Femininity Textbook Chapter

13 October 2022

## Word bank

Gender Stereotyping: The practice of assigning particular characteristics to whole gender groups, such as males and females, regardless of their individual differences.

Feminism: The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

Riddle: a question or statement that teases the mind; it requires thought and application

Sexism: prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex

Prejudice: preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience or dislike, hostility, or unjust behaviour deriving from preconceived and unfounded opinions.

Discrimination: the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, sex, or disability.

Misogyny: dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women

Denotation: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

Connotation: an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Representation: the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.

Association: a connection or cooperative link between people or organizations

Facial Expression: Most important and observed nonverbal communication

Appeal of Probability: a statement that takes something for granted because it would probably be the case (or might be the case)

Argumentation Fallacy: Common but invalid syllogisms, or in other words, poor strings of logic.

Pronoun: A word that takes the place of a noun.

Imperative: used to describe the form of a verb that is usually used for giving orders

Condescension: an attitude of patronizing superiority; disdain.

Parody: A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule.

Tone: A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels.

Anaphora: repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines

Suffrage: the legal right to vote

Literary Theory: using a set of principles or a system of ideas to interpret literature from a unique angle

Feminist Literary Theory: asking questions about the degree to which a literary text perpetuates the ideas that women are inferior to and dependent on men or that the perspective of a woman is not as interesting or significant as that of a man

Free Indirect Speech: a style of third-person narration which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of first-person direct speech

Secondary Source: A secondhand account of an event or a retelling of another person's observations written by someone who did not witness or actually participate in the events. Includes sources that combine, synthesize, and or interpret information from primary sources. Examples include encyclopedias, textbooks, and reviews.

Primary Source: an account of an event created by someone who took part in or witnessed the event

Gender Equality: the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender.

## Ex 1.8 Page 96

### Back then:

* Dependent
* Unquestioning
* Obedient
* Care-takers

### Nowadays:

* Independent
* Enlightened
* Educated
* Smart

### Both Then and Now:

* Devoted
* Hard-Working
* Thoughtful
* Cost-Conscious
* Agreeable
* Firm
* Involved
* Attractive
* Self-sacrificing
* Graceful
* Meticulous
* Resourceful
* Diligent

## Ex 1.9 Page 97

Feminism. My definition of feminism is the equality between men and women.

Official definition: The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes

## Ex 1.10 Page 97

A. Rosie the Riveter was a cultural icon for women who supported the war effort during WW2. This poster does not portray Rosie. This poster in particular was barely used during the war but was only rediscovered and gained popularity in the 1980s.

B. It is a poster which used to serve the purpose of propaganda and encouragement for women during the war. The poster today is generally seen as a poster used to empower women and feminism.

C. The clothing of the woman is a mix of three colors: red, white and blue which is a clear reference to the colors of the American flag. The yellow background allows the woman to pop out with the text on top in blue. Blue essentially serves as a good contrast to the yellow background. Body language is an important element in the poster because the woman flexing her muscles implies the strength of the people on the home front being valuable to supporting the war effort. The primary symbol in the poster is the headband which the woman is wearing. It is a symbol of hard-work which the workers on the American home-front experienced during the war. Rule of thirds: the subject of the poster, the woman, is placed more towards the left side but still covers a lot of area on the center and right sides.

D. It is a symbol of the feminist movement because the contribution of women during the war proved that women are useful members of society and support the war effort which implies that women can and are willing to be equal to men in their societal importance.

## Ex 1.11 Page 97

This is a parody of the poster.

a. The parody was created for comedic purposes for beer breweries.

b. It uses a similar font and the same body language and clothing of the woman. Only this time, the woman is holding a glass of beer.

c. The poster was simply made to comedic purposes and does not necessarily imply a requirement for knowledge of particular factors.

d. The text itself is changed from do to brew. This adds to the comedic effect because the two words rhyme with one another.