Web Explorations

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Part 3: Gender

Web Explorations

This activity contains 3 questions.

The National Organization of Women (NOW) has long been one of the most important advocacy groups in support of women's rights. In response to organizations such as NOW, many men's rights organizations have also been formed, some more credible than others. In order to better understand some of the issues that surround political gender advocacy, examine the Web sites for the National Organization for Women and the National Coalition of Free Men. Describe the key issues for each organization and discuss the similarities and differences between each organization's approaches to issues of gender. Also consider the relative credibility of each group: does one organization seem more credible than the other? Do you find biases on either or both sites? Assess each organization's credibility based upon the contents of their Web site.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

Regulating pornography is, as John Irving notes, a form of censorship; as such, it is a difficult issue for many as they consider the potential harm of pornography against the potential harm of censorship. The National Coalition Against Censorship is "an alliance of fifty national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups." It describes its mission as follows: "United by a conviction that freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression must be defended, we work to educate our own members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose them." Visit and browse this site; then list below what you consider its five strongest arguments against censorship. Look for specific examples, lines of reasoning, case studies, etc., that support this case most effectively. Also, summarize and comment on its stance on pornography.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

One of the issues discussed in this section is whether facets of the English language promote sexism. One way to grasp the issues related to gender, sexism, and language is to read some of the policy statements on gender-neutral language on the Web sites of several educational and professional institutions. By reading over these policy statements, you can get a better sense of why gender is interrelated with issues of language.

Rensselaer University

University of North Carolina

See this interesting exchange on the issues related to gender and language that appeared on a women's study list:
WMST-L

The American Psychological Association has set guidelines for avoiding sexist language in pieces submitted for publication.

After examining these policy statements, try to articulate in the space below the reasons educational and professional organizations such as these have found it important to address the issue on their sites. What principal features of this discussion seem to be shared among these organizations?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

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