Friday, February 22, 2008

Flynn on "Composing as a Woman"

Lexi DeBrock facilitating; comment here.
Posted by at

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where can I find the articles for this?

February 22, 2008 at 9:23 PM
Lilly Bridwell-Bowles said...

Lexi--I've emailed it to you, and I've just put it on Blackboard myself, plus a "perspectives" article that should help. Sorry about the delay. See my message about his. --Dr. L

February 23, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Anonymous said...

• Elizabeth G. Flynn (feminist, womens’ rights activist)

• She investigates the effect feminist approaches to composition have had on student writing with regard to social and psychological development. She claims that these differences manifest themselves in the students writing. She offers examples of students’ works to “prove” her point.

• Adrienne Rich: “to think like a woman in a man’s world means thinking critically, refusing to accept the givens, making connections between facts and ideas which men have left unconnected…. Constant critique of language…listening and watching – for there we will find the true knowledge of women.”
• “Composition Specialists” :
o The demystification of the product
o The process is just as important as the product because it reveals the hard work and experience of the writer
o Nurturing mother
• Emphasis on committed teachers that care about the student well-being and offer more hands on, one-on-one help (foremothers)
• Journals as a source of “empowerment” for women, need to delve deeply into works and read and revise constantly (our cultural surroundings are always changing and the writing should reflect the changes)

Feminist Studies and Composition Studies
• Connection between composition studies and the political mindset
• The difficulty faced by women is the same faced by composition specialists
• Emphasizes that males and females differ due to social order, women’s opinions have been written out of history
• Men set the standards by which our society revolves

Gender Differences in Social and Psychological Development
• Women differ from men due to their interactions with their mother
• Chodorow: “Women parent women”
• Gillian elaborated on Chodorow’s thoughts about how boys and girls grow up with their influence from their mother claiming that morality is a key difference.
o Women view morality as “conflicting responsibilities” and their solution is “contextual and narrative”
o Men think of morality in terms of “rights and rules”
o The web of entrapment and the ladder of progression
• Belenky and intellectual development
o Quest for self and voice (silence is absence)
o Sense of authority
o Subjective knowledge (no public voice)
o Constructed knowledge (sense of self)

Student Writing
• Psychological differences between men and women make their writing abilities differ
• Female students:
o “interaction, connection, frustrated achievement”
o Focus on the group dynamic and building relationships
• Male students:
o “achievement, separation, frustrated achievement”
o Focus on the individual and proving masculinity
• Essays should show why feminist theories should be practiced
• Male and female essays should not be considered similar; the differing cultural, social, and psychological contexts bring different mindsets to the same topics.
• The current models of composition fit the needs of men, not women

Pedagogical Strategies
• Flynn advocates using the classroom as a venue to inquire into the differences between men and women regarding language.
• Gender shapes the interactions, readings, and writings of students

Composing as a Woman
• Deconstructive perspective
• Not reading or writing as a man
• Spinning the facts to fit the role of women
• Active
• She argues that we must make aware the woman’s place in the world and encourage women to summon their power to use as their source in writing.

Questions:
• Does male composition differ from female composition?
• Have you found a male bias in your readings?
• Do you feel that you have to censor yourself so not to offend the other sex?

Opinions:
• I think that this essay poses a few problems. First, the proof is not grounded in anything besides student examples (and there were only 24 of them). Also, Flynn is pushing a feminist agenda that is basically archaic. Feminism is very prominent in today's society, but the feminist standpoint advocated by Flynn gets the reader to believe it is the time of Virginia Woolf. Lastly, Flynn's article is fourteen pages yet it covers nothing substantial to contribute to the rhetorical world. We know women need to be represented, and they are. Clearly there are many women in the literary field if Flynn could reference them as her backup.

February 25, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Anonymous said...

Feminism Videos:

feminism on the streets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pdbnzFUsXI

ali g feminist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBtDOD-QKSw

feminist or womanist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQOmyebFVV8

are you a feminist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcapO8EsKM8

February 25, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Susannah Turner said...

Random:
The analytical qualities that women in general posses naturally is an important differentiate between the conversation, gossip, discourse, and rhetoric of men and women. That is a pretty broad statement, but perhaps a descent issue to explore. No matter what orientation, men and women are different. Heterosexual, homosexual, men and women work naturally to produce different communication styles and facilities. Digital rhetoric is an example of this broad assumption. I mean, I wonder what the statistics are, comparatively of male versus female conversation styles on the web. Which styles are most popular for each gender and sexual orientation. I'm shooting in the dark with this blog, but these are my brief thoughts at the moment. I will look in to a source to back me up. Stay tuned.

February 27, 2008 at 11:48 PM
Lilly Bridwell-Bowles said...

Susannah--There are many research studies on gendered use of Internet spaces. Just a few names to explore: Cynthia Selfe, Gail Hawisher, Laura Gurak.

March 6, 2008 at 5:51 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)