Examples of our cultural attitudes that affect the issues in rape/sexual assault

So I keep running across examples of the kinds of cultural attitudes that we've been discussing in class, and that we've identified as being causes of some of the ways that cases of rape and sexual assault work in our society. I'll post some here--and you should, too! As you come across stories that seem to be a sample of the attitudes we note in class, post them here as a response. Thanks!

Weekly Q&A

Starting the second week of class, please post here one reflection on class readings, discussion, or actions within 24 hours after each class. Each student will prepare a roughly 600-word response to that day’s readings and class discussion. Blog entries are a way for individuals to focus their thinking on aspects of the course that are particularly interesting to them. In addition, students will mine their blog entries for formal essay topics. Blogs are graded on a performance basis: As long as blog entries are posted on time and are done in good faith, the posts will earn points.

Building our Bibliography

As we work our way through Missoula, we'll delve into Krakauer's sources and search out some of our own. You'll work in groups of two or three. For each reading, your group's job is three-fold:

1. Look at the sources Krakauer cites. Read/skim through them to see how they are useful and to examine whether his use of them is appropriate.
2. Search our library resources to find other research that might be more useful or that might help us build a fuller understanding of the issues Krakauer raises in the book.
3. Develop an annotated citation for each source you deal with. We'll use MLA format for the citation. For the annotation, we're looking for 3-5 sentences that inform all of us what this source covers--what it's good for, in effect.

Publish those sources as you gather them. You can just post them as responses to this blog post.

As group members, keep a complete listing of the annotated entries you find. Later in September, we'll combine them all into one annotated bibliography that we can all use--and add to--as the semester progresses.

Enjoy!

Welcome to English 460!

Hi. And welcome. We are focusing this term on rhetoric as a means not only of generating arguments but also of analyzing situations, issues, words, and actions. We're using a very difficult topic--the culture of rape in modern society--because it's an extremely important one, and it's, unfortunately, very timely. So come prepared to participate in some deep discussions, to read critically, and to do research that helps you meet the assignments and contribute to the knowledge base our class community will build.

Let's get started!

Rhetoric resources

Check here for various sources on the WWW that help with the rhetorical concepts we'll be considering this term.