Stephen Sylvester
06 September 2010
RD1
Changes in the Tides
Growing up I was stuck in a home surrounded by girls. I lived with my sister, my mother, and my aunt. When I was younger I got along great with my sister and there were no differences between the two of us. We were like one in the same. Then once she hit adolescence she became a completely different person. Not only did she think that my GI Joes were not cool anymore, but she also wanted her own space. Till this day she is still this way although it has gotten a little bit better. After reading Mary Pipher’s “Saplings in the Storm” [411-417 in Dialogues] she explains what my sister was going through at that time clearly and concisely. She states that between adolescence and menopause, women experience trauma in adjusting to their gender roles and will constantly keep changing from generation, to generation as time goes on due to the role they play in society.
[THESIS]
As a child you are care free with nothing to worry about. You basically just play, go on adventures, and have fun. Whereas most women go through dramatic changes which are due to growing older and reaching the age of adolescence. They have to conform themselves to present female gender roles as society see’s them. This can be a very traumatic phase in their lives. Then, there is menopause another change in the tide for women.
[Thesis]
In the book, “Reviving Ophelia” [1995], psychologist Mary Pipher states that “pre-adolescence girls are marvelous company because they are interested in everything [426]”. They are interested in everything whether it is sports, role playing, the great outdoors, music, or just hanging out with family. This is what most people refer to as tom boys. Another term that some call these pre-adolescence girls would be androgynous, which is basically a person who is comfortable no matter the situation, regardless of the gender role system. Pre-adolescence was my favorite times spent with my sister. Pipher described her to a tee and I can genuinely say that she is correct in her research according to my personal experiences.
As soon, as my sister had reached the ninth grade I had noticed something strange about her personality. She did not want to hang out with me anymore and she most certainly was completely closed off to my parents. I noticed the things she and I used to do together didn’t interest her in the slightest bit anymore. I would try to speak with her about random things like how we used to, but she would sometimes get offended and snap at me in front of her friends. She would even say nasty things to my parents face that I would never say even behind their backs. Honestly I used to think that it was me, like I had said something wrong with me or even embarrassed her in some way in front of her friends for her to treat me in that way. As for my parents, I cannot imagine what they used to think. Some dramatic changes had happened to my young adolescent sister. After reading this book I feel like she got pressured in social situations to make her lash out at me and my parents. In the book Pipher states, “they crash and burn in social and developmental Bermuda Triangle[427]”. That explained everything to me. My sister was going through exactly this at the time and I feel that Pipher completely nailed it on that one.
I found that Pipher’s statement, “in early adolescence are elusive and slow to trust adults [428]” is also right on the money. That is the reason that I believe my sister would act out of the norm and lash out at my parents every time they tried to have a family meeting and discuss her direction in life. Some days she was her old self and would be really nice to me and my parents. At the time I found that odd and just played along. I watched what I would say so that I would not say anything wrong that would possibly upset her. I used to hear my parents speaking to each other wondering what was going on with her. My mother would always say that she was just growing up and becoming a typical teenager. I honestly had no idea what a typical teenager was.
By the ending of high school my sister was back to normal. At the time I was just starting my first year of high school and she was this totally different person. She was definitely more confident and a much stronger person than she was before. She was no longer that miserable, self absorbed person that just was so unpleasant to be around. She looked out for me and I never expected her to snap out of that funk that she was in. I am glad that she did though because we are closer than ever today.
Works Cited
Pipher, Mary. “Saplings in the Storm.” Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 6th edition. Eds. Gary Goshgarian and Kathleen Krueger. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2009. 425-432
Pipher, Mary. “Saplings in the Storm.” Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 6th edition. Eds. Gary Goshgarian and Kathleen Krueger. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2009. 425-432
Stephen Sylvester
06 September 2010
FD1
Changes in the Tides
Growing up I was stuck in a home surrounded by girls. I lived with my sister, my mother, and my aunt. When I was younger I got along great with my sister and there were no differences between the two of us. We were like one in the same. Then once she hit adolescence she became a completely different person. Not only did she think that my GI Joes were not cool anymore, but she also wanted her own space. Till this day she is still this way although it has gotten a little bit better. After reading Mary Pipher’s “Saplings in the Storm” (411-417 in Dialogues) she explains what my sister was going through at that time clearly and concisely. She states that between adolescence and menopause, women experience trauma in adjusting to their gender roles and will constantly keep changing from generation, to generation as time goes on due to the role they play in society. [THESIS]As a child you are care free with nothing to worry about. You basically just play, go on adventures, and have fun. Whereas most women go through dramatic changes which are due to growing older and reaching the age of adolescence. They have to conform themselves to present female gender roles as society see’s them. This can be a very traumatic phase in their lives. Then, there is menopause another change in the tide for women. [Thesis]
In the book, “Reviving Ophelia” (1995), psychologist Dr. Mary Pipher states that “pre-adolescence girls are marvelous company because they are interested in everything."Saplings (426) They are interested in everything whether it is sports, role playing, the great outdoors, music, or just hanging out with family. This is what most people refer to as tom boys. Another term that some call these pre-adolescence girls would be androgynous, which is basically a person who is comfortable no matter the situation, regardless of the gender role system. Pre-adolescence was my favorite times spent with my sister. Pipher described her to a tee and I can genuinely say that she is correct in her research according to my personal experiences.
