Socratic Seminar

Argument and Research—COSK1221 FALL 2015

Final: Socratic Seminar

ASSIGNMENT :

As explained during our discussion about Shenandoah, a Socratic seminar is a conversation centered on questioning and examining issues about a particular piece of media. Its purpose is to make sense of a complex situation by listening, offering analysis and interpretation, and reexamining our own assumptions.

Earlier this year, Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, spoke about her decision to live fully as a woman, a transition that involved making physical modifications. The publicity Jenner received brought the issue of transgender rights and equality to light in an unprecedented way. Since then, advocates for transgender rights across the United States have lobbied for better protections against workplace and public discrimination.

For the final, you will review the materials listed below in an attempt to answer the following questions:

1. Why do we feel compelled to see things in binaries (i.e., gay/straight or male/female)?

2. If gender identity existed on a spectrum, as described by iO Tillett Wright in “50 Shades of Gay,” how would our social norms have to change?

If you are unaware, sex and gender are two separate characteristics. The American Psychiatric Association states that sex "refers to one's biological status as either male or female, and is associated primarily with physical attributes." Gender, the APA explains, "refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for boys and men or girls and women." Individuals who identify and live as the gender that corresponds to their birth sex are known as "cisgender." Transgender refers to anyone who identifies with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.

For this discussion, you will receive full credit if you participate twice and follow the seminar rules, which include supporting your comments and agreements/disagreements with evidence from the required materials.

REQUIRED MATERIAL:

1. The Transgender Rights Movement Is for Everyone:

http://www.newsweek.com/transgender-rights-movement-everyone-341828

2. Fifty Shades of Gay:

http://www.ted.com/talks/io_tillett_wright_fifty_shades_of_gay

3. Is Checking the ‘Sex’ Box Necessary?:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/19/is-checking-the-sex-box-necessary

POINTS : 25 (Speaking strand)

FINAL EXAM DATE : Tuesday, December 8, 11:00 a.m.