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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Based on your overall understanding of this text, what approach is suggested by the title, Feminist Theory from Margin to Center?
2. What ideas about parenting does the author initially discuss?
3. Overall, what is the author's approach to presenting feminist ideas in this book?
4. How did women working for change initially view the exercise of power?
5. What opinion does the author express regarding the connection between early feminist concepts of sexual liberty and the movement to end sexual oppression?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Essay on Ch. 9: Women and war.
In Ch. 9 the author discusses the nature of violence against women and the phenomenon of violence in general. She uses war as an example of how women, too, demonstrate a capacity for violence. In your essay, think about the connection between traditional beliefs about gender and the author's analysis of women and war. Use quotations by the author to support your argument where necessary.
1) Discuss the author's position on how war is an example of women's capacity for violence.
- How do women support war?
- Does women's support for war, and their encouragement of male family members to go to war, seem to come from and reinforce traditional beliefs about men's and women's natures (e.g. aggressive, nurturing, etc.), whether innate or culturally learned?
2) Is condoning war the same as condoning violence? What can you gather about the author's views on war? Following the author's thinking, is war an example of using violence as a form of social control?
3) Does encouraging women (and gay men) to participate in the military and in war promote social equality?
4) If violence is a manifestation of hierarchy and power, what do women have to gain or lose from participating in war?
Essay Topic 2
Essay on Ch. 2 and 10: Ideas about the family.
Looking at Ch. 2 and Ch. 10 compare and contrast early and/or mainstream feminist ideas about the family with those of less privileged women.
- Did women of color and lower class women agree with mainstream feminist views on the family? What was their reaction?
- How does the author describe the relationship to family experience by many women of color, especially in relation to the broader society in which they live?
Essay Topic 3
Essay on Ch. 11: Sexual liberation.
Sexual liberation comes across as problematic in Ch. 11.
1) Why is the (male-defined) idea of sexual liberation problematic for the author?
2) Does it seem like our contemporary society promotes sexual liberation? Give examples of why or why not.
3) In your opinion, does the author's promotion of freedom from conforming to one model, and tolerance towards all sexualities, go far enough in addressing, or redefining the male-defined models of sexual liberation?
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This section contains 602 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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