For the group presentation on Feminism and Gender Studies, our group (consisting of Ashley, La Tiere, Kelina, and myself) decided to split up each theorist's work and conduct our own activity from it. By doing this, we could cover a large amount of information, keep the class entertained, and wouldn't have to meet that often outside of class which works better for a group of people with schedules that just simply can not mesh together. We decided that since my part of the presentation was based mostly on the class's ability to contribute to the discussion and make connections between the novel and the theories as well as the fact that some members had less material that they could present on, my activity would need to take more class time.
My presentation was on Simone De Beauvoir's "Introduction to the Second Sex: Woman as Other", and a little of Sanda M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar's "Madwoman in the Attic". I decided that in order to induce a more active discussion in our classroom environment, I would need to strike up some controversial ideas. The class was quite involved in the discussion, which I was pleased about. The handouts I put together I hoped would help the class understand that even on the surface level of reading a simple synopsis from a female author's novel, this relationship of the One to the Other is present. This relationship is the way a female author can represent the world she lives in, while marketing her book to a world that is male dominated. This lead into the idea of the anxiety of authorship, and how the female author feels she can not create because she hasn't had the same relationship with writings ancestry as men have. I tried to link this idea to the fact that Emily Giffin's five novel's are evidently about the plight of women, and how this is her way of relating to her audience; in the same way in which all women are acknowledged in the world. Which is her way of I had my own handout on which I wrote down quotes from the critical essays that I believed would help the class get talking. However, the class participated more than I expected them to, and were able to raise some good points.
I hope the class enjoyed our discussion, and was able to understand more about feminism, its use in fiction, and it's relativity in the relationship of man to woman.
