CRG for February 21 (RR 766-790, 795-97. Feminist criticism)
To be written and submitted in class (no exceptions!)
Among the readings you do for this assignment is an excerpt from Gayle Rubin's The Traffic in Women. As you read this piece, keep in mind (a) what we discussed about feminism(s) in class on Thursday, and (b) the previous readings you have done.
For this CRG, you are going to write three perfect paragraphs with a word total as close to 567 as you can get (please provide an exact count by using your word processor's tools). That will involve conceptual rigor and careful edting. It will also involve not writing a single sentence that (a) you don't fully understand and (b) doesn't contribute something meaningful to the essay (i.e., it's not just filler). So, if you catch yourself writing a sentence such as "Feminism means many things to many people," stop and evaluate. Do you need that? (Answer: no.) If you do need some form of this sentence, make it more meaningful by adding a "because" clause that explains how and why the statement is true and how it contributes to your argument. Delete any sentence that does not explicitly, coherently, and meaningfully advance your argument.
You will find in Rubin's argument a number of references to systems, in particular to systems of signs or sign systems. Some of these, such as the "sex/gender system" are explicitly labeled as such; others, such as patriarchy or kinship, might not be called systems, but clearly fit the definition.
You are to choose two systems that Rubin discusses and (1) explain what they are and how they work (i.e., define them); (2) show how they depend on some form of discourse or signification (i.e., that they do not occur naturally, but depend on differential relations of meaning); (3) explain how the two systems you have chosen reveal something about how we understand gender. The very best essays will take a stab at showing how gender itself is a system of differential meaning.
The three components outlined above should correspond roughly or even outright schematically to your three paragraphs. Here is a plan of attack:
- Choose and carefully define your systems. Since you don't have much space here, you must be very succinct in how you elect to define them and characterize them. You have no words to spare, so delete any speculation, editorializing, or pointless words, phrases, or sentences. Consider re-visiting your first paragraph after you complete the first draft of your entire essay. Having finished paragraph 2, you'll have a better sense of what absolutely must be in your definition, and what you can get rid of.
- Decide what sort of discursive elements they depend on. That is, think of the manner in which Foucault describes a discourse or a concept. What structure does the system impose? How does the system draw circles in a manner that organizes things differently than they might otherwise be?
- With (2) in mind, consider how the systems you have chosen to talk about reveal that gender is perhaps not so much a thing as it is a signifying system, with all the dependence on difference and opposition that that implies. Consider also how gender might be a concept or discourse in Foucault's sense of those words.
Please double-space your CRG, and please edit it carefully.