only for prof washington

I placed an endnote here as an example of how you might choose to acknowledge that the assumptions

we make about the language we use are too often taken for granted. In some cases, when a term is

controversial, as well as relevant to how you are choosing to approach a topic, the note can help you

demonstrate that you are sensitive those controversies, as well as more precisely define your specific

contribution as an author. In doing so, you are providing visible boundaries in cases where the

boundaries of inclusivity are themselves at the epicenter of that controversy.

The endnote provides one example of how an author can choose to define and justify their use of a

specific term when they feel compelled to do so. In this case, i felt compelled to define the boundaries

of the term because i acknowledge the contentiously political context around the term, meaning that

there is no longer a cultural consensus about what/who the term includes or excludes. By providing an

explanation, i acknowledge the politicized context involved, without arguing that my definition is more

accurate or important than my readers' perspective. In this case, given that the document i am writing

is not meant to persuade anyone that they should adopt my perspective and reject all others, i use the

footnote approach to deliberately (but very briefly) position myself as an author who prioritizes self-

identity over the more dominant/hegemonic perspective - one which acknowledges only the authority

of biomedicine to define gender status, and renders all other options invisible. You, as both a reader of

this document, as well as the author of your paper assignment, may operate from an entirely different

perspective -- you need not agree with my use of the term, but you don't need to agree with it to

continue reading the document, because my objective in this document is to describe the topic/theme

of your assignment, as well as the core components of the paper that we expect to see. As your

instructors, our goal is to encourage you to take the time to evaluate if/when a footnote like this is

warranted. Be judicious, no matter what the term is, it may not be particularly relevant to your paper

and unnecessarily distract your reader. You should be able to articulate why you feel compelled to

define your use of a term within that particular document. It is fairly uncommon for an author to

digress in this way -it is time-consuming and distracting to the reader. However, there is a place and a

time where doing so is worth the extra time. In this case, I chose to do so primarily because I wanted

the class to think outside the box and recognize the countless potential opportunities to select a more

elusive and challenging topic than you may have otherwise. Just remember this very important thing -

gender and sexuality are not the same thing. This paper is asking you to focus on sexual life and not

gender identity. However, all sexualities are also gendered. So, by making your own definition of what

counts as a "woman" is more inclusive, you might run across a topic/theme that involves the sexual lives

of non-normative sexual minorities by doing so. But do not conflate gender and sexuality. One can be

normative in terms of gender and non-normative in terms of sexuality, or vice-versa; they might also be

normative in terms of both gender and sexuality, or non-normative in both gender and sexuality. You

are not required to select any particular combination therein, but you do want an opportunity to show

that you treat gender and sexuality as distinct (but also connected).