Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramidjudy

Teaching
Pronunciation
Using the Prosody Pyramid
Judy B. Gilbert
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA
www.cambridge.org
© Cambridge University Press 2008
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing
agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
isbn-13 978-0-521-98927-5 paperback

Book layout services: Page Designs International
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 The Functions of Prosody 2
2 The Prosody Pyramid 10
3 The Prosody Pyramid and Individual Sounds 21
4 Ideas for Implementing the Prosody Pyramid 31
Appendix 1: Pronunciation FAQ 42
Appendix 2: Focus Rules and Thought Group Rules 45
Appendix 3: How Often Do the Vowel Rules Work? 47
Appendix 4: Table of Figures 48
References 49
Introduction 1

Introduction
Teaching pronunciation involves a variety of challenges. To
begin with, teachers
often find that they do not have enough time in class to give
proper attention
to this aspect of English instruction. When they do find the time
to address pro-
nunciation, the instruction often amounts to the presentation and
practice of a
series of tedious and seemingly unrelated topics. Drilling
sounds over and over
again (e.g., minimal pair work) often leads to discouraging
results, and discour-
aged students and teachers end up wanting to avoid
pronunciation altogether.
There are also psychological factors that affect the learning of
pronun-
ciation in ways that are not so true of studying grammar or
vocabulary. For one
thing, the most basic elements of speaking are deeply personal.
Our sense of
self and community are bound up in the speech-rhythms of our
first language
(L1). These rhythms were learned in the first year of life and
are deeply rooted
in the minds of students. Therefore, it is common for students to
feel uneasy
when they hear themselves speak with the rhythm of a second
language (L2).
They find that they “sound foreign” to themselves, and this is
troubling for
them. Although the uneasiness is usually unconscious, it can be

a major barrier
to improved intelligibility in the L2.
A teacher can help overcome this psychological barrier and
other
challenges by thinking of the goal of pronunciatio n instruction
not as helping
students to sound like native speakers but as helping them to
learn the core
elements of spoken English so that they can be easily
understood by others. In
other words, teachers and students can overcome the
frustrations, difficulties,
and boredom often associated with pronunciation by focusing
their attention on
the development of pronunciation that is “listener friendly.”
After all, English
pronunciation does not amount to mastery of a list of sounds or
isolated words.
Instead, it amounts to learning and practicing the specifically
English way of
making a speaker’s thoughts easy to follow.
This booklet presents an approach to pronunciation that
highlights the
interrelatedness of various aspects of English speech. The
approach addresses
the individual elements of pronunciation but always within the
framework of a
larger system that uses all these individual elements to make
speakers’ ideas clear
and understandable to their listeners.
2 Teaching Pronunciation

1 The Functions of Prosody
Communication in spoken English is organized by “musical
signals.” There
are two aspects to these signals – rhythm and melody – and the
combination of
these two aspects may be called prosody. Often, the term
prosody is used to mean
rhythm alone, while the term intonation is used to refer
specifically to melody
(or pitch patterns). However, in this booklet, prosody will refer
to the combina-
tion of both rhythm and melody. The reason is that for the
purposes of teaching
pronunciation, the teacher needs to understand that both these
aspects of spo-
ken English work together and are vitally linked. The term
prosody provides us
with a handy way to refer to the interconnected aspects of
rhythm and melody
with a single label.
Rhythm and Melody as Road Signs
In English, rhythmic and melodic signals serve as “road signs”
to help the lis-
tener follow the intentions of the speaker. These signals
communicate emphasis
and make clear the relationship between ideas so that listeners
can readily iden-
tify these relationships and understand the speaker’s meaning.
Unfortunately,
when English learners speak in class, they are typically not
thinking about how
to help their listeners follow their meaning. Instead, they are
often thinking
about avoiding mistakes in grammar, vocabulary, and so on.

Native speakers
also commonly make this error when delivering a presentation
or when read-
ing aloud in a classroom, a business meeting, or in some other
setting. They
become preoccupied with making “mistakes” and may ignore
their listeners
altogether. But it is particularly important for English learners
to think about
their listeners and master the rhythmic and melodic signals
essential to “listener-
friendly” pronunciation.
Learners typically do not use or recognize the cues that native
listeners
count on to help them follow meaning in a conversation. As a
result, con-
versational breakdowns occur. Emphasis that conveys the wrong
meaning, or
thought groups that either run together or break in inappropriate
places, cause
extra work for the listener who is trying to follow the speaker’s
meaning. If the
burden becomes too great, the listener simply stops listening.
The principle of
“helping the listener to follow,” therefore, is a vital one. It is so
central to com-
munication, in fact, that time spent helping students concentrate
on the major
rhythmic and melodic signals of English is more important than
any other
efforts to improve their pronunciation.
Teaching Pronunciation 3

Melody
All languages have some way to highlight the most important
piece of informa-
tion in an utterance. They all have a way to help listeners
distinguish between
old information and new information and thereby draw the
listener’s atten-
tion to that piece of information that is new, and therefore, more
important.
But few languages rely on melody for this function as much as
English. In
English, changes in pitch help listeners follow the speaker’s
meaning because
these melodic signals provide cohesion and contrast. Not only
do they tell
listeners what is new information, but they also tell listeners
how ideas relate to
each other. They help listeners to understand how the speaker
intends to make
connections with what came before (orientation) and what will
follow in the
conversation (prediction).
Efficient listening comprehension, therefore, depends on the
ability
to “read” melodic cues in order to sort out these aspects of the
incoming lan-
guage. The orientation aspect helps listeners to clue into what
must have been
assumed, and the prediction aspect helps listeners to find out
quickly if they
have misunderstood the point of the conversation. In addition,
these aspects
are similar to the skills needed to be an efficient reader (e.g., to
recognize the

significance of furthermore or on the other hand which are
“road signs” for the
reader). But in spoken English, the “road signs” are prosodic!
Consider the following example sentences.
Example
a. Jane said, “Is that Mister Fogg?”
b. Jane said, “Is that mist or fog?”
Question: What was Jane talking about?
(Gilbert 2005, 136)
In sentence (a), Jane is asking about a person. In sentence (b),
she is asking
about something altogether different, the weather. In terms of
pronunciation,
however, the only difference between the two utterances is a
melodic one. The
pitch pattern of each sentence distinguishes it from the other
and makes the
meaning clear for the listener.
Rhythm
Children learn the rhythm of their L1 very early in life. By the
time they reach
the age of one, that rhythm is deeply familiar to them, and they
will uncon-
sciously apply it to any L2 that they learn (Aoyama et al. 2007).
Since English
learners will be predisposed to use the rhythm of their L1, it is
highly important
that they be made consciously aware of the English system of
rhythm.

The basic unit of English rhythm is the syllable. A syllable is
most
simply explained as something with a vowel sound at its center.
And while the
number of syllables in a word is usually obvious to a native
speaker of English,
learners accustomed to different phonological rules may not
hear the syllable
divisions in the same way. Since this seriously affects both
intelligibility and
listening comprehension, time must be spent training students’
ears to notice
the number of syllables in the words they learn. For instance,
students should
be taught to count syllables and thereby notice the rhythmic
difference between
words in pairs, such as ease and easy, or wait and waited.
Notice in the picture of a school bus in Malaysia below that the
English word school has been re-syllabified to fit the Bahasa
Malaysia language
(sekolah), which does not allow a final /l/ sound. That is to say,
the word has
been transformed into 3 syllables, rather than the English
version, which is one
syllable. Another common source of added syllables is that
consonant clusters
are not allowed in many languages and yet occur very often in
English. This can
cause systematic errors in pronunciation based on the student’s
L1 rules (e.g.,
eschool or estudent, or even Espanish for Spanish) and can also

