Reality TV & Exploitation

Please read this article. Summarize it on your blog. Do you agree with the article? Do you think your show is exploitative? Why or why not?

Masculinity

English 101: Blog Topics

Option #1 Monogamy, A Myth?
Summarize David Barash's article "The Myth of Monogamy." Do you agree or disagree with his argument. Use both science and personal experience to support your answer.

Option #2 The Paper Doll Problem
Read this short poem by Lyn Lifshin.

he’d rather have a paper doll, she said
Lyn Lifshin

a porn woman. I’d
soak in a tub of bath
oil an hour come back
and drop the towel and
he’d roll over. Even
our honeymoon he
was out getting skin
flicks. He had Play
boy and Penthouse. Then,
things in brown enveloped
stashed behind furniture,
films, I was in competition
even that week in Las
Vegas but I tried
8 and a half years
I had my breasts done,
belly, but he’d lock him
self in the bathroom for
3 hours. I could hear
paper turning. He said it
had nothing to do with
me and he’d been such a
gentleman. Five dates
before he even kissed me.
My father told his three
girls men just want one
thing. I wear teddies to
bed, eyelashes I tried
suicide twice never told
anyone, thought if I just
bought the right nylon
or lace. A real woman
scares him. On paper, he
can have as many, never
with cellulite, or scars
hair where it should
not be, doing what
ever he can imagine

Summarize this poem in 2-3 sentences. Do you feel that the male character's use of pornography could be considered cheating? Do you believe that pornography is a form of infidelity? Defend your answer. What advice would you give the female character in the poem?

Option #3: Men & Women
In this famous poem, Dorothy Parker makes some provocative statements about male and female behaviors in relationship.


General Review of the Sex Situation
Dorothy Parker

Woman wants monogamy;
Man delights in novelty.
Love is woman’s moon and sun;
Man has other forms of fun.
Woman lives but in her lord;
Count to ten, and man is bored.
With this gist and sum of it,
What earthly good can come of it?
Do you agree with the argument in this poem? Defend your answer.

Do you believe in God? Why or why not? Defend your answer.

American Dream Houses

Check out these links to photo essays that use pictures to report on the recent housing crisis.

http://www.laurengreenfield.com/index.php?p=6NO10MJ8

http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/foreclosures

Which photo essay do you find more compelling? Which photo essay do you find more emotionally evocative? What do you think provides a stronger impact: a photo essay, a news report, a newspaper article, a fictional short story?