1. B ELL W ORK Free write or respond to the picture prompt:

2. A GENDA TODAY WE WILL : *Introduce Feminist Theory *Feminist Theory Activity OBJECTIVES: * Students will major literary forms and their elements. * Students will recognize the characteristics of major chronological eras.

3. C ATEGORIZING On a scratch piece of paper, copy the following chart: MaleFemaleBothNeither

4. C ONSIDER THE F OLLOWING W ORDS Using your first instinct and without overthinking, write each word in the column that seems most appropriate. FashionFootballBreadwinner PilotStrengthFlower AmbitiousPerseveranceCompassionate BossyHelplessThoughtful SoftBrassyDangerous PerpetratorVictimAttractive OpinionatedHostileemotional

5. S OCIAL C ONSTRUCTION OF G ENDER Our ability to assign gender words or constructs has to do with what some refer to as the “social construction of gender.” Using the feminist lens is one way to examine gender construction, but the notion of the social construction of gender broadens the lens to more fully consider how both men and women are affected by this social construction.

6. S OCIAL C ONSTRUCTION OF G ENDER The ideology of gender determines: What is expected of us What is allowed of us What is valued in us The manifestation of gender difference can be found in the construction of: Roles (what women and men do) Relations (how women and men relate to each other) Identity (how women and men perceive themselves)

7. G ENDER /F EMINIST T HEORY Sees cultural and economic disabilities in a “patriarchal” society that have hindered or prevented women from realizing their creative possibilities, including woman’s cultural identification as merely a passive object, or “Other,” and man is the defining and dominating subject.

8. G ENDER /F EMINIST T HEORY Key Assumptions: Our civilization is pervasively patriarchal. The concepts of “gender” are largely, if not entirely, cultural constructs, effected by the omnipresent patriarchal biases of our civilization. This patriarchal ideology pervades those writings that have been considered great literature. Such works lack autonomous female role models, are implicitly addressed to male readers, and shut out the woman reader as an alien outsider or solicit her to identify against herself by assuming male values and ways of perceiving, feeling, and acting.

9. G ENDER /F EMINIST T HEORY Reminds us that the relationship between men and women in society is often unequal and reflects a particular patriarchal ideology. Those unequal relationships may appear in various ways in the production of literature and within literary texts. Within relationships, asks us to pay attention to: Patters of thought Behavior Values Power

10. Consider the gender of the author and of the characters. What role does gender or sexuality play in this work? Specifically, observe how sexual stereotypes might be reinforced or undermined. Try to see how the work reflects or distorts the place of women (and men) in society. Think about how gender affects and informs relationships between the characters. Consider the comments the author seems to be making about society as a whole. A PPLYING THE F EMINIST L ENS

11. R EFLECTION What did you learn from this activity? What clicked? What went clunk? (i.e., what didn’t click?) Do you find this perspective to be a potentially helpful tool in pushing past summary into analysis? Why or why not?