cause confusion
(e.g., parade instead of prayed, and forest instead of first).
Figure 1: School Bus in Bahasa Malaysia language
Listening comprehension is increased when students learn to
notice the rhyth-
mic effect of the number of syllables, including small words
such as articles,
auxiliaries, and affixes (e.g., the; do; -er; etc.). In easily
confused words like
this is/this and late/later the number of syllables is different, so
the rhythm is
different. These small words and affixes are typically difficult
to hear in spoken
English because of the systematic use of contrastive
highlighting/obscuring,
which is essential to the English stress and emphasis system.
For this reason,
these small words are often missing from students’ speech (and
writing), and
this indicates that they are not hearing them well.
Example
1. Yest’day I rent’ ‘car. (Yesterday I rented a car.)
2. Where’ ‘book? (Where is the book?)
3. We’ been here’ long time. (We’ve been here a long time.)
But an understanding of English rhythm involves more than the

ability to iden-
tify and count syllables. It also involves an ability to hear and
produce the word
stress patterns of English.
English speakers tend to store vocabulary items according to
their
stress patterns (Brown 1990; Levelt 1989). Therefore a stress
error is particu-
larly damaging to communication. Brown puts it this way:
The stress pattern of a polysyllabic word is a very important
identifying
feature of the word . . . We store words under stress patterns . .
. and
we find it difficult to interpret an utterance in which a word is
pronounced with the wrong stress pattern – we begin to “look
up” possible
words under this wrong stress pattern. (1990, 51)
Only a little imagination is needed to realize that the failure to
hear and pro-
duce stress patterns accurately could cause confusion between
words such as
those in the following pairs:
dessert/desert foreign/for rain his story/history
It might seem that context would clarify any confusion over
words like these,
but in fact stress errors rarely exist in isolation from other
pronunciation or
grammatical problems. The combination of stress errors with
other types of
errors can seriously disrupt communication. For example, the
following instance

of confusion actually occurred during an English language
learning class in the
workplace, when a student took the teacher aside and asked for
private advice.
Example
Student: Mrs. Stiebel, can you help me with comedy?
Teacher: Comedy?
Student: Yes, comedy is big problem.
Teacher: I don’t quite follow.
Student: (Patiently) Problem – this is worry.
Teacher: Yes, a worry. Um . . . you mean you have a
problem with comedy on TV?
Student: TV? (Trying again) The boss put me on
department comedy. Everybody on comedy, all the
time argue.
Teacher: Oh, you mean committee!
Student: Yes, what I told you, comedy.
Although good will and patient attempts to clarify may often
help speakers and
listeners overcome this sort of disruption, wrong stress is an
added burden for
listeners and can, in many cases, lead to conversational
breakdown.
Unfortunately, learners tend to ignore stress patterns when they
learn

vocabulary. Not only can this lead to pronunciation problems,
as in the example
above, but it can also lead to problems with comprehension.
After all, if learners
have failed to learn the stress pattern for a new word, they may
also fail to recog-
nize that word when it occurs in spoken form. Brown makes this
observation:
From the point of view of the comprehension of spoken English,
the
ability to identify stressed syllables and make intelligent
guesses about
the content of the message from this information is absolutely
essential.
(1977, 52)
The importance of prosodic instruction is further supported by
the findings of
Derwing and Rossiter. In 2003, they conducted a study on the
effects of dif-
ferent types of English pronunciation instruction. As part of that
study, a group
of students was instructed in segmentals (i.e., individual
consonant and vowel
sounds). They were taught to distinguish between English
sounds and produce
these sounds as accurately as possible. Another group was
primarily taught
the prosodic features of English. They learned about the rhythm
and melody
of English and practiced using the prosodic signals that native
speakers use to
guide their listeners. The authors comment on their findings:
We do not advocate eliminating segment-based instruction

altogether,
but, if the goal of pronunciation teaching is to help students
become
more understandable, then this study suggests that it should
include a
stronger emphasis on prosody. (2003, 14)
The Relationship Between Speaking and
Listening Comprehension
While it may be easy to see the benefit of good pronunciation
instruction for
increasing intelligibility, it is just as useful for increasing
listening comprehen-
sion. Students who are taught about English prosodic patterns
often report
improved understanding of speech on TV, in movies, and in
face-to-face con-
versation. Why is this?
One reason is that prosodically-trained students have learned to
understand how rhythmic and melodic cues are used to organize
information
and guide the listener. Another reason is that these students
have learned to
notice how prosody changes how words sound. Most English
learners who suf-
fer from inadequate training in listening comprehension
complain that “native
speakers talk too fast.” What this often means is that learners
are unable to
process important grammatical signals, (e.g., past tense
markers) or effectively
process contracted speech. Contractions and reductions are a
normal part of

spoken English. Furthermore, difficulty keeping up with what
was said also
occurs from the inability to recognize the intonational signals of
“what goes
with what” or “what disagrees with what.” These signals are an
important part
of helping the listener to follow (i.e., creating cohesion). An
example of miss-
ing the signals of grouping would be failing to recognize who is
being spoken
about in a remark like “John,” said the Boss, “is lazy.” This is a
quite different
sentence than “John said, ‘The Boss is lazy’.” Aside from
intonational thought
grouping signals, another reason to miss the point of what the
speaker just
said is the inability to recognize the implications of emphasis.
Emphasis signals
what is new, or especially important, as opposed to what is
already understood.
Cohesion in English conversation depends both on signals of
grouping and on
the pitch contrast between new information and old information.
A dramatic example of “not noticing the implications of empha-
sis” occurred at a major point in Francis Coppola’s detective
movie “The
Conversation.” The detective thinks he heard the beautiful
young wife say to
her lover “If my husband finds out, he’ll KILL us!” The
detective is so worried
about the young woman’s safety from her jealous husband that
he misinterprets

the remark. But later, after the husband’s corpse is discovered,
and a small smile
is seen on the wife’s face, the detective realizes he had
misheard the emphasis.
What she had actually said was “If my husband finds out,
HE’LL kill US.” The
emphasis on pronouns implied something far different from the
usual emphasis
on a content word (the verb). The two young lovers were not
afraid of the
husband; they were plotting a murder.
The individual sounds of spoken English are constantly changed
by
the communication pressures inherent in the prosody. Put
another way, prosody
often distorts sounds so much that they are unrecognizable from
the sounds of
a word when it is said in isolation. For example, to find out how
a word is pro-
nounced a learner will often look in a dictionary. But it is
important to realize
that actual pronunciation of that word may be dramatically
changed depend-
ing on its importance to the speaker at a particular moment. In
actual speech,
words run together, consonants or vowels disappear or change
in sounds all in
relation to the prosody pressures. Also, the word stress pattern
as indicated in
the dictionary is actually only a “potential” stress pattern; the
potential is acti-
vated in specific contexts, but it is not necessarily realized in
every context. So
if students depend on the “dictionary pronunciation” of words,
they will likely

fail to recognize a spoken vocabulary item when they hear it,
even though they
“know” the item in print. In fact, they do not really know the
word until they
can identify it in actual speech.
Brown explains the problem this way:
From the point of view of understanding ordinary spoken
English, the
failure to move beyond the basic elementary pronunciation of
spoken
English must be regarded as disastrous for any student who
wants to
be able to cope with a native English situation. If the student is
only
exposed to carefully articulated English, he will have learnt to
rely on
acoustic signals which will be denied him when he encounters
the normal
English of native speakers. (1977, 159)
Her point, at least in part, is that the individual sounds of words
are affected by
the surrounding language, and often are said quite differently
than an English
learner depending on the dictionary would expect. For this
reason, effective
listening comprehension is greatly enhanced by learning
(through explanation
and adequate practice) how the sounds actually change

according to the pro-
sodic influence of the speaker’s intentions. The focus of English
pronunciation
instruction, therefore, should be to give learners the prosodic
framework within
which the sounds are organized. Instruction should concentrate
on the way
English speakers depend on rhythm and melody to organize
thoughts, high-
light important words, and otherwise guide their listener.
In addition to helping learners understand words in context and
to
recognize prosodic “road signs” in spoken English, instruction
about prosody
also helps learners develop improved ability to clear up
misunderstandings in
the middle of a conversation. This is because when learners
understand how
prosody affects sounds and meaning, they are made more aware
of poten-
tial sources of confusion in conversation. When there has been a
breakdown,
instead of focusing strictly on pronouncing individual sounds
correctly and
not making grammatical mistakes, they are able to identify
prosodic elements
that may have sent a wrong signal. Further, students can make
adjustments to
rhythm and melody and correct the sounds in the most important
syllables in
order to correct the confusion. Since correction of a
conversational breakdown
has to be rapid, knowledge of the prosody system gives students
the tools to
efficiently scan what was just said and make a quick repair.

