My dd needs your help for her GCSE coursework please

[Busyworkingmum71]

Hi, so dd is about to start working in a couple of coursework items for her GCSE English. She has to write an essay on a topic of her choosing that she feels passionate about, and she has to give a speech, also on a topic of her choice, that she feels passionate about. After some discussion with her she has created the titles below and is looking for interesting, related peer reviewed articles, videos, newspaper articles, radio podcasts etc. would you all be so kind and post any links that you think might help her. Thanks so much!!

Essay title: do men feel that feminism is emasculating, and if so, why.

Speech title: should schools do more to educate teenagers about the negative effects of female objectification.

Ps while I am a strong independent woman, this has all come from her. I have helped her frame the questions, but the ethos and direction are all her own super proud of her though

[PlaysWellWithOthers]

Didn't want to read and run. Not got anything to hand right now, but will get back to you tomorrow.

[steppemum]

radio 4's women's hour have had a few recently about feminism and men, might be worth checking their back themes.

[Busyworkingmum71]

Thanks steppemum we'll check it out x

[howtorebuild]

YouTube Lacey Green.

[partialderivative]

I would suggst that she look carefully at the criteria that she will be assessed against.

I imagine (though I am not an Engish GCSE Teacher) she will be expected to provide a balanced argument. This may be hard if she holds passionate views about an issue, but I think it is an invaluable requirement at her age.

[Busyworkingmum71]

partialderivative I had a long chat with her yesterday about the importance of looking at other views and balancing it, that there is a difference between an opinionated speech and an educated one - both can be passionate, and both can reach the same conclusion, but one drives and the other leads the reader to the conclusion.

I will check out whether balance is required at GCSE, I think definitely reqd at Alevel, then more so at degree level. I will check out the grading criteria, as A* may require some balancing of conflicting views. Thanks!

[Onedirectionarestillloved]

I think for the second question definately yes.

I think it should be tackle on a how would a boy/ man feel if type of way.

Not as in the often trotted out how would you feel if it was your daughter/mother/ sister.

So how would the males in this room feel if every single day they were judged by how big their penis is? Or how firm their abs are? Or how slim their waist is etc etc .

Hope this helps!

[almondpudding]

Often the point of GCSE English is to not be balanced. Persuasive writing is not supposed to be balanced, or rational for that matter, under the GCSE English marking scheme.

Having said that, the entire GCSE this year to a completely new system, so they could be up to anything by now.

[Castrovalva]

Nothing intelligent to add but I wish I knew you IRL buffy:)

[almondpudding]

Buffy, what I mean is that in English language work, writing is either set to persuade or inform or describe (or sometimes other things).

If you are writing a persuasive piece, the only purpose of bringing in the opposing view is to demonstrate that it is ridiculous.

A persuasive piece isn't supposed to be honest. Students will be advised, for example, to use emotive language and then follow up with a statistic to give the impression the argument is based on fact, or to make statements such as 'researchers from the University of Bristol have found that X happens' and women are shocked and distressed by these findings.'

But none of it has to be true. The statistics are made up. A large part of the purpose of learning how persuasive writing works is so that when you read it, you can spot the techniques and not be taken in by them.

So the first point in GCSE English work is to work out what the purpose of the piece is. Are you supposed, for example, to be informing, entertaining or persuading the audience? And that will also have an impact on the title and the topic choice.

[Busyworkingmum71]

Thanks all for your comments. I can see that the essay title is very broad, and might benefit from greater specificity.

buffy some background to the essay title she has chosen (it's not fixed yet so we can refine) - it stems from an incident at school where some male pupils, some of them her friends, where looking at an image of a woman on a phone, and zooming in on her cleavage, making disparaging comments. She stood up to them, offended by the way they objectified this woman, particularly her breasts, which sparked a debate on feminism (i wasn't there so don't know the full details). On speaking with her male friends later about why they did it, when they have told her that they support feminism they couldn't explain why, only that they didn't want to be seen to be not 'one of the lads'. Which led her to ask if feminism makes boys feel emasculated, or in some way threatened. Is there a better way, a more specific way to ask this? Happy to hear your thoughts or suggestions - we'd be grateful!

almondpudding I think the piece is supposed to be persuasive. I am studying for a masters, which is a lot about critical thinking/writing, so this makes me want to steer her in this direction. But I am trying to force myself to remember that she is 16, doing a GCSE, and the likelihood is that the essay will need to be 800-1000 words, so very difficult to get a balanced view in such a relatively short piece. I agree with you that if persuasive then a balanced view may not be important but do need to check out the marking criteria.

[almondpudding]

Your absolute priority in this should be to get the marking criteria. Persuasive writing at GCSE is very formulaic, and writing more like postgrad work doesn't mean a higher mark.

They are marking her use of English not her knowledge of feminism.

If you look up Mr Bruff on YouTube, there are videos there on writing to argue (persuade) and A* writing.

[anothernumberone]

Just a question, is it a requirement that the essay be a balanced view? Any English essays I ever did at that level were allowed to be largely founded in opinion, preferably backed up with some evidence. While a nod to the key points you might be challenging from the opposing viewpoint would have helped the essay it was never necessary to represent both sides of an argument in a balanced manner.

[Castrovalva]

buffy thanks

[Dooberhead]

If you need examples of men feeling threatened by feminism, then the misogynist trolling that Mary Beard, Hadley Freeman and Caroline Criado-Perez experienced when they dared to question the status quo, would be good to research and reference.

I would also understand if you wanted to protect your daughter from some of the revolting language that this will unearth... Very sad and shocking.