RR #20 Flynn

Summary

Through “Composing as a Woman” Elizabeth Flynn details an (in her opinion) undeniable sexism present in modern writing. This sexism may not be gratuitous or overtly explicit, but most of today’s writing leans toward the male perspective. Flynn presents to us a variety of excerpts from both male and female writers and looks at them through a critical, but unbiased (or maybe biased) lens.

Pre-Reading

I’ve experienced perceived moments of gender favoritism or blatant sexism. Perceived being the key word. I cannot be for sure. I was in a broadcast journalism class my junior year of high school. The class held about twenty-five kids; each fighting to get his or her story broadcasted. I wasn’t particularly interested in producing a story of my own for broadcast, but I had male friends in the class who were, and, I’d say, more often than not, if a girl and boy were fighting for a slot on the broadcast, the girl would usually win, regardless of the content (or lack of content, for that matter) of her story.

Synthesis

Approaching this article from a multitude of viewpoints is plausible. I see a little Gee in here, also some Wardle. I’m sure you could locate a discourse community, or the skeleton of one, buried within Flynn’s writing. With Gee, it goes back to his in-or-out concept of discourse. For women, sadly, they are simply out. This is to say only if academic writing is dominated by the male gender. If it in fact is, then there is really no way for a woman to fully integrate herself into that discourse community. It may not be that clean cut. I’m just speculating. In regard to Wardle, Flynn does discuss the topic of identity, something Wardle has written about extensively.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling

1. Flynn is describing the dominance of the male gender, and how far-reaching it is. She comes close to describing it as universal. What stuck out to me the most was the last sentence: “difference is erased in a desire to universalize.” To me, that sums up everything Flynn was trying to say. The male gender, and everything it represents, has been campaigned around the world since the dawn of man. It has been promoted endlessly in an effort to help it ascend from dominant to universal, unquestionable, omnipresent.

Personal Response

I found it interesting. Women’s oppression has interested me for a while now. I’m not sure it’s as dominant in writing as Flynn may suggest, but its presence is close to undeniable. I think that applies to mostly everything, if you look at it from a specific perspective. Male dominance has always existed, or perceived dominance at least. Homophobia and sexism make it much harder for nations, countries, people to operate without bias.