Conclusion
Without a sufficient, threshold-level mastery of the English
prosodic system,
learners’ intelligibility and listening comprehension will not
advance, no matter
how much effort is made drilling individual sounds. That is why
the highest
priority must be given to rhythm and melody in whatever time is
available for
teaching pronunciation. If there is more time, then other lower
priority topics
can be addressed (e.g., the sound of the letters th, the difference
between the
sounds associated with r and l, etc.), but priority must be given
to prosody.
Teachers are often hesitant to tackle rhythm and melody in class
because these topics are perceived as complicated and full of
nuance. Textbooks
on the subject tend to be intimidating because they present so
many rules.
However, while intonation analysis can get very complicated,
teaching a thresh-
old level of understanding of the core system is actually quite
simple at its most
basic level.
If there is only time to teach awareness of the core system and
practice
these vital rhythmic and melodic cues, as well as certain critical
sounds (e.g.,

the grammar cues at the end of words), students will have
achieved a great deal
of communicative competence. But if these prosodic cues are
not taught, then
efforts at achieving communicative competence by drilling
individual sounds
will prove frustrating. After all, practicing pronunciation by
focusing only on
individual sounds is like using only part of the language. As one
teacher trainee
put it after training course, “Practicing pronunciation without
prosody is like
teaching ballroom dancing, only the students must stand still,
practice without
a partner, and without music.”
2 The Prosody Pyramid
The English prosodic system can be illustrated visually with a
pyramid shape.
We will call it the Prosody Pyramid. The base of the system is
the thought group.
This is a group of words that may be a short sentence, a clause,
or a phrase
within a longer sentence (Chafe 1970, Bolinger 1989, Brown
1990, Cauldwell
1992). Within that base unit, there is a focus word – the most
important word in
the thought group. Within the focus word, one syllable is given
the main stress.
That syllable functions as the peak of information within the
thought group. It
is sometimes called the nucleus, or the peak. The sounds in this

syllable must be
clear and easily recognized, because this is the center of
meaning of the thought
group. All the processes of spoken English work together to
make this syllable
easy for the listener to notice and recognize.
While the various levels of pronunciation are interdependent,
they will
be more easily understood if separated and presented one step at
a time. In the
sections that follow, we will consider each level of the Prosody
Pyramid in turn
and explain how each level relates to the others.
THOUGHT GROUP
FOCUS WORD
STRESS
PEAK
Figure 2: The Prosody Pyramid
The Thought Group
Perhaps the most important way that English speakers help their
listeners to
follow their meaning is by grouping words so that they can be
more easily
processed. The stream of talk in English does not flow
smoothly; it is composed
of a series of brief spurts. Interestingly, when native speakers
listen to English

speech, they do not generally notice this intermittent quality.
Rather they get an
impression of smooth continuity. But this seeming stream is
really made up of
longer and shorter chunks. These chunks of speech are the
organization of the
speaker’s thoughts into groups. As mentioned earlier, a thought
group of words
can be a short sentence, a clause, or even a phrase. While, the
English system
for grouping words seems logical to native speakers of English,
many languages
either do not rely on the same signals to indicate thought
boundaries, or they
put the boundaries in different places (Ballmer 1980).
In written English, punctuation is used to help readers separate
thought groups. For instance, in the following example a comma
and a period
are used to mark the end of each thought group.
Example
Danny arrived late, so he missed half the movie.
Not only does written English use punctuation as an aid, but
readers can always
reread a piece of text if they become confused about the
organization or group-
ing of information. But in spoken English there is neither
punctuation nor the
opportunity to recheck the words, so listeners must rely entirely
on prosodic

markers in order to know which words are grouped together.
Prosodic Markers for Thought Groups
Thought groups generally start on a higher pitch and then drop
at the end. To
clearly mark the end of the group, there are several prosodic
signals:
(a) a pause
(b) a drop in pitch
(c) lengthening of the last stressed syllable (the most subtle
signal)
In slow speech, the pause is the most obvious indicator that a
thought group
has ended. But during rapid speech, there is no time for pauses,
so pitch drops
are essential signals.
Example
(from Gilbert 2005, 132)
In general, a pitch drop means “the end,” and there is a
relationship between
the degree of finality and the size of the drop. For instance, a
slight drop in
intonation typically marks the end of a thought group within a
sentence; a

bigger drop marks the end of a sentence or an entire comment; a
major drop
indicates, “I have finished my remarks, and it is now your turn
to speak.”
In a more subtle (but equally systematic) way, spoken English
uses the
lengthening of the final stressed syllable in a thought group to
signal the end of
that group. This lengthening may exist in order to give time for
the pitch drop
(Lehiste 1977, 260), which helps the listener to notice that the
thought group
is finished.
Teachers sometimes ask for rules to give their students about
how to
decide where to begin and end a thought group. Although
linguists have been
studying this question for decades, no one seems to have
developed rules that
are sufficiently simple and practical for language learners.
Instead of attempting
to teach complex rules, it is far more useful to help students
learn to hear the
signals of thought grouping and think about grouping in their
own speech. One
way to build awareness of thought group boundaries is to have
students analyze
a piece of recorded speech to determine where the thought
groups begin and
end. When students work in pairs or in small groups to analyze
a dialogue or
a paragraph, their individual choices about grouping will likely
be different.
Nevertheless, awareness of the concept is raised when they have

to explain their
choices about how the words are grouped.
The Focus Word
Every English thought group has a focus word. This is the most
important
word in the group. It is the word that the speaker wants the
listener to notice
most, and it is therefore emphasized. To achieve the necessary
emphasis on the
focus word, English makes particular use of intonation.
The basic principle at play when emphasizing a focus word is
contrast.
Notice the drawings in the Figure below.
Figure 3: Illustrates emphasizing a focus word (from Gilbert
2005, 44)
The butterfly in the picture on the right is easy to see because it
is highlighted,
and the rest of the drawing is shaded. The butterfly in the
picture on the
left blends in with the rest of the drawing and is therefore
difficult to see.
Intonational emphasis, when properly applied in a thought
group, highlights
the focus word so that it stands out, leaving less important
information in the
thought group to fade into the background.

Emphasis and De-emphasis
Since other languages use other signals to call attention to the
important idea
in an utterance, learners of English as an L2 often do not notice
this specifically
English system for signaling emphasis. Because the English
system of sentence
emphasis may be quite foreign to student intuition, it helps to
present a set of
basic rules about how this system works. Several simple focus
rules are presented
in Clear Speech (Gilbert 2005), and those rules are reproduced
in Appendix 2
of this booklet. Among these rules is the basic principle that the
focus word in a
thought group is usually a content word (i.e., a noun, verb,
adverb, or adjective).
Content words …
Feminism Is for Everybody
What is feminism? In this short, accessible primer, bell hooks
explores the nature of
feminism and its positive promise to eliminate sexism, sexist
exploitation, and
oppression. With her characteristic clarity and directness, hooks
encourages readers
to see how feminism can touch and change their lives—to see
that feminism is for
everybody.

