DEBATE CRITIQUE GRADING: Debate critiques will be graded primarily on critical thinking, insightfulness, and reasoning (including your ability to support/justify your stance. Although grammar and spelling are not crucial concerns, they should be at a leve

Debate critiques are not meant to be summaries of course material. Rather, they are intended to encourage critical thinking about specific topics, debates, and conversations in the study of sex and gender. You will notice that each chapter of your textbook includes an overview of a debate that is relevant to the respective chapter’s content. These debates appear in highlight boxes titled, “Debate” (there is one per chapter). Following an overview of the debate, both sides are then briefly discussed. For each unit of the course, you must choose any one debate from a chapter that is assigned in the respective unit. So for Unit 1, you may choose a debate from Chapters 1 through 4; for Unit 2, from Chapters 5 through 9; and for Unit 3, from Chapters 10 through 14. Then you must ‘pick a side’ of the debate you choose and support your position in a brief write- up/critique on Canvas. Each debate critique must be between 250 and 500 words.

Debate critiques must involve more than simply stating your opinion. Rather, the goal should be to demonstrate critical thinking and reasoning about the particular debate in order to support the side you have chosen. Support can be provided based on intellectual reasoning and logic, expert consensus (in any field), or scientific evidence (either new or cited in the textbook or lectures). While research findings can be helpful, support can also be provided in the form of logical reasoning alone (it all depends on your approach, and it is not necessary that you bring in outside sources at all). Ideas or literature from neighbouring disciplines is very much welcome. When referring to any literature or outside sources in your critique, simply cite the information by including the author’s last name and year of the specific publication in text or in parentheses [e.g., “Smith (2019) found…” or “…these conclusions (Smith, 2019).”]. The full reference or citation can then be included at the very bottom, following your critique. Full references will NOT be included in your word count. Remember, many debates can be approached using logic and reason alone, so outside sources are not always necessary. Whatever your approach, you must argue and/or support your stance!

In matters of intellectual discourse and debate, I tend to adopt the perspective that you are not simply “entitled to your opinion.” Instead, you are “entitled to what you can argue for.” This means that when approaching a debate or controversy through an academic or scientific lens, it is important to be able to defend your opinion or stance. Otherwise, the discourse becomes meaningless in the first place, and people’s opinions become so personal that even continuing to engage in discourse is interpreted as being offensive. Simply put, you need to support your perspective. I recommend reading the following article (by a university professor) for some perspective on this: https://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978.

chap 1 ：First, read the debate on pp. 24-25 in your textbook before you respond!

Then, pick a side, and support it: A. Yes, Feminist Movements Overlook Men B. No, Feminist Movements Do Not Overlook Men

chap 2: First, read the debate on pp. 42-43 in your textbook before you respond! Then, pick a side, and support it: A. No, Psychologists Should Not Study Sex Differences B. Yes, Psychologists Should Study Sex Differences

chap 3: First, read the debate on pp. 91-92 in your textbook before you respond! Then, pick a side, and support it: A. No, They Should Not Be Allowed to Compete B. Yes, They Should Be Allowed to Compete

chap 4:First, read the debate on pp. 122-123 in your textbook before you respond! Then, pick a side, and support it: A. Yes, Toy Marketing Should be Gender Neutral B. No, Toy Marketing Need Not Be Gender Neutral