WST 3015 West Virginia University Jean Montague Discussion

It’s no secret that the early feminist movement was largely a movement among and for middle-class, educated white women, and we are already seeing in MAKERS Part 1: Awakening that other women – Black women, lesbians, working class women, etc – were pushing back against that limited view of sexual equality. We’ll be getting to the contributions of other women as we move forward in our course, but for now, let’s focus on those very early days of the movement because as non-inclusive and limited as they were they did lay the groundwork for the growth of feminism. To do this, let’s focus on the sorts of situations and injustices that women took on in the 1950s and 1960s, often without really think of the situations or themselves as feminist.

This discussion board does not require outside research. Everything you need is in our materials in this module. Choose ONE of the three people/quotes below and then:

1. In one paragraph briefly explain who this person is (age, race, career status, marital and/or parental status, et cetera). Do not do outside research. All you need to do in this paragraph is share what we’ve learned about this person in the materials in this module.
2. In a second paragraph break down the quote attributed to this person: (a) What was the situation/injustice to which the quote refers? Describe that situation/injustice. (b) What does this quote mean? Why did the speaker say this and why did she feel this way? (c) Do you imagine this person a self-identified feminist when she said this? [Tip: You will want to use and define at least one of the key terms from Modules 1 through 3.]
3. In a third paragraph, describe how the person/quote and the situation/injustice involved connect to the feminism movement and its tenets? In what was this individual situation/injustice connected to the political/systemic? How was this individual situation indicative of larger social issues? [You’ll probably want to use and define “the personal is political” and/or “systemic” from our course materials.]

Kathrine Switzer: When asked if she was a suffragette or a crusader, Switzer replied “What? I’m just trying to run” but quickly followed that up with “I’m gonna finish this race on my hands and knees if I have to.”

Jean Montague: “I was twenty-six at the time, and I thought, ‘I could make a whole career out of this.’ Then I realized I can’t.”

Lorena Weeks: When told by a supervisor, “You know the man’s the breadwinner in the family,” Weeks responded “Oh no, when I go through the grocery line in the grocery store, they don’t push back a loaf of bread and say ‘you’re a nice little lady, so you can have this ten cents cheaper because you’re a woman.”

Technical guidelines for discussion posts and responses

1. Your post should be short but meaningful, specific, and substantive. A rule of thumb to follow is one paragraph per prompt element. A paragraph is usually needs three sentences to make sense. Remember, your posts and responses are how you demonstrate that you are trying to learn, that you are thinking about what we are studying, and that you are making connections, so length is less important than quality. This is not the time to ramble on. You should have a point or points that specifically address the discussion prompt. Draft your post in a Word document before you enter it into the discussion board and make sure you do a spelling and grammar check. If it looks like you dashed your post off on your phone while doing six other things, then your grade will probably reflect that.
2. You should reference key terms and course materials in your post and response. The point here is that we need to know from where you are getting your information and guidance for your post. You do not need to provide a full citations for sources we use in this course.
3. When there is more than one prompt from which to choose, copy the prompt into your response so that everyone will now which prompt you’ve chosen.
4. Ideally you will post as soon as possible, giving your discussion group mates time to respond. And — if we want to change these from “Discussion Bores” into something fun, you will sign in multiple times, keep the conversation going, maybe even have a debate!
5. Although responses to your discussion group mates is not required, responses may be considered if at the end of the semester you are on the border between two grades. If you choose to respond to the others’ posts, one paragraph should be the minimum. Please focus on the quality of your response. Responses that are simply comments like “I totally agree with what you said” or “Wow! I never thought of it that way” or that repeat what is in the original post are not sufficient responses because they don’t show that you are thinking. Your response should add to the post in some specific, meaningful way – e.g., by offering additional details or explanation, by connecting the post to another relevant concept or idea from our course, by offering a counter-example, by pointing out a strength or weakness and attempting to explain it, et cetera.
6. How to post and respond in Canvas: To make a post, click on the online discussion link; click on Reply; enter your text; and click on submit. Do not attach files. For responses to posts, click on Reply for that particular post.