A cultural critic, an intellectual, and a feminist writer, bell
hooks is best known
for classic books including Ain’t I a Woman, Bone Black, All
About Love, Rock My
Soul, Belonging, We Real Cool, Where We Stand, Teaching to
Transgress, Teaching
Community, Outlaw Culture, and Reel to Real. hooks is
Distinguished Professor in
Residence in Appalachian Studies at Berea College, and resides
in her home state
of Kentucky.
2
Feminism Is for Everybody
Passionate Politics
bell hooks
3
First published 2015
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an

informa business
© 2015 Gloria Watkins
The right of Gloria Watkins to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
First edition published
by South End Press 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
hooks, bell, 1952–
Feminism is for everybody : passionate politics / bell hooks. —
[Second edition].
pages cm

Includes index.
1. Feminist theory. 2. Feminism—Political aspects. 3. Sex
discrimination
against women. I. Title.
HQ1190.H67 2014
305.4201—dc23
2014023012
ISBN: 978-1-138-82159-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-82162-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74318-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
4
5
Contents
preface to the new edition

introduction: come closer to feminism
1. feminist politics
where we stand
2. consciousness-raising
a constant change of heart
3. sisterhood is still powerful
4. feminist education for critical consciousness
5. our bodies, ourselves
reproductive rights
6. beauty within and without
7. feminist class struggle
8. global feminism
9. women at work
10. race and gender
11. ending violence
12. feminist masculinity
13. feminist parenting
14. liberating marriage and partnership
6

15. a feminist sexual politic
an ethics of mutual freedom
16. total bliss
lesbianism and feminism
17. to love again
the heart of feminism
18. feminist spirituality
19. visionary feminism
index
7
Preface to the New Edition
Engaged with feminist theory and practice for more than forty
years, I am proud
to testify that each year of my life my commitment to feminist
movement, to
challenging and changing patriarchy has become more intense.
More than ever
before, I work to share the liberating joy feminist struggle
brings to our lives as
females and males who continue to work for change, who
continue to hope for an
end to sexism, to sexist exploitation and oppression.
From the very onset of my engagement with feminist practice, I
was most

excited about building a mass feminist movement. Believing at
twenty years old
that it was feminist movement for social justice that could
change all our lives I
worked to envision ways of bringing the meaning of feminist
thinking and practice
to a larger audience, to the masses. And while much of my work
did reach folks
who had not yet thought about feminism, especially black folks,
the fact that
almost all my work was written while I was a student or a
professor meant that it
did not always reach that larger audience. The primary way that
the reading public
knows that a book exists is either they see it displayed in
bookstores and/or they
read reviews of the work. When work is dissident and
progressive it is unlikely to
receive very many mainstream reviews.
I have been fortunate to have published books that although
they were rarely
reviewed, they found an audience. Definitely course adoptions
became one of the
ways books that received little mainstream attention found an
audience. And of
course when writing books that readers proclaim “this book
saved my life,” word
of mouth sharing about the work sells copies. As I look back at
forty years of
writing feminist theory I am awed that my work still finds
readers, still educates
for critical consciousness.
Through the years as more diverse female and male voices have
come to the

table writing awesome feminist theory and cultural criticism,
academic settings
became and have become the primary settings for the
dissemination of feminist
thought. This trend has had positive impact for college students
as it provides
greater opportunity for folks to learn the power and signifi cance
of feminist
thinking and practice, but it has impacted negatively on the
work of broadening
8
the engagement of a large public in feminist movement.
I came to full feminist consciousness as an undergraduate, my
mind changed and
altered by women’s studies classes, by the books we read.
However born into a
family with six girls and one boy, I wanted my mama, my
siblings, everyone I
knew to be as intoxicated with feminist thinking as I was. The
picture on the cover
of this book is of me and my best friend from our first year of
college. Race did not
stand in the way of our bonding as it was shared working class
issues that brought
us together. We are in our late teens, almost twenty, in this
photo. When I became
excited about feminism April came with me to feminist
conferences to learn what
it was all about. After more than forty years we are still
attending feminist lectures
together. We learned the truism that “sister is powerful” by

learning and
experiencing life’s journey together.
When thinking of what to write I have always worked from the
space of
concrete experience, writing about what was happening in my
life and the lives of
females and males around me. For years I would listen to folks
within the academy
and without share their sense that they did not understand the
theory and practice
of feminism. Often students taking women’s studies classes who
had developed
critical consciousness would share the reality that it was
difficult to explain their
new ways of thinking to family and friends.
Listening to all of the complaints that feminist theory was just
“too academic” or
“too full of words folks could not understand” I just felt that
somehow the
movement had failed if we could not communicate feminist
politics to everyone. I
would often say that we needed to go door to door to share
feminist thinking (that
never happened.) Then it occurred to me that I should write an
easy to read book
that would explain feminist thinking and encourage folks to
embrace feminist
politics.
There has never been a time when I believed feminist movement
should be and
was a woman-only movement. In my heart of hearts I knew that
we would never
have a successful feminist movement if we could not encourage

everyone, female
and male, women and men, girls and boys to come closer to
feminism. I would tell
my students I intend to write a book that will explain feminist
thinking, one that
you can take home and share with relatives, with your parents,
your grandparents,
your church members.
The title Feminism is for Everybody was like a slogan
proclaiming all that the
book was about. Clear, concise, easy to read, for me it was a
dream come true. For
it does invite us all to come closer to feminism.
9
Introduction: Come Closer to Feminism
Everywhere I go I proudly tell folks who want to know who I
am and what I do
that I am a writer, a feminist theorist, a cultural critic. I tell
them I write about
movies and popular culture, analyzing the message in the
medium. Most people
find this exciting and want to know more. Everyone goes to
movies, watches
television, glances through magazines, and everyone has
thoughts about the
messages they receive, about the images they look at. It is easy
for the diverse
public I encounter to understand what I do as a cultural critic,
to understand my
passion for writing (lots of folks want to write, and do). But

feminist theory —
that’s the place where the questions stop. Instead I tend to hear
all about the evil of
feminism and the bad feminists: how “they” hate men; how
“they” want to go
against nature — and god; how “they” are all lesbians; how
“they” are taking all
the jobs and making the world hard for white men, who do not
stand a chance.
When I ask these same folks about the feminist books or
magazines they read,
when I ask them about the feminist talks they have heard, about
the feminist
activists they know, they respond by letting me know that
everything they know
about feminism has come into their lives thirdhand, that they
really have not come
close enough to feminist movement to know what really
happens, what it’s really
about. Mostly they think feminism is a bunch of angry women
who want to be like
men. They do not even think about feminism as being about
rights — about
women gaining equal rights. When I talk about the feminism I
know — up close
and personal — they willingly listen, although when our
conversations end, they
are quick to tell me I am different, not like the “real” feminists
who hate men, who
are angry. I assure them I am as a real and as radical a feminist
as one can be, and
if they dare to come closer to feminism they will see it is not
how they have
imagined it.

Each time I leave one of these encounters, I want to have in my
hand a little
book so that I can say, read this book, and it will tell you what
feminism is, what
the movement is about. I want to be holding in my hand a
concise, fairly easy to
read and understand book; not a long book, not a book thick
with hard to
understand jargon and academic language, but a
straightforward, clear book —
10
easy to read without being simplistic. From the moment feminist
thinking, politics,
and practice changed my life, I have wanted this book. I have
wanted to give it to
the folk I love so that they can understand better this cause, this
feminist politics I
believe in so deeply, that is the foundation of my political life.
I have wanted them to have an answer to the question “what is
feminism?” that
is rooted neither in fear or fantasy. I have wanted them to have
this simple
definition to read again and again so they know: “Feminism is a
movement to end
sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” I love this
definition, which I first
offered more than 10 years ago in my book Feminist Theory:
From Margin to
Center. I love it because it so clearly states that the movement
is not about being
anti-male. It makes it clear that the problem is sexism. And that

clarity helps us
remember that all of us, female and male, have been socialized
from birth on to
accept sexist thought and action. As a consequence, females can
be just as sexist as
men. And while that does not excuse or justify male domination,
it does mean that
it would be naive and wrongminded for feminist thinkers to see
the movement as
simplistically being for women against men. To end patriarchy
(another way of
naming the institutionalized sexism) we need to be clear that we
are all
participants in perpetuating sexism until we change our minds
and hearts; until we
let go of sexist thought and action and replace it with feminist
thought and action.
Males as a group have and do benefit the most from patriarchy,
from the
assumption that they are superior to females and should rule
over us. But those
benefits have come with a price. In return for all the goodies
men receive from
patriarchy, they are required to dominate women, to exploit and
oppress us, using
violence if they must to keep patriarchy intact. Most men find it
difficult to be
patriarchs. Most men are disturbed by hatred and fear of
women, by male violence
against women, even the men who perpetuate this violence. But
they fear letting
go of the benefits. They are not certain what will happen to the
world they know
most intimately if patriarchy changes. So they find it easier to
passively support

male domination even when they know in their minds and hearts
that it is wrong.
Again and again men tell me they have no idea what it is
feminists want. I believe
them. I believe in their capacity to change and grow. And I
believe that if they
knew more about feminism they would no longer fear it, for
they would find in
feminist movement the hope of their own release from the
bondage of patriarchy.
It is for these men, young and old, and for all of us, that I have
written this short
handbook, the book I have spent more than 20 years longing for.
I had to write it
because I kept waiting for it to appear, and it did not. And
without it there was no
way to address the hordes of people in this nation who are daily
bombarded with
anti-feminist backlash, who are being told to hate and resist a
movement that they
11
know very little about. There should be so many little feminist
primers, easy to
read pamphlets and books, telling us all about feminism, that
this book would be
just another passionate voice speaking out on behalf of feminist
politics. There
should be billboards; ads in magazines; ads on buses, subways,
trains; television
commercials spreading the word, letting the world know more
about feminism.