As soon, as my sister had reached the ninth grade I had noticed something strange about her personality. She did not want to hang out with me anymore and she most certainly was completely closed off to my parents. I noticed the things she and I used to do together didn’t interest her in the slightest bit anymore. I would try to speak with her about random things like how we used to, but she would sometimes get offended and snap at me in front of her friends. She would even say nasty things to my parents face that I would never say even behind their backs. Honestly I used to think that it was me, like I had said something wrong with me or even embarrassed her in some way in front of her friends for her to treat me in that way. As for my parents, I cannot imagine what they used to think. Some dramatic changes had happened to my young adolescent sister. After reading this book I feel like she got pressured in social situations to make her lash out at me and my parents. In the book Pipher states, “they crash and burn in social and developmental Bermuda
Triangle.”Saplings (427) That explained everything to me. My sister was going through exactly this at the time and I feel that Pipher completely nailed it on that one.
I found that Pipher’s statement, “in early adolescence are elusive and slow to trust adults." Saplings (428) is also right on the money. That is the reason that I believe my sister would act out of the norm and lash out at my parents every time they tried to have a family meeting and discuss her direction in life. Some days she was her old self and would be really nice to me and my parents. At the time I found that odd and just played along. I watched what I would say so that I would not say anything wrong that would possibly upset her. I used to hear my parents speaking to each other wondering what was going on with her. My mother would always say that she was just growing up and becoming a typical teenager. I honestly had no idea what a typical teenager was.
By the ending of high school my sister was back to normal. At the time I was just starting my first year of high school and she was this totally different person. She was definitely more confident and a much stronger person than she was before. She was no longer that miserable, self absorbed person that just was so unpleasant to be around. She looked out for me and I never expected her to snap out of that funk that she was in. I am glad that she did though because we are closer than ever today.
Akiyama Thomas writes "the use of the word trauma to describe the experience women between adolescence and menopause face in adjusting to their gender roles is excessive and mistaken. The definition of trauma to me is a mental or physically event that causes the individual to no longer be effective in their surroundings. It is true, women face different challenges when they enter a certain role in society but trauma is definitely not a factor in they're transition in the role. Females may need to adapt physically or mentally to a field they are going in to just like the male gender". I disagree in my personal encounter with women growing up I had noticed a big change in their mental and physical being. Akiyama was relating to a totally different situation then what Pipher was stating that women at a certain age undergo trauma and social challenge's which cause them lash out and hurt the ones closest to them. That was my understanding of what she was trying to say.
Works Cited
Pipher, Mary. “Reviving Ophelia.” Savings the Selves of Adolescent Girls. New York: Random House Inc., 1944. p.22
Pipher, Mary. “Saplings in the Storm.” Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 6th edition. Eds. Gary Goshgarian and Kathleen Krueger. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2009. 425-432
Akiyama, Thomas. "RD1: Changing the Female Definition" Blog entry. 07 Sept. 2010.
Laulima Discussion. 09 Sept 2010. [https://laulima.hawaii.edu/].
Akiyama, Thomas. "Adolescence and Menopause" Online posting. 10 Sept. 2010.
Laulima Discussion. 09 Sept 2010. [https://laulima.hawaii.edu/].
Log of Completed Activities
_X_Aug. 23M- First Day of Instruction. Read the welcome message, which includes instructions on how to navigate our class blog. Next, log in to our Laulima discussion forum and your hawaii.edu mailbox. Become familiar with these instructional media. Carefully review the information in our class blog, especially the schedule and catalog. (Confirmation reply required.)
_X_Aug. 24t- Intro to Paper #1. Read the “Guidelines for Paper #1” by midnight. (Confirmation reply required.)
_X_Aug. 25W- Laulima Discussion: Who Am I? Post your response by midnight. Possible topics: your academic and career goals; your favorite pastime; favorite book, movie, song; favorite physical activity or sport; favorite quote; personal philosophy on the purpose of life; your personal thoughts on why it’s important to become an excellent writer; favorite food or restaurant; favorite vacation destination; etc.
___Aug. 27F- Complete readings for Paper #1 by midnight. (Confirmation reply required.)
_X_Aug. 30M- Set up your blog for class papers. After you’re done, go to Laulima. In the forum “My Blog Is Ready,” post the URL for your blog and invite classmates to visit and post comments.
_X_Sep. 2T- Laulima Discussion: What Is “Trauma”? One definition or many different definitions? Post your response by midnight.
_X_Sep. 7t- Laulima Discussion: Causes & Solutions: What causes gender role trauma? What’s the solution? Assume that there is more than one cause or solution. Post your response by midnight. [10 pts]
_X_Sep. 10F- RD1 (Review Draft #1) due [50 pts] Review the guidelines. (Confirmation reply required.)
_X_Sep. 13M- RD1 evaluations due. [50 pts] Review the guidelines and the introduction to reviewing drafts. (Confirmation reply required.)
_X_Sep. 16T- FD1 (Final Draft #1) due [100 pts] Review the guidelines. (Confirmation reply required.)
