Thursday, February 24, 2011

Week Seven: Negotiating Sex(uality)

--“How does girls’ discourse around issues of sexual acts and sexuality contribute to the construction of their individual sexual identities” (Grisso/Weiss 31).

--How might online communities inform girls’ sexual identity development?

--Think about Judith Butler’s notion of performativity (“performing”–acting out prescribed gender roles) in relation to these readings and the more general issue of girls’ negotiating sexual identities online. (Grisso/Wiess; 32, 38)

--What are “safe spaces online” for girls? How do we forge such spaces in the wide world of the internet? Provide examples from the readings.

--Visit gurl.com and provide an assessment of it, particularly as related to the texts and issues this week.

You might also discuss:
–race and cyberspace
–language use/conventions online, on web pages/profiles/IM, etc.
–how online behaviors might challenge/reify racial or other stereotypes
–the “slut” versus the “virgin”
–appearance/fashion/constructing the self online
–how IM communication differs from more public “comments” on social networks and how this might allow for more freedom (positive and negative) around sexuality

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