We are not there yet. But this is what we must do to share
feminism, to let the
movement into everyone’s mind and heart. Feminist change has
already touched
all our lives in a positive way. And yet we lose sight of the
positive when all we
hear about feminism is negative.
When I began to resist male domination, to rebel against
patriarchal thinking
(and to oppose the strongest patriarchal voice in my life — my
mother’s voice), I
was still a teenager, suicidal, depressed, uncertain about how I
would find meaning
in my life and a place for myself. I needed feminism to give me
a foundation of
equality and justice to stand on. Mama has come around to
feminist thinking. She
sees me and all her daughters (we are six) living better lives
because of feminist
politics. She sees the promise and hope in feminist movement.
It is that promise
and hope that I want to share with you in this book, with
everybody.
Imagine living in a world where there is no domination, where
females and
males are not alike or even always equal, but where a vision of
mutuality is the
ethos shaping our interaction. Imagine living in a world where
we can all be who
we are, a world of peace and possibility. Feminist revolution
alone will not create
such a world; we need to end racism, class elitism, imperialism.
But it will make it
possible for us to be fully self-actualized females and males

able to create beloved
community, to live together, realizing our dreams of freedom
and justice, living the
truth that we are all “created equal.” Come closer. See how
feminism can touch and
change your life and all our lives. Come closer and know
firsthand what feminist
movement is all about. Come closer and you will see: feminism
is for everybody.
12
Feminist Politics: Where We Stand
Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist
exploitation, and
oppression. This was a definition of feminism I offered in
Feminist Theory: From
Margin to Center more than 10 years ago. It was my hope at the
time that it would
become a common definition everyone would use. I liked this
definition because it
did not imply that men were the enemy. By naming sexism as
the problem it went
directly to the heart of the matter. Practically, it is a definition
which implies that
all sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who
perpetuate it are
female or male, child or adult. It is also broad enough to include
an understanding
of systemic institutionalized sexism. As a definition it is open-
ended. To understand
feminism it implies one has to necessarily understand sexism.

As all advocates of feminist politics know, most people do not
understand
sexism, or if they do, they think it is not a problem. Masses of
people think that
feminism is always and only about women seeking to be equal
to men. And a huge
majority of these folks think feminism is anti-male. Their
misunderstanding of
feminist politics reflects the reality that most folks learn about
feminism from
patriarchal mass media. The feminism they hear about the most
is portrayed by
women who are primarily committed to gender equality — equal
pay for equal
work, and sometimes women and men sharing household chores
and parenting.
They see that these women are usually white and materially
privileged. They
know from mass media that women’s liberation focuses on the
freedom to have
abortions, to be lesbians, to challenge rape and domestic
violence. Among these
issues, masses of people agree with the idea of gender equity in
the workplace —
equal pay for equal work.
Since our society continues to be primarily a “Christian”
culture, masses of
people continue to believe that god has ordained that women be
subordinate to
men in the domestic household. Even though masses of women
have entered the
workforce, even though many families are headed by women
who are the sole
breadwinners, the vision of domestic life which continues to
dominate the nation’s

imagination is one in which the logic of male domination is
intact, whether men
are present in the home or not. The wrongminded notion of
feminist movement
which implied it was anti-male carried with it the wrongminded
assumption that
all female space would necessarily be an environment where
patriarchy and sexist
13
thinking would be absent. Many women, even those involved in
feminist politics,
chose to believe this as well.
There was indeed a great deal of anti-male sentiment among
early feminist
activists who were responding to male domination with anger. It
was that anger at
injustice that was the impetus for creating a women’s liberation
movement. Early
on most feminist activists (a majority of whom were white) had
their
consciousness raised about the nature of male domination when
they were
working in anti-classist and anti-racist settings with men who
were telling the
world about the importance of freedom while subordinating the
women in their
ranks. Whether it was white women working on behalf of
socialism, black women
working on behalf of civil rights and black liberation, or Native
American women
working for indigenous rights, it was clear that men wanted to

lead, and they
wanted women to follow. Participating in these radical freedom
struggles
awakened the spirit of rebellion and resistance in progressive
females and led them
towards contemporary women’s liberation.
As contemporary feminism progressed, as women realized that
males were not
the only group in our society who supported sexist thinking and
behavior — that
females could be sexist as well — anti-male sentiment no longer
shaped the
movement’s consciousness. The focus shifted to an all-out
effort to create gender
justice. But women could not band together to further feminism
without
confronting our sexist thinking. Sisterhood could not be
powerful as long as
women were competitively at war with one another. Utopian
visions of sisterhood
based solely on the awareness of the reality that all women were
in some way
victimized by male domination were disrupted by discussions of
class and race.
Discussions of class differences occurred early on in
contemporary feminism,
preceding discussions of race. Diana Press published
revolutionary insights about
class divisions between women as early as the mid-’70s in their
collection of essays
Class and Feminism. These discussions did not trivialize the
feminist insistence that
“sisterhood is powerful,” they simply emphasized that we could
only become
sisters in struggle by confronting the ways women — through

sex, class, and race —
dominated and exploited other women, and created a political
platform that would
address these differences.
Even though individual black women were active in
contemporary feminist
movement from its inception, they were not the individuals who
became the
“stars” of the movement, who attracted the attention of mass
media. Often
individual black women active in feminist movement were
revolutionary feminists
(like many white lesbians). They were already at odds with
reformist feminists
who resolutely wanted to project a vision of the movement as
being solely about
14
women gaining equality with men in the existing system. Even
before race became
a talked about issue in feminist circles it was clear to black
women (and to their
revolutionary allies in struggle) that they were never going to
have equality within
the existing white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
From its earliest inception feminist movement was polarized.
Reformist thinkers
chose to emphasize gender equality. Revolutionary thinkers did
not want simply to
alter the existing system so that women would have more rights.
We wanted to

transform that system, to bring an end to patriarchy and sexism.
Since patriarchal
mass media was not interested in the more revolutionary vision,
it never received
attention in mainstream press. The vision of “women’s
liberation” which captured
and still holds the public imagination was the one representing
women as wanting
what men had. And this was the vision that was easier to
realize. Changes in our
nation’s economy, economic depression, the loss of jobs, etc.,
made the climate ripe
for our nation’s citizens to accept the notion of gender equality
in the workforce.
Given the reality of racism, it made sense that white men were
more willing to
consider women’s rights when the granting of those rights could
serve the interests
of maintaining white supremacy. We can never forget that white
women began to
assert their need for freedom after civil rights, just at the point
when racial
discrimination was ending and black people, especially black
males, might have
attained equality in the workforce with white men. Reformist
feminist thinking
focusing primarily on equality with men in the workforce
overshadowed the
original radical foundations of contemporary feminism which
called for reform as
well as overall restructuring of society so that our nation would
be fundamentally
anti-sexist.
Most women, especially privileged white women, ceased even

to consider
revolutionary feminist visions, once they began to gain
economic power within the
existing social structure. Ironically, revolutionary feminist
thinking was most
accepted and embraced in academic circles. In those circles the
production of
revolutionary feminist theory progressed, but more often than
not that theory was
not made available to the public. It became and remains a
privileged discourse
available to those among us who are highly literate, well -
educated, and usually
materially privileged. Works like Feminist Theory: From
Margin to Center that
offer a liberatory vision of feminist transformation never
receive mainstream
attention. Masses of people have not heard of this book. They
have not rejected its
message; they do not know what the message is.
While it was in the interest of mainstream white supremacist
capitalist
patriarchy to suppress visionary feminist thinking which was
not anti-male or
concerned with getting women the right to be like men,
reformist feminists were
15
also eager to silence these forces. Reformist feminism became
their route to class
mobility. They could break free of male domination in the
workforce and be more

