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Hello, my name is Marisa and I am taking a women studies course and I need to know how dichotomies and universality differ and the problems feminists have with these themes. I also need to know the role it has played in the study of women. Ii realize this is probably not your normal question but I have a paper due in class tommorrow and I am having a lot of trouble with it. If there is any advice or information you could give me I would appreciate it alot.

Thank you in advance for you help, Marisa


Thanks for your note to FEMINIST.COM--and I'm afraid that my response is coming too late. Nonetheless, I'll add my two cents. First, I have to preface this by saying that Women's Studies courses annoy me for just this reason--taking very simple concepts and labelling something so academic. Universality--means applying broad descriptions to all women--perhaps a better way to say that is generalizing. For instance, "women lack self-esteem." Yes, some women do, but some don't. By focusing on these larger more generalized concepts--we get fooled into believing that women aren't individuals. So while "universality" says there is only one way for women to be," dichotomies" say that there are only two ways to be--for instance you are either a pro-choice or anti-choice--when in reality women have individual opinions. It's more than either/or.


Amy

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