Suffragists, Sistahs, and Riot Grrrls

Essay Two:
Representations of Women After World War II

Description: Based on your research in 1945-1965 U.S. mass media archives (journals, magazines, newspapers), write an essay delineating and analyzing post-war representations of women and the ideals and images of "womanhood" they construct. (You may draw on both pictures and words in your search for "images" and "ideals.") The essay should make use of one or more class readings, the material in print and other media sources 1945-1965, and an additional article that you find for this assignment. Your essay should reach a conclusion (make an argument) about the politics of the representation of women in that period. The finished essay is to be 800-1200 words long. Use an accepted parenthetical citation form (consult a writer's handbook or online resources). Include copies of the historic material that informs your argument. The essay is due Tuesday, March 27.

Purpose: Exploring post-war media will provide you with important research skills and will enrich your study of women's activism and thought in that period by delineating the dominant thinking that prompted those protests. You will also be beginning to work on the final essay for the class, which will be a historical survey of changing visions of women and women's response to those ideals.

Method: Begin by consulting

Ruth Dickstein's Guide to Research in post-war media
to locate the appropriate resources. Begin exploring, taking notes on what women are represented, how they are presented, what women are missing, etc. You will also want to ask who is writing the articles? for whom are they written? where do they appear? is the journal or newspaper mainstream? conservative? progressive? for a mostly Euro-American audience? for a minority or immigrant audience? Focus your research on a manageable set of documents. Based on what you have decided to focus on, find an appropriate journal article, again consulting Ruth Dickstein's Guide to Research. Formulate your argument, drawing on the media materials, the article you have found, and class readings and discussions. Here are some helpful hints on argumentation.

Evaluation: Your essay will be graded on its successful completion of the terms of the assignment, on complexity and originality of thesis, argumentation, organization, style, and mechanics (including citation form). I will grade down if citation form is not correct. Essays that arrive at all late will be substantially penalized.