Blogs

Dawn Hathaway

December 19, 2008

Critical Feminist Studies

Professor Anne Dalke

Feminism and Fencing: Metaphor and Reality

Psychologists have debated for many years over whether nature or nurture plays a more important role in determining or causing individual differences in personality and behavior.  Historically, most have supported the idea that nature is the larger factor in determining personality.  Some psychologists even supported the idea of tabula rasa, or the blank slate, which states that humans acquire all or almost all of their behavioral traits from nurture (1).

This semester I read the book Love’s Executioner & Other Tales of Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom a writer who is also a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University.  This book is the non-fiction account of ten patients who have been in therapy with Dr. Yalom over the years.  All of the patients have very different problems but they all experience some kind of personal breakthrough during their therapeutic sessions.  

The idea for this paper stemmed from a desire to construct a concept of feminism. As a math major taking an English class on feminism I wanted some way to realize what I have learned in this class. Having come to the realization that I have only practiced critical thinking - a form of de-construction - I wanted to try problem-solving - a form of construction. I read Peggy McIntosh' s article about an ideal feminist education as a challenge to create a classroom where every

What is normal? Everyone has a gut feeling about what "normal" is, but actually defining it is a little more difficult. No words seem to encapsulate what normal is, and it seems to change depending on where and who you are. Dictionary.com defines normal in several ways. In a psychological sense, normal is: "a) approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment; b) free from any mental disorder; sane" [1]. Biologically, it means "a) free from any infection or other form of disease or malformation, or from experimental therapy or manipulation; b) of natural occurrence" [1]. Statistically, normal is defined as "the average or mean" [1]. In everyday usage, normal is

At times Lowell Handler has been a pot head and a learner, a disruptive student and a teacher, a husband, a son, and a brother. He has traveled around the country, camping where ever he landed for the night, and he has worked closely with Dr. Oliver Sacks, publishing several pieces as both an author and a photographer. He also happens to have Tourette's, although it was not until he was much older that his wild movements and sudden outbursts were diagnosed.

 

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When Dante and Virgil pass through the threshold of Hell, they see a number of souls frantically running behind an empty flag. Bumblebees and wasps fly all around them, biting them. They are bleeding. Repellent worms devour their blood mixed with tears on the ground.
These are the souls of Sloth, those who lived to be lazy, to be indolent for lack of will, to be cowardly, to be indifferent. They refused to decide, they did not make any commitment to others, they saw their life as tedious and devoid of purpose, so they did not experience the power of human freedom while they were alive.
Since they did not experience the world in their lifetime, now they are constantly and shamefully stimulated and forced to move.

 

Katie Scire 

Final Paper 

 

Gender Discrimination in the Workplace