Gender by Advice: Normative Behaviors for Men and Women in Russian Advice Literature

Abstract:

This unit introduces students to the expectations for the behavior of men and women through beliefs and practices present in the Russian culture. After being introduced to the basic idea of gender, students familiarize themselves with a number of gender stereotypes and learn that many people in the Russian culture believe in gender stereotypes staunchly. Nevertheless, a number of current practices for men and women in Russia diverge from these stereotypes, varying significantly by milieu. Students learn about these practices by completing a Webquest and analyzing a text taken off a site for Russian masculine ("butch") lesbians. The culminating project for the unit is a PowerPoint presentation in which students analyze gender-specific normative qualities and behavior norms in advice literature (such as articles in magazines and online and advice books). Students prepare for this final project in the last lessons of the unit by analyzing the typical features of advice texts and discussing the role that various advice texts play with relation to the social beliefs about gender.

Subject:

Humanities

Grade Level:

Secondary

Collection:

Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition