WEEK TWO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

THEORY:
Linda Gordon Interview

How does Gordon become aware of suffering and sexism?

Explain this quote: “One can never and should never completely put oneself in the place of one’s historical subjects.”

When discussing Lasch, Gordon talks about the one-sided nature of the social control model. Why does Gordon talk about domination and resistance here? What’s her point?

She mentions the term ahistorical numerous times. What does she mean in saying that the family, women, even sex, are often treated in an ahistorical manner?

What is the relationship between activism and history for Gordon?

Joan Scott, “Gender: A
Useful Category of Analysis”

First, let’s define some terms:
Sex=biological difference
male/female
Gender=
Socially
constructed differences
masculine/feminine

Now, look through the whole
article. Find the golden line, the one key sentence that captures something brilliant.

(1067 is my vote)

Look through the whole
article: how does Scott define gender?

1059: “a rejection of the
essentialism…”
What does she mean?

1065: “We need a refusal of
the fixed and permanent quality of the binary opposition, a genuine historicization and deconstruction of the terms of sexual difference.”

Look at 1073: how do gender roles change through history?

THE THEORY IN PRACTICE:
Nancy Cott, “The Birth of
Feminism”

“All feminists are suffragists, but
not all suffragists are feminists.” For Feminists, “the real goal was a ‘complete social revolution.’”
Explain.

Look at the Stanton quote on page 19. (equality/difference)

On page 29 and page 32, Cott
discusses coalition-building in the suffrage movement. Why is that important? Who was in the coalition?

What was the role of sexuality in
the definition of Feminism?
(42)