self-determining in their lifestyles. While sexism did not end,
they could maximize
their freedom within the existing system. And they could count
on there being a
lower class of exploited subordinated women to do the dirty
work they were
refusing to do. By accepting and indeed colluding with the
subordination of
working-class and poor women, they not only ally themselves
with the existing
patriarchy and its concomitant sexism, they give themselves the
right to lead a
double life, one where they are the equals of men in the
workforce and at home
when they want to be. If they choose lesbianism they have the
privilege of being
equals with men in the workforce while using class power to
create domestic
lifestyles where they can choose to have little or no contact with
men.
Lifestyle feminism ushered in the notion that there could be as
many versions of
feminism as there were women. Suddenly the politics was being
slowly removed
from feminism. And the assumption prevailed that no matter
what a woman’s
politics, be she conservative or liberal, she too could fit
feminism into her existing
lifestyle. Obviously this way of thinking has made feminism
more acceptable
because its underlying assumption is that women can be
feminists without
fundamentally challenging and changing themselves or the
culture. For example,
let’s take the issue of abortion. If feminism is a movement to

end sexist oppression,
and depriving females of reproductive rights is a form of sexist
oppression, then
one cannot be anti-choice and be feminist. A woman can insist
she would never
choose to have an abortion while affirming her support of the
right of women to
choose and still be an advocate of feminist politics. She cannot
be anti-abortion and
an advocate of feminism. Concurrently there can be no such
thing as “power
feminism” if the vision of power evoked is power gained
through the exploitation
and oppression of others.
Feminist politics is losing momentum because feminist
movement has lost clear
definitions. We have those definitions. Let’s reclaim them.
Let’s share them. Let’s
start over. Let’s have T-shirts and bumper stickers and
postcards and hip-hop
music, television and radio commercials, ads everywhere and
billboards, and all
manner of printed material that tells the world about feminism.
We can share the
simple yet powerful message that feminism is a movement to
end sexist
oppression. Let’s start there. Let the movement begin again.
16
Consciousness-Raising: A Constant Change
of Heart

Feminists are made, not born. One does not become an advocate
of feminist
politics simply by having the privilege of having been born
female. Like all
political positions one becomes a believer in feminist politics
through choice and
action. When women first organized in groups to talk together
about the issue of
sexism and male domination, they were clear that females were
as socialized to
believe sexist thinking and values as males, the difference being
simply that males
benefited from sexism more than females and were as a
consequence less likely to
want to surrender patriarchal privilege. Before women could
change patriarchy we
had to change ourselves; we had to raise our consciousness.
Revolutionary feminist consciousness-raising emphasized the
importance of
learning about patriarchy as a system of domination, how it
became
institutionalized and how it is perpetuated and maintained.
Understanding the way
male domination and sexism was expressed in everyday life
created awareness in
women of the ways we were victimized, exploited, and, in
worse case scenarios,
oppressed. Early on in contemporary feminist movement,
consciousness-raising
groups often became settings where women simply unleashed
pent-up hostility
and rage about being victimized, with little or no focus on
strategies of
intervention and transformation. On a basic level many hurt and
exploited women

used the consciousness-raising group therapeutically. It was the
site where they
uncovered and openly revealed the depths of their intimate
wounds. This
confessional aspect served as a healing ritual. Through
consciousness-raising
women gained the strength to challenge patriarchal forces at
work and at home.
Importantly though, the foundation of this work began with
women examining
sexist thinking and creating strategies where we would change
our attitudes and
belief via a conversion to feminist thinking and a commitment
to feminist politics.
Fundamentally, the consciousness-raising (CR) group was a site
for conversion. To
build a mass-based feminist movement women needed to
organize. The
consciousness-raising session, which usually took place in
someone’s home (rather
than public space that had to be rented or donated), was the
meeting place. It was
the place where seasoned feminist thinkers and activists could
recruit new
17
converts.
Importantly, communication and dialogue was a central agenda
at the
consciousness-raising sessions. In many groups a policy was in
place which

honored everyone’s voice. Women took turns speaking to make
sure everyone
would be heard. This attempt to create a non-hierarchal model
for discussion
positively gave every woman a chance to speak but often did
not create a context
for engaged dialogue. However, in most instances discussion
and debate occurred,
usually after everyone had spoken at least once. Argumentative
discussion was
common in CR …
L06 Lecture: Inscribing Gender on the Body—Women and the
Media
Ah, the media. From Reality TV to the pages of Glamour
Magazine, we repeatedly see thin and mostly white women's
bodies as normal, standard, accepted. And most of the time, we
can't get enough of it. We pour billions of dollars into an
industry that keeps us enthralled with skinny girls and their
celebrity successes. Because without the media, where would
we learn about how to get a guy, how to drop 10 pounds, how to
apply blue eye shadow and all those other tricks that make one
an officially successful woman?
It's common knowledge that the images that bombard us don't
reflect reality (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。. Images can be
digitally doctored; camera angles can distort and alter—all of it
leads to a media culture that inundates us with the perfect body.
I know that. You know that. We all get it. Why, then, do these
images have such power over us? I mean, why are over half of
thirteen year old girls unhappy with their bodies, and why are
over three-quarters of seventeen year old women expressing
similar sentiments? (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。And while
the majority of Americans seem to be getting chubbier and are
increasingly struggling with obesity, actresses and models seem
to be getting younger, thinner and
taller (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。. So why are women hating

the fact that we(for the most part) don't resemble these lanky
women that gaze out from the glossy pages and strut across the
silver screen? Why do women care about these unobtainable
beauty standards?
Well, lets start with the obvious answer: money. The media
sells more than just products, right? It sells the idea of
normalcy—who we are and who we should be. We learn
unconsciously that thin is success, fat is
failure (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。. (link not working) So,
the media keeps us running scared of fat, and continually
consuming thinness (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。in any way,
shape or form. Are we surprised, then, that the diet, fashion,
cosmetic and beauty industries all thrive, making billions by
exploiting women's body insecurities?
The 2016 publication "The Beauty Industry Analysis, Costs &
Trends (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。" indicates that the beauty
industry is largely unaffected by economic recessions, and in
2015 the beauty industry generated $56.2 billion of profit in the
United States alone. In other words, even when US women are
in financial distress they continue to buy products designed to
improve their physical appearance.
But it doesn't end with the money. In a society where women
are still struggling for professional and social equality, the
message “control your body, control your life” has very
powerful implications. I see this message as a metaphor,
substituting body and size control for control lacking in other
areas? We're told that if we just diet and exercise enough, if we
just work hard enough, we can accomplish anything. We're told
that the perfect body is rewarded with success. And as more
women enter the ‘male' dominant world of higher education and
employment, we all seem to strive for perfection. The perfect
body is our new status symbol in today's world. Weight
consciousness has become part of our campaign for upward
mobility—because you can never be too rich or too thin, right?
But what happens when women find that they can't diet or
exercise their way into thinness? Many take extreme measures—

either throwing up the food they eat or not eating at all.
Anorexia and bulimia (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。are no
longer conditions that affect women in their teens and twenties,
but large numbers of women of all ages are suffering from a
seriously disordered relationship with food. Others resort to
plastic surgery, opting for face-lifts, tummy tucks, breast
implants, and liposuction. Women's bodies are regularly
reduced to parts or objects (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。, and
women have come to relate to their bodies as tools or even
weapons to win the war and achieve social success. So the
media teaches us that we are always in need of modification—
women's bodies are objects to be perfected. And while we
continue to search for that illusive perfection, we forget what
real women's bodies look like; we judge ourselves by the
standards sold to us (at huge profits) by the beauty industry, the
popular media, our friends and lovers and parents.
It seems like women have always been encouraged to
manipulate their bodies to conform to a beauty ideal. Think of
those Victorian corsets (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。or the
Chinese tradition of foot
binding (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。. The world has always
foisted its twisted conception of beauty onto the bodies of
women. Consider how femininity is constructed today and the
ramifications of this for women and men, girls and boys.
L06 Critical Reflection Essay and Formal Discussion Question
Instructions:
If you were assigned to this lesson, attach and submit a text
document to this drop box. If needed, refer to the Critical
Reflection Essay/Formal Discussion Question Assignments
document to see which lesson you were assigned (This
document can also be found in Lesson 01: Course
Orientation.). Use one of the following file types: DOC/DOCX,
PDF, or RTF.
In order to receive full credit, do the following:

