Composition: History & Theory: 1980 - 1989
Flynn, Elizabeth A. “Composing as a Woman.” (1988)
Description
In “Composing as a Woman,” Flynn recognizes the need to understand the relationship between feminist studies and composition studies, something that will allow us to account for the differences between how males and females interpret information and use language. To discuss feminist studies, Flynn draws on the research of Kohlberg (moral development) and Perry (intellectual and ethical development), who used male subjects to account for both males and females in their research; in doing so, males became the voice for females, and as a result, Kohlberg and Perry concluded that both males and females viewed morals and intellect and ethics identically. Conversely, Chodorow (sense of self), Gilligan (moral development), and Belendky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule (intellectual development) assumed that there were differences between males and females in these areas; they used both male and female subjects to come to the realization that “the male experience [had] served as the model in defining processes of intellectual maturation” (575). Flynn connects these findings to composition studies: “if women and men differ in their relational capacities and in their moral and intellectual development, we should expect to find manifestations of these differences in the student papers we encounter in our first-year composition courses” (576). Flynn uses four student writing samples to illustrate this point, although she states that these samples are not representative of all male and female writers. Her purpose is to acknowledge that males and females use language differently and view the world differently. According to Flynn, we need to recognize these differences so that we can determine if our current methods for teaching writing marginalize women and their voices by making “men…the standard against which women are judged” (573).
Author
Laurie Sledgianowski
Date of Upload
11/2/09