Alexander

Synthesis:

Right off the bat, I compared this article to Malinowitz and his discussion on the gay/lesbian community. Another similar author was Flynn and his discussion of the way men and women write. Some other authors are Wardle and Gee who talk about the importance of identity in writing. Swales can also be compared to, his discussion on discourse community and lexus can relate to this article.

Response	Quotation
I found this to be a significant quote because Alexander tells us that we are able to represent who we are through writing, rather than having to be worried about who we are and our gender.	“Seeing writing as possibility for representing gender, as opposed to a revealing of a fundamental gender, is a significant shift in thinking about the composition of gender” (Alexander 197).
I chose this quote because I believe that it is very true. There are many professions today that lack women in a particular field. If we had a variety of men and women in different fields, our society would be more accepting.	“All authoritative social roles are held by men—in politics, medicine, law, religion, science, art, and, of course, the academy” (Alexander 197).
This is an interesting quote, because we often times look at the physical features of someone, and that is why many people feel uncomfortable when they see a transgender man/woman. We need to understand that gender has to deal with how someone feels on the inside and how they identify themselves. If more people were educated about this, our society would be more accepting of people of the transgender.	“Sexuality intersects with and complicates our understanding of gender” (Alexander 198).
This quote really made me think. I guess I never realized that we don’t include other gender expressions.	“The terms feminine and masculine are the only two tools most people have to talk about the complexities of gender expression” (Alexander 200).
I like this quote because Alexander explains that by reading compositions or even hearing what other genders have to say, we can learn from them and have a stronger understanding of their thoughts and beliefs.	“Examination of narrations of gender that we come to a fuller and richer understanding of its “composition”—both personally and politically, in mind and on body” (Alexander 211).
Alexander explains in this quote that we are stereotyped by how we look and our physical appearance. I feel that our society is almost obsessed with physical appearance. This makes it hard for those who “do not fit in”.	“A significant way in which we fit in—or do not fit in—has to do with how our bodies are perceived as complying with or deviating from sets of highly gendered norms” (Alexander 212).

Thoughts:

I found this to be a very interesting article. Alexander does a good job of explaining how other genders feel in today's society. This article also taught me that by understanding the way other genders feel, we can grow as a community and in our understanding of one another. The article also made me wonder why we place so much emphasis on gender. Why does it have to be such a big deal? Just let people be who they are.

Video: