Write a short reflection paper (one single spaced page in 12 pt font with 1” margins) on ONE of the following questions. Use the question as a provocation to your own thinking about the subject or theme that the question represents. Your responses are graded in relation to the depths of your insights (avoidance of quick and clichéd conclusions) and the clarity of your expression. An opinion is not a reaction or a long-held presumed belief. Instead it is a reflection of your own thought within the parameters of the material and ideas we have been considering.
You are responsible to discern the essence of each question as a whole. Address the question as a whole and do not respond to each question, within the question, separately. It is appropriate to refer to at least one article/lecture in your consideration.
1. In lecture it was argued that we have turned parenting into a particular image that has accessories and attachments and that this image leads to issues of control that are meted out in terms of protection of our children. The article states that there is really no such thing as over-protection. Do you think this is true and if so why? Do you think it is false and if so how is a parent where do draw lines in terms of displays of their power and authority?
2. “Dr. Laura” has many recommendations for how women should be as mothers and how this role is connected to an idea of what is appropriate for women. Why do you think Dr. Laura was popular and what does this popularity say to you about our modern understanding of the status of women in our society? What need does Dr. Laura’s voice fill in our culture for some people? Does her voice encourage or diminish you and your society?
3. As a person living in a feminist and post-feminist culture what does a university education mean to you? Does the university serve a role for the emancipation of women in a way that goes beyond job training? What would you recommend/advise to a hypothetical daughter about the merits or demerits of a university education?
4. Virginia Wolfe asks why “are men so angry at women?” What do you make of her response, does it seem accurate or flawed to you? How do you feel that our culture educates men to think of their spouses? What do you feel about this education? Is all well or is patriarchy still present in our homes and culture?
5. While it was suggested in the discussion aspect of lecture that the most important room of one’s own is inside your own head do you think it is necessary that it also be a physical space? Is the physical space of independence and freedom, a place to be you, essential for the development of what is born or discovered in one’s thoughts and feelings? Or is it irrelevant? How does one know that a room of one’s own is one’s own?
6. Domestic violence touches the lives of one in three women and this only refers to reported cases. Why, in you view, is this the case and what can be done about it for you and for other women? If your spouse or partner enacted physical violence against you at what is called a minor level (an isolated incident of lower level aggression) would you report it to civic authorities or to your family? Or would you keep quiet? What do you thinks is the meaning of your predicted response?