Violence against Women
You will be focusing on violence against women. You may especially want to address how the traditional gender roles (and perhaps the legal system) make such violence difficult to prevent. You may assume that your peers have read and completed the journal assignment on this subject that is due for class. Some questions or approaches to get you started:
What is the nature of rape? How are rape and domestic violence linked? How long has this been going on? What is being done to prevent these abuses? How effective are these preventions? What do you think is the best solution to these problems?
You might take the statistics covered in class and find their more current counter-parts. The CD-Rom in the library, Contemporary Women’s Issues, may prove extremely helpful with your research on this topic. There is also the GenderWatch database under the FirstSearch prompt off the library’s homepage.
Susan Brownmiller’s essay should provide a perspective from which to approach this issue, as will Sheila Ruth’s observations on the cultural conditioning of men.