Blog Post 32

Citation

Alexander, Jonathan.  “Transgender Rhetorics: (Re)Composing Narratives of the Gendered Body.”

I. Summary

In Jonathan Alexander’s article,  “Transgender Rhetorics: (Re) Composing Narratives of the Gendered Body”, he talks all about how gender is a very questionable topic.  He talks about the components of what makes man and women so very different. He then goes on to talk about of a friend of his that had a sex change from woman to man.  She turned into a man and changed her name to Patrick Cailifia-Rice to better fit her new appearance.  How can we know he is a man, is the question Alexander asks.  His students accepted him as a man but how do when really call him a man?  Alexander also talks about how gender is influenced in the classroom and what role it plays in teachings.  When given a place to openly express their feelings, students feel more confidant in the classroom. Having a good understanding of gender identities in the classroom can help everyone be more accepting and functional in the world outside of the classroom environment.          

II. Dialectical Notebook

In this column you RESPOND to the quotes	In this column you TYPE OUT the quote
This quote is trying to show that participation helps those that don’t understand the transgender community to get a better understanding of their behavior. Society is meant to be a certain way, and when someone crosses over or does something different than the societies norm it is frowned upon. But we have to learn about other that are different than us to really have an understanding of todays society.	"I want to argue than trans theorists and pedagogical activities inspired by them can remind us to complement our understanding of gender performance with a sense of gender as a material and embodied reality".
This quote is important because it explains the fact that sexuality clashes or collides with our understanding of gender. Gender is either being a man or a female, and sexuality meaning being attracted to either males or females. This completely collides with our understanding of gender.	"Most recently, composition scholarship in this vein has grappled with issues not only of gender but also of sexuality, recognizing that sexuality intersects with and complicates our understanding of gender".
This article and quote relate to Delpit. This talks a lot about not fitting in because of of sexual orientation because the standards the society has placed upon people who are different. Much like people who are black have a different dialect, it is frowned upon to not speak white English.	“Our students’ identities, informed by prevailing, politicized and personal definitions of gender and sexuality, can have a significant impact on their participation in class, their sense of themselves as learners.”
This quote is about questioning the queer theory.  I can see how people can have different identities and that they are not accepted for these ideas.	“Queer theory can be used to highlight for all students how our identities are shaped and communicated through a variety of intersecting social processes.”
This quote is important because Alexander talks about the importance of teachers opening up their classrooms to not only empower and encourage their students to talk about their own thoughts and experiences, but to open the minds of all the students in the classroom to take a look at the personal and political oppression put on by society. Personal, meaning a sense of sexuality, and political meaning the sociocultural expectations put up by society, intersect and collide. The goal in the classroom is to give a better understanding of all students about this process and what is felt about this process.	"Opening up spaces in our classrooms to allow and encourage students to undertake such explorations not only empowers them and promotes their own agency but also potentially extended critical awareness to all students of how writing can be used to explore the intersection between the seemingly personal and the political".
This quote is talking about how we should see gender as more then a rhetoric.  It is a way of identification.  Gender is used more as a identification then we know.  It is everywhere.  And when we can’t tell if a guy is a guy or if a girl is a girl, things get very awkward.  It must be very hard for people like that.	“And pedagogically, considering with students gender beyond its rhetorical dimensions is not to leave rhetoric behind, but to think about rhetoric in a more materially grounded way.”