Introduction to Women and Gender Studies - Essay Example

Some of its statements are clear, memorable and sensible, as for example “we are all embedded in gender” and it has an identified target group since it begins with the phrase “As college students soon to be embarking on your life plan….” Trigiani, Kathleen. Website commenting on John Gray’s “Mars and Venus” books. Retrieved from: http://web2.airmail.net/ktrig246/out_of_cave/mf.html This website takes issue with some of the ideas promoted by the popular self-help author John Gray and contends that his work does not fully take account of what is happening in contemporary American society with regard to masculinity and femininity.

The title page takes issues with an over simple presentation of male and female as opposites and stresses instead “hegemonic masculinity” which Trigiani defines as “the socially dominant form of masculinity in a particular culture within a given historical period”. The website parodies the “nutshell” oversimplification of Gray, by putting key phrases in heavily accented textboxes, and makes a good job of reclassifying Gray’s books as a form of “modernized patriarchy”.

This is a witty and thoughtful piece of writing that merits deeper study and suggests that there is a lot more of Trigiani’s work to be unearthed and followed up. Feminist Majority Foundation Website entitled “Gender Equity in Athletics and Sports”. Retrieved from: http://www.feminist.org/sports/ This website is quite clearly a political activist site, with a very clear agenda to raise consciousness and promote pro-feminist events and ideas. There are links to five main topics on the sports page, and the header has tabs that lead back to the umbrella organization.

It is a highly interactive site, with opportunities for readers to sign up for jobs, news, and alerts, or to access research materials or buy items in the online shop ranging from books and calendars to T-shirts, badges and posters. The usefulness of this site is in providing up to date information on areas, such as sport, where gender inequality is common in contemporary society. It appears to be aimed mainly at women, though one might question why the color pink is chosen as the main feature of the page, unless of course it is intended to be ironic, or a statement of reclaiming pink from Barbie for radical feminism.

The good thing about the site is its relevance, but the downside is that it is clearly biased and so provocative that it might discourage readers who are seeking well-argued rather than sensationalist evidence.