Please You need to read the book thoroughly. You would also need to watch the movie for the best works.

DRAFT FOR APPROVAL BY BROOKLYN H.and CAMERON M.

Gender and Religion

Midterm Adventure

Please answer all 6 questions.

Questions 1 to 5 can be answered in approximately 3 to 5 doublespaced pages each, typed in Times new Roman with a 12 pt. font.

Question # 6 can be answered in approximately 1 or 2 such pages.

Each is worth 16 points with 4 points given for your name and student #.

You are required to keep a copy of what you hand in.

Citations: In your answers, please cite page #s for each quotation from the assigned readings. Page number and Authors last name citation is very important.

1. In her essay "Gender is Burning" (in Bodies that Matter), Judith Butler writes rather favorably about the film Paris is Burning In contrast, in her essay "Is Paris Burning?" (from Black Looksand distributed on Blackboard), bell hooks is very critical ofthe same film. Which opinion do you favor and why? (Be sure to defend your answer with quotations from both essays and material from the film.)

2. Discuss how the film Paris Is Burningcan be used to illustrate Butler's theory that gender is performative.

(Hint: be sure to discuss a few aspects of Butler's theory in your answer with quotations from her work. And, please reference specific details about the film. You might want to rent the film from a video store or find it online to refresh your memory.)

3. In her article "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence," Adrienne Rich argues that the importance of female tofemale relationships is obscured in a culture that idealizes heterosexuality as a political institution. With reference to the film Casablanca, explain how Rich's argument might be applied to male -male relationships i.e., how the idealization of heterosexuality in this work of art draws attention away from the importance of love between men. (Hint: The best answers will draw on and quote from the essays of Rich and/or Irigaray both distributed on Blackboard as well as making use of material from Casablanca.)

4. In her chapter "Critically Queer" from Bodies that Matter, Butler writes on p. 236 or p. 180 depending on the edition you have: "The straight man becomes (mimes, cites, appropriates, assumes the status of) the man he ‘never' loved and ‘never' grieved; the straight woman becomes the woman she ‘never' loved and ‘never' grieved. It is in this sense, then, that what is most apparently performed as gender is the sign and symptom of a pervasive disavowal." Explain how this statement demonstrates queer theory as Claudia Schippert describes it (in her article for the Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion distributed on Blackboard) as problematizing and examining "the dominant organization of sexuality and the production of the normal."

5. Summarize chapter 1, 2, 3 or 7 from Bodies that Matter (not the Preface orthe Introduction). Try to use your own words a s well as quotations from the text.

6. Pick one chapter from chapters 1-6 from Women Against Fundamentalism and explain how the author's life experience and/or observations influenced her decision to become active in WAF