essay essay

I’m working on a English question and need guidance to help me study.

For this week’s assignment, I’d like you to respond to ONE of the following questions in a short 2 page (500 word) essay. INDICATE CLEARLY WHICH QUESTION YOU’RE RESPONDING TO. You’ll have until May 1st to turn in your response.

A. I’d like you to think about gender ideals as seen from your family upbringing, cultural expectations (both mainstream and the cultures you grew up with), and how you personally measure up against these expectations.

Consider the following questions:

What are the ideals for masculinity and femininity when you were growing up (against mainstream American culture, your cultures’ expectations, your family’s expectations, etc.)? How is a man and a woman supposed to act in public? Are men and women expected to behave in a certain way, and what were the consequences for people who refused to follow those ideals? Did you receive conflicting messages about how men and women were supposed to act from that cultures that you grew up with, and how did you reconcile that? How do you measure yourself against these gender ideals?

B.

Consider expectations of (hetero)sexuality and (hetero)sexual expression. Take the same questions that are posed in part A, and discuss what were the sexual expectations of men and women that you were exposed to growing up. Pay particular attention to the conflicting messages that you may have received—are men and women able to express themselves sexually, or is there particular pressure to behave a certain way so that it’s not conveyed? What were the consequences for both men and women if they didn’t adhere to these standards? If you identify as LGBTQ/gender nonconforming/gender non-binary, was there any discussion about different sexualities from your families and cultures, and what were the messages you received?

C. Think about a particular women’s health issue (contraception, abortion rights, women’s cancers, respectful access to care), and think about how it affects you or a loved one who identifies as a woman. Is she able to access health care in a way that is respectful to her? Is she able to talk to anyone freely about gender-specific health concerns without embarrassment or fear of being judged? Who speaks for her? Herself? Someone else?