Assignment for Wednesday, Nov. 1

Thinking about gender and human flourishing is not a digression for me, though I understand if it seems like one. 

There are many more traditional tie-ins that we could explore now:  the effects of the fact that most medical experiments are done on male bodies, the effects of the fact that most characterizations of illness (especially heart disease) are drawn from descriptions of male bodies, the ethics of surgically “creating” a male or female body when a child is born with “ambiguous” genital anatomy, and of course, the whole cluster of issues around how gender preferences play into uses of reproductive technology.  (We will read one article about that.)

But two things are on my mind.

1)  I want to not read for a little bit. 

2)  Gender is so pervasive that it is invisible.  

So here’s your assignment.  

a)  Find some friends of yours, of your own gender.  This needs collective input.  They don’t need to be other students in class.

b)  Discuss this topic in an organized way.  Question:  on a typical day, what _would I do differently_ if I were another gender?  So your job is to collect answers and make a list.  (Even small things, like grooming.)   It can be handwritten, but take it seriously.  At every moment, for every kind of thing that happens in a typical day, what would they be doing, or how would things _be happening_, differently from the way it all works now. 

c)  Bring this to class.  

(Note:  this can be an unexpectedly touchy subject, since the expenses of gender strike people very differently.  So try to make sure that your list is respectful and thoughtful.)