Gender and the Humanities
Interview two people:
one person who is under 25 years old
one person who is over 45 years old
Ask them about gender roles. In your paper, based on these two anecdotal interviews, you will draw conclusions about the shift in ideologies, over the years, between the over-45 generation and the current generation.
Choose the same topic to discuss with both people. Here are some ideas:
Gay marriage
Sexual harassment and/or sexual violence
o In the workplace
o The #metoo movement
o Believing victims
o Believing multiple accusations against the same person
o One democrat and one republican (Donald Trump and Al Franken, e.g.) o Partner rape (spousal or relationship)
Gendered roles at home in a heterosexual relationship or marriage
o who cleans the house
o who mows the lawn or takes out the garbage
o who changes diapers
o a wife who earns more than her husband
o stay-at-home moms and stay-at-home dads
o should someone be home to be with their children after school? Should it
be the mom or the dad?
o Who is responsible for birth control?
Women in the workplace.
o Having a female boss
o Are there jobs in which either men or women are better than the other? o Ambitious and/or assertive women
Transgender rights
o Trans people serving in the military
o Insurance paying for hormone treatment or surgery o Trans people using the bathroom of their choice
o Pronouns of choice (they, it, et al.) Nonbinary recognition
o What do they think of people who identify as neither male nor female? If you have an idea that isnt on the above list, thats great, but you need permission from me before you begin.
Find out from the people you interview why they feel the way they do and what influenced their opinions.
Draw a conclusion about how people receive their information and how/why points of view have changed from the formative years of the over-45 generation until now. For example, has social media played a role? Other reasons points of view might have evolves during these specific decades: where they grew up, their family backgrounds and their own parents opinions, having a family member who reflects your topic (a gay or trans child or grandchild, a female boss), having friends who reflect the topic of your choice (trans, gay, the boss, etc.), their religion, where they went to school and what they were taught, and anything else that affected your interviewees opinions.
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Requirements: Any requirement that is not met is an automatic deduction.
Due date: October 30.
Length: Between 1000 and 1500 words (approx.. 4-6 pages; check your word count).Plagiarism: of any length is an automatic failure of the midterm paper.
On your syllabus I pasted the section about academic integrity from your Student
Handbook.
Note that both 1. uncited quotes and 2. passing off another persons ideas as
your own constitute plagiarism.
You may, of course, quote others and paraphrase their ideas just make sure to
cite your sources.
Note that plagiarism can be anywhere from one sentence to the full paper.
Citing Sources:
Cite both within the body of the document and on a Works Cited page.
Works Cited page:
o Attach a page at the end of your document. Center the words, Works Cited at the top if the page. This page will not be numbered, and it will be single-spaced.
o On the works cited page, for each entry, include: the authors name, name of the article, name of the publication, and the year of publication.
If its a website, write Web.
If Its a book or other printed source, cite the publishers name, date
of publication, and page number.
Citing within the body of the document:
o Direct quotes go in quotation marks. Do one of the following:
After the quote, in parentheses, write the last name of the author
and the year of publication
Refer to the person before the quote; e.g., As John Smith wrote in
National Geographic, […].
Paraphrasing ideas you come across online or elsewhere:
o Use your own words and style, and simply write the idea as you normally would.
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