Daphne:
I'm not sure when you were in high school but it's disconcerting that, if this was just in the last few years, your counselor wouldn't have a better understanding of the gender-stereotyped curricula. Our text also refers to the fact that the higher-level the educational institution the more male the faculty it. This would account for a lot of the gender-stereotyping in advising but you had a woman!I know my oldest daughter, Kelli, is a senior Meteorology major which has been traditionally a male field for two reasons. One is the overwhelming amount of math and science courses and the second is that a lot of females who begin in that major drop out. her experience has been that she has had to fight harder for help when she's struggling and is not given the same encouragement as the male students. Although she's been tempted to change majors on more than one occasion, sometimes because of treatment by professors, she's stuck with it. By the way, she has only one female professor for any of her major-related math and science courses!!
Dori
May 30, 2008 12:14 PM

Replied to Jenai's Post in Week #

Prof M:
I replied to Jenai's post on her blog but could not copy and paste on my blog because I received a message saying it would not show until she had approved it! Since I'm not sure when that will be I don't know if it will show up for me to add to my post, or for you to view, before our deadline. I will post to another blog just in case.
Dori

Sexist Language in Campaign '08?

For the first time in our history we have both an African American and a women as possible Presidential candidates. And while racist language may not be an issue in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Campaign, it appears sexist language is.

A recent news piece on the Fox network spoke of Barack Obama using sexist language when speaking about Hillary Clinton. While I could not find anything on this piece, I did find a blog at abcnews.com which made reference to newsroom conversations between female reporters about instances of sexist language used by Obama. And bloggers also cite instances of sexist language by John McCain.

Examples of this language by Obama include:
"You challenge the status quo and suddenly the claws come out"
"I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal."

The author writes: " 'Claws'...'feeling down'...I find it hard to envision Obama using the same language if he were facing, say, former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC."

To read the entire blog go to
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/is-obama-using.html.

Reply to Zulma's Post

Zulma:I am taking another course concurrent with this one about sitcoms in American culture. Our first paper is on the differences in how women have been portrayed on TV from the 1950's to present and Mary Tyler Moore's show is one of the videos in our progression. You are absolutely right that she was a strong female role model and we are progressing toward more equality in roles.Personally, I was married for 25 years to a very traditional male where I was responsible for just about everything -- his contribution was to go to work. Because strong female role models became increasingly visible throughout the years of my marriage I was able to identify why I'd felt so frustrated. I was clearly the stereotypical female role to my ex-husband's stereotypical male role.I am since divorced and in a relationship where there is no male and female role -- there are shared roles. It is a much more satisfying relationship and hopefully my experience will be a model for my daughters. I am already seeing that they are much more assertive about what they want in their relationships with males.Dori

Week #2 Post

There was a news article on a local Philadelphia station about a 6 year old boy who attends an elementary school is Philadelphia and has begun wearing dresses to school. He feels very strongly, and has for a while, that he is a girl. His parents are supporting his transgendered feelings. The school says it is a personal matter and one that will not become involved in. The parents of his classmates are mixed in whether they would allow their children to do what the 6 year old is but most agreed they saw no problem with them being able to explain to their children why a male classmate is now wearing female clothing.

Are this 6-year old's parents "jumping the gun" or simply saving their son years of misery until he finally is able to express his feminity? Will his male body going through puberty bring about other changes in his feelings? These are all questions that will be answered as this boy gets older. However, our book say gender constancy, a person's understanding that he or she is male or female, will not change and appears to develop at age 3 or even earlier.

If the studies in our book by Dubois, Serbin and Derbyshire (1998), Warm (2000) and Levy (1998) are correct than it appears this family is on the cutting edge of gender awareness and how to deal with a situation which can cause young people untold heartache.

Test Post #2

I've looked at the instructions again -- here's another attempt.

Testing Links

Followed instructions (I believe from Johanna??). Checking to see if I followed them correctly.
Dori

Response to Week #1 Post

I think it will take a while for different components of society (such as card companies) to catch up with the changes in society. Having seen the variety of cards in stores just in my lifetime, they will eventually. Perhaps nurturer would be a better title for everyone who cares for children but since "mother" is so ingrained in our culture, it seems it will take a long time, if ever, for this to change.
This week I have been helping my oldest daughter move from her college apartment to her first "real" apartment. My role as primary caretaker -- mother -- comes with it an expectation on the part of my daughter and her father that I will be the one who assists her. And, as you say, I would feel guilty if I didn't! Even the women I work with understood that assisting my daughter would be my "job" and that they themselves had similar stories.

Hope I've done this correctly!