Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

The below is a part of the description of an academic event. I think the usage of masculinization and feminization is sexism. I like to know your opinion.

This paper will demonstrate how these transpacific events were part of a crucial moment in the development of two imbricated discourses, a scientific discourse and a discourse on peace and Japan�s unique role in promoting it, and analyze how the masculinization of the discourse of �science� (in its nationalist frame) was closely tied to the feminization of narratives of �peace�.
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Hiromichi

[Lorikeet]

It's good you are on the lookout for instances of sexism, but for me personally, I couldn't tell from the excerpt you cited. I would want to know what the premise of the paper was, and in what time frame the actions took place.

[hiromichi]

Lorikeet: For your help, a long quotation.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 4:00 pm
Hiroshima Maidens and Lucky Dragons: Shaping Japan�s Postwar Nuclear World
Speaker: Elyssa Faison, History, University of Oklahoma
Moderator: Junko Habu, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, Sixth Floor, Berkeley
[a:http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/ieas.html?event_ID=55885]http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/ieas.html?event_ID=55885

In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made his famous �Atoms for Peace� speech. In 1954 the U.S. conducted the atmospheric nuclear test code named �Castle Bravo� at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, inadvertently contaminating a nearby Japanese fishing trawler. Only three days later, the Japanese Diet approved its first budget for the development of nuclear power. Finally, in 1955 a group of twenty-five young female atomic bomb victims arrived at New York�s Mount Sinai Hospital for a series of reconstructive surgeries. This paper will demonstrate how these transpacific events were part of a crucial moment in the development of two imbricated discourses, a scientific discourse and a discourse on peace and Japan�s unique role in promoting it, and analyze how the masculinization of the discourse of �science� (in its nationalist frame) was closely tied to the feminization of narratives of �peace�.
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Hiromichi

[Lorikeet]

Thank you for the extended reference. I still am not sure about the thrust of the paper, but it is often implied that men are more apt to try to solve things by fighting, and women by talking. Whether that is based on any reality or just a stereotype is something to be discussed

[hiromichi]

Lorikeet:Thank you.
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Hiromichi

[IanT]

Likewise: hard to tell, even from the extended quote, what the paper is trying to say.

But I can tell you that a lot of academic writing on gender, especially as it refers to literature, uses ideas of masculine and feminine which the average intelligent person finds very hard to follow and still harder to accept!

In short, if you find out more about this subject and it seems a bit strange or unlikely to you, it is quite possible that it is the writer's problem and not yours!
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[hiromichi]

IanT:
Thank you for your follow-up comment.
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Hiromichi