· Include your Formal Discussion Question at the beginni ng of
the Critical Reflection Essay.
· Connect the question to your essay and the lesson's lecture and
readings.
· Cite at least one direct quote from a reading or the lecture.
· Include at least one relevant hyperlink that supports your
question and relates to the lesson content.
· Upload your Critical Reflection Essay, including your Formal
Discussion Question, to this drop box.
Note:
· Post your Formal Discussion Question to the L06
Discussion forum as you will be one of the students leading the
lesson discussion. In order to get full credit for the Formal
Discussion Question, you need to include it in your Critical
Reflection Essay and post it to the lesson discussion forum.
· And don't forget that in addition to posting your formal
discussion question, you must contribute to the discussion by
making a reply to a classmate or making another post. This is
due later in the week, similar to those who are NOT leading the
discussion.
Grading Rubric
Refer to the Formal Discussion and Critical Reflection Essay
Rubric for grading expectations. This rubric can be viewed
within each Critical Reflection Essay assignment and also
within the Orientation section of the course.
As a reminder, you will need to submit your Critical Reflection
Essay and post your Formal Discussion Question at the
beginning of the week (refer to the Course Calendar for due
dates).
Formal Discussion and Critical Reflection Essay Rubric
Formal Discussion Question and Critical Reflection Essay
Grading Rubric
Draw on the assigned readings to introduce an issue or topic and
then situate that particular topic within a broader current

context. Aim the discussion in a certain direction by posing
critical questions.
Note: Your formal discussion question and critical reflection
essay will be graded together using the evaluation criteria below
in this rubric.
Formal Discussion Question Grading Rubric
Criteria
Excellent
(A range; 54-60 points)
(90-100%)
Good/Very Good
(B range; 48-53.9 points)
(80-89%)
Fair/Needs Work
(C range; 42-47.9 points)
(70-79%)
Poor
(D range; 36-41.9 points)
(60-69%)
Unacceptable
(F range; <36 points)
(<60%)
Poses a Question to Elicit Discussion of Class Material
(48 points)
(80%)
(43.2-48 points)
Poses a critical and thoughtful question to the class that elicits
discussion; the post includes a clear feminist standpoint on the
topic to enable the class to practice discussing the issue from a
feminist perspective; post is clear, well argued, and supported
with direct material from the class readings/lecture and reliable
outside sources, which are all referenced correctly.
(38.4-43.1 points)
Poses an interesting question, but the post doesn’t contextualize
the topic in a feminist way to elicit adequate discussion; ideas
or arguments were vague or not clear; connections between

class material, outside sources, and the post are not sufficient;
post isn’t adequately supported with direct course material or
an outside source, or sources were not referenced or weren’t
reliable.
(33.6-38.3 points)
Post failed to pose a question on a topic from a feminist
perspective in a way that stimulated discussion; the post is a
summary of the material but no real analysis or argument is
made; there are inadequate connections to the class material or
outside sources; outside sources aren’t reliable.
(28.8-33.5 points)
A question is not posed in a way to elicit discussion; post shows
little or no understanding of the course content; course
readings/lecture or outside sources not used or are not reliable.
(0 points)
No post made on time.
Clarity of Question
(12 points)
(20%)
(10.8-12 points)
Carefully crafted; concise and clearly expressed; presented in a
style easy to read and understand; grammatically and
mechanically error free.
(9.6-10.7 points)
Effort at writing evident; reasonably concise and cl ear; no
major difficulties hampered reading and understanding; a few
grammatical, mechanical, or spelling flaws detracted from
effectiveness.
(8.4-9.5 points)
Carelessly crafted; unclearly expressed; difficult to read; too
many grammatical, mechanical, and/or spelling errors.
(7.2-8.3 points)
Carelessly crafted; inarticulate or rambling; impossible to read
because of poor writing or abundant errors.
(0 points)
No post made on time.

Critical Reflection Essay Grading Rubric
Criteria
Excellent
(A range; 225-250 points)
(90-100%)
Good/Very Good
(B range; 200-224.9 points)
(80-89%)
Fair/Needs Work
(C range; 175-199.9 points)
(70-79%)
Poor
(D range; 150-174.9 points)
(60-69%)
Unacceptable
(F range; <150 points)
(<60%)
Introduction (Summary of topic & Thesis Statement) &
Conclusion
(50 points)
(20%)
(45-50 points)
Well-developed introductory paragraph contains a concise
summary of the topics from the class readings/lecture and
demonstrate an understanding of the issues from a feminist
perspective; thesis statement specifies the purpose of the paper
in a clear and overt way.
Conclusion summarizes the main topics of the paper and returns
to the thesis statement.
(40-44.9 points)
Introduction summarizes the class readings/lecture, but an
understanding of a feminist perspective on the topic is unclear
or lacks detail; there is a thesis statement but it’s not clear or
purpose-driven.
Conclusion summarizes main topics, but does not address the

thesis statement.
(35-39.9 points)
Introduction summarizes the class readings/lecture, but an
understanding of a feminist perspective on the topic is unclear
or lacks detail; thesis statement is vague.
The conclusion doesn’t revisit the main arguments of the paper
or the thesis.
(30-34.9 points)
There is no clear thesis statement; there is not an adequate
summary of class readings/lecture or the summary is a
seemingly random collection of information, unclear, or not
related to the lesson.
There is no clear conclusion.
(0 points)
No essay submitted on time.
Critical Reflection & Feminist Analysis
(125 points)
(50%)
(112.5-125 points)
Feminist analysis of the topic is overt, clear, and well
developed; a strong argument is made by providing supporting
details (readings, lecture, outside sources) for the thesis; clear
connections are made between the thesis statement, class topics,
and outside sources; synthesis and analysis of the topic using
feminist concepts and class material is thorough and impressive.
(100-112.4 points)
Feminist ideas or concepts are used in the topic, but the analysis
of the topic falls short; connections between the topic and class
materials/outside sources aren’t clear enough; a connection
between the thesis statement and body of the essay isn’t overtly
clear.
(87.5-99.9 points)
A feminist analysis is not clear enough; there is not enough
depth to the connections made between class material and the
main topics of the essay; the argument established in the thesis
is not effectively made.

(75-87.4 points)
There is no feminist analysis; class readings aren’t synthesized
into a clear argument that is woven throughout the paper; the
thesis doesn’t guide the paper.
(0 points)
Organization & Writing Mechanics
(50 points)
(20%)
(45-50 points)
Logical, compelling progression of ideas in essay; clear
structure which enhances and showcases the central idea or
theme and moves the reader through the text. Organization
flows so smoothly the reader hardly thinks about it.
Effective, mature, graceful transitions exist throughout the
essay.
Sentence structure is correct. Punctuation and capitalization are
correct. There are no spelling errors.
(40-44.9 points)
Overall, the paper is logically developed. Progression of ideas
in essay makes sense and moves the reader easily through the
text. Strong transitions exist throughout and add to the essay’s
coherence.
Sentence structure is generally correct. Some awkward
sentences do appear. There are one or two errors in punctuation
and/or capitalization.
(35-39.9 points)
Progression of ideas in essay is awkward, yet moves the reader
through the text without too much confusion. The writer
sometimes lunges ahead too quickly or spends too much time on
details that do not matter. Transitions appear sporadically, but
not equally throughout the essay.
Work contains structural weaknesses and grammatical errors.
There are three or four errors in punctuation and/or
capitalization.
(30-34.9 points)

