescribed gender roles, as well as demonstrated key points pertaining to gender like social process, micro-interaction, power, gender representation, social structure, etc. I feel as though almost everyone in the class was in some way stimulated by the nature of Tuesday's class (there was more wide-spread input). Spending a class period talking exclusively about the terms and phrases many of us were confused by in the readings (not to mention acting them out/providing physical, concrete examples of some) really helped me grasp concepts that had previously overwhelmed me.
I also appreciated the time taken to explain the concept of essentialism. Before we talked about it in class, I was having difficulty understanding exactly what it is and means because I don't agree with it (at all!). Perhaps I was subconsciously keeping myself from understanding the concept of essentialism because it seems so silly to me to completely discount social/cultural influence in defining men and women.
I was intrigued by the discussion that ended our class on Tuesday (social structure, media, industry, women in power, jobs, etc.) and am looking forward to continuing discussing this topic.
I found the Valenti reading very easy to get through, but the Connell reading required much more focus...more on these later :)
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