Category: Gender

The Politics of A Black Existence

5/1/2021

by Dominick Marconi

There was this popular meme that recirculated in 2020 which featured a still frame from the Dreamworks animated film Madagascar. It showed the four main characters, Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo, Marty the Zebra, and Melman the Giraffe with puzzled expressions on their faces and overlaid text that read, simply: “Why are you black?”

Everytime I see it I laugh. Everytime I think about it I laugh. I cannot speak as to why anybody else might find it funny, but to me, the comedy not only stems from the absurdity of the question's nature, but in its truth.

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Pronoun Rediscovery: Media as a Platform for Change

5/1/2017

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by Sarah Knapp

The above videos contain clips from two very different, but two very popular TV shows: RuPaul’s Drag Race and Steven Universe. What do all of these seemingly unrelated scenarios have in common? In each clip, there are quite a few different uses of pronouns, some of which seem confusing or don’t exactly fit our expectations. There is a powerful force at work here: gender is being redefined. Subtly, and sometimes very overtly, the language used to talk about gender is being changed and shaped by the media that surrounds us.

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Disrupting Normalcy: The Key to Better Writing

4/2/2016

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by Michael Fotos

In kindergarten, I sat on a rug as every student discussed what their favorite color was. The room was silent save for one voice at a time--green, black, yellow, orange—normal. And then something happened when I spoke the word pink. My favorite color was pink and before the adjacent child revealed his favorite color to be the enchanting color of blue, everyone laughed. He likes pink, Ha! And I cried.

What is it about our world that says that blue is fit for a boy and pink belongs to girls and that if a boy likes pink it is worthy of ridicule? What of makeup, heels, skin tight dresses? What happens when a man plays the role of woman, when a man enters the genre called being a woman? I would argue that entertaining this genre and many others has benefits for all people, especially writers.

Entertaining an unfamiliar genre has the potential to enrich life experiences by providing perceptions of the world. By disrupting what we believe is normal, disruption becomes possible. We explore truths we are not used to, and explorers of truth must think outside the box, and consequently, prove to be excellent writers. Writers who challenge the normal create original works that transcend prose and poetry. Writers who only adhere to genres fall flat.

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The Battle of Female Science Fiction Writers

9/1/2015

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by Kathryn Brining

In 2013, President Barack Obama championed initiatives encouraging women to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), fields where many feel women are underrepresented. Publishing and media is another arena where men seem to outnumber women, so it should come as no surprise that sexism seems to reign where these two interests meet: science fiction.

Both science and science fiction have long been considered masculine, male-dominated pursuits and the reluctance for some to embrace women working in technical fields may be closely linked to their exclusion when writing about the sciences. Though some might argue this is simply a case of genre, not gender, inequality, all too often, the aspiring female science fiction writer feels stranded in a hostile alien world.

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Stop Hating on “They:” Language Evolution and Gender Pronouns

4/15/2015

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American English Grammar. A 300 level course. At 8:00 a.m. I took my seat, mid row, and looked down to find a single slip of paper on my desk. One sat on each desk and as each student filed in, a buzzing silence filled the room.

by Jessica O'Shea

Everyone wants a slice of cake for themselves.

The only text on the paper. The professor, a woman who had taught the course many times, took her position at the front. She asked us what, if anything, was grammatically wrong with the sentence. Silence reigned. One girl bravely raised her hand. “Nothing?” The professor’s smile was grim. Incorrect. You’ve failed. Return to grade school, do not pass Go.

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The Politics of A Black Existence

Pronoun Rediscovery: Media as a Platform for Change

Disrupting Normalcy: The Key to Better Writing

The Battle of Female Science Fiction Writers

Stop Hating on “They:” Language Evolution and Gender Pronouns

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