Arrangement of essay is unclear and illogical. The writing lacks
a clear sense of direction. Ideas, details, or events seem strung
together in a loose or random fashion; there is no identifiable
internal structure and readers have trouble following the
writer’s line of thought. Few, forced transitions in the essay or
no transitions are present.
Work contains multiple incorrect sentence structures. There are
four or more errors in punctuation and/or capitalization.
(0 points)
Work Cited
(25 points)
(10%)
(22.5-25 points)
Source material from both the course and outside sources is
smoothly integrated into the text. All sources are accurately
documented in the essay and on the Works Cited page.
(20-22.4 points)
Source material is used. All sources are accurately documented,
but some sources lack credibility.
(17.5-19.9 points)
Source material from the course is used, but integration may be
awkward. All sources are accurately documented, but some may
lack credibility.
(15-17.4 points)
Lacks sources and/or sources are not accurately documented;
sources used are not credible.
(0 points)
Argumentative essay rubric. Adapted from Yale University.
Retrieved from http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/pier/classroom-
resources/Argumentative%20essay%20rubric.pdf

NOTE: This document contains protected information. You may
not upload, copy, or share
these notes (complete or incomplete) with any organization,
company, or person who is not
currently enrolled in the course without the written consent of
the instructor. Violators
may be sanctioned.
WMST 100
13 May 2017
Critical Reflection Essay
The lesson this week, the history of feminism, was very
interesting to me, but also
overwhelming. I had no idea about the different waves of
feminism, or much about Susan B.
Anthony’s work, before diving into this week’s lesson. Just a
few days ago, I decided to enroll in
this course out of sheer curiosity. Although I did not need any
more general education classes, I
had been sorting through textbooks at the bookstore where I
work, and stumbled across
Feminism is for everybody. The title struck me, and I leafed
through it. I learned that it was used

for Women Studies 100, and made the decision to enroll. I’m
graduating next year and want to
take every opportunity to learn about new topics that interest
me while I have the chance.
Prior to this week, I did not even really have a solid definition
of feminism. I knew that it
had to do with gender equality, and I had heard of people
attending the women’s march earlier
this year, but I did not understand the issues or reasons for it.
Although I still have a ton to study
and learn, I feel that this lesson really helped me understand
what life was like for women in the
early-mid 1900’s and how we have gotten to where we are
today.
In this paper, I am going to focus on the first wave of feminism,
including how it came
about, its struggles, and its successes.
As mentioned in our lecture, the first wave of feminism began
in 1792 with Mary
Wollstonecraft’s publication of A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman. This book addressed
many issues including the rights of mankind, modesty, parental

affection, and national education.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, women were viewed only as
daughters and wives, to be owned by
a man. They had very few rights in any aspect of life.
The first wave of feminism gained power when the world Anti -
Slavery Convention
occurred in 1840. Although permitted to attend, women were
not allowed to be viewed or heard.
This is when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met and
both were appalled at women’s
treatment at the convention.
Eight years later, the two women happened to be visiting the
same area. They decided
that now was the time to fight for the rights of women and
called for a meeting which became
the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. Three hundred people,
including 40 men attended. James
Mott (Lucretia’s husband) led the first convention because no
woman felt capable of presiding.
They proposed that women were equal in all spheres. Women’s
suffrage was ridiculed, even
initially by Lucretia Mott.
Many attendees were not only suffragists, but also abolitionists.

A lot of the supporters
for women’s rights believed in equality for everyone, and were
simultaneously fighting for the
freedom of slaves. As a result, these two movements are heavily
intertwined.
The first National Women’s Rights Convention occurred in
1850, with efforts to
“secure…political, legal, and social equality with man” (NPS).
They also sought sexual and
reproductive rights. As mentioned in Sanger’s paper “My Fight
for Birth Control,” women were
not able to care for the amount of children they were having.
They had illegal and dangerous
abortions, infants were dying, and poverty levels were
increasing. In 1900, six to nine of every
1000 women died during childbirth, and one in five children
died in the first 5 years life.
Distributing information about contraception was illegal under
both federal and state laws. The
timing of ovulation, length of fertile period, and other
reproductive facts were unknown (CDC).
At the meeting, resolutions and speeches were made, strategies
were debated, and letters

were read. Mott and Stanton worked to “hold local meetings,
raise funds, gather facts, and
publicize the movement through the press, tracts, books, and
speakers” (NPS). They posed the
idea that women could potentially contribute just as much, if
not more, to society than men.
A year later, a second national convention occurred, and they
seemed amidst “a great
moral civil war.” This meeting was much larger than the first,
and additional topics were debated
including access to paid labor, education, political rights, and
social equality.
By the group’s fourth meeting in 1853, they had attracted over
1,500 participants.
However, in addition to gaining numerous supporters, a large
group of opponents had also
surfaced. Screeches and hisses prevented women’s rights
advocates from being easily heard.
Additionally, interpretations from the Bible were announced in
objection to proposals for
women’s rights.
At the time of the 10th convention in 1860, women had just
earned the right to joint

custody of their children, as well as sole use of their personal
property and wages! This was a
huge step in the direction of equality. This meeting focused on
the right for a woman to divorce
her husband in the case of drunkenness, insanity, desertion, or
cruelty.
The Civil War brought to an end the annual Women’s Rights
Conventions, and thus the
first wave of feminism, as women focused on the war efforts.
Susan B. Anthony was “sick at
heart,” but failed to convinced Stanton, Mott, and others to
continue to hold conventions during
war time. In 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified. It
acknowledged women as full citizens and
gave them a right to vote.
One thing that I found particularly interesting was that many
arguments for women’s
rights cites from the Declaration of Independence and the
United States Constitution. Supporters
state that official documents clearly imply equality and suffrage
for all people. As Susan B.
Anthony mentions on page 607 of Women’s Voices, Feminist
Visions, the preamble of the

Federal Constitution begins with “We, the people…” not we, the
male citizens. The speakers at
the women’s rights conventions also used these facts and
documents that were written prior to
their time, to support their fight for rights. Mary Wollstonecraft
also uses the basic principles in
Chapter 1 of her book. These “God-given rights” are protected
by these documents for the whole
of the United States, not the chosen few.
This first wave of feminism was imperative to the second, third,
and where we are today.
The bravery that these women showcased is admirable. They
certainly had many opponents and
struggles along the way. But, if they had not stood up to
question the morality and reasoning of
society’s rights, who would have?

Bibliography
“A Brief History: The Three Waves of Feminism.” Progressive
Women’s Leadership. N.p., 24
Sept. 2015. Web. 12 May 2017.
“Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Family Planning.”
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 Dec.
1999. Web. 12 May
2017.
"Four Waves of Feminism." Four Waves of Feminism | Pacific
University. N.p., 25 Oct. 2015.
Web. 11 May 2017.
“More Women’s Rights Conventions.” National Parks Service.
U.S. Department of the Interior,
n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.

要求：
Need to cited the reading
Format for Written Assignments:
The following are formatting guidelines, which are expected to
be used for each written assignment:
1. APA style formatting is required for each written assignment.
Please use the APA 6th edition. An updated copy of the APA
changes and a sample of an APA paper can be found in the
General Course Forums of the course Global Academic Portal
(GAP).
2. All papers are to consist of original composition, double
spaced, 12 type font in Times New Roman.
3. The page length requirement does not include the title page,
abstract or reference pages.
4. Papers should begin with an introduction and should end with
a conclusion.
5. The body of the paper must include citations according to the
APA style format.
6. Every assignment should contain at least two references.
· Readings:
· Phonetics and Phonology - Chapter 3
· PDF: Teaching Pronunciation--Consonants (pp. 28-30)
· Web: Sounds of American English: Audio & IPA Transcription
Wk3 DQ1 one page
Describe one (1) of the following "signals of stress” ( Gilbert),
indicating how you might incorporate this signal when teaching
pronunciation in an ESL/EFL classroom: vowel length; vowel
clarity; pitch change.
Wk3 DQ2 One page
Select one (1) of the major consonant types from the reading --
e.g. glottal stops, fricatives, liquids--and explain why this type
of sound may be difficult for English L2 learners to duplicate.

You may wish to use a specific L1 student population as the
basis of your discussion.

Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramidjudy

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramidjudy

Similar to Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramidjudy (20)

More from rock73

More from rock73 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Teaching pronunciation using the prosody pyramidjudy