"Looking At Women" by Scott Russel Sanders. Jill, Ryan, Mujtaba, Kaylie, and Briana.

[briana mcloughlin]

[Jill Ferraguto]

The introduction begins when he was telling the story of him and his friend Norman in the car on the hot July day. This story told was scott's introduction to his thesis which is stated on page 295, "I sank into the seat, and tried to figure out what power had sprung from that sashaying girl to zap me in the belly." The story I believe is going to be based off of this thesis and will describe the "mystery" that Scott has on woman in general. He included the introduction story to show the reader how it all began.

[Kaylie Johanns]

I think the introduction ends at the end of the second paragraph on
page 296 before the page break. Throughout this whole introduction,
the author describes how men, young and old, portray women. Also how
women look and how they think about other women. His thesis also does
not come along until the end of the introduction which is: how should
a man look at a women. Throughout the introductory paragraphs he
describes how him and his friend have been starting to look at women

On Oct 25, 7:59 am, briana mcloughlin
<briana.mcloughlin.ber...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

[ryan gallagher]

The introduction begins with the author telling the story of one of
his early experiences with women. The thesis is on page 296 it says
"Norman's telling me to relish the sight of females and his mother
telling me to keep my eyes to myself are only two of the many voices
quarreling in my head." This shows how as a young boy he didnt know
who to listen to and was confused with what to do either look at the
girls or dont.

[Jill Ferraguto]

Page # 295 and 296

How should a man look at a woman?

[briana mcloughlin]

i think that the introduction starts obviously at the beginning of the story, but ends of page 296 at the end of the continuing paragraph from page 295 because throughout the two pages, the author is talking about his experience with looking at a women, and what the story is about is being told through out the two pages. i think the thesis is "what i represent here are a few images and reflections that cling, for me, to this one item in such a compendium of rules: how should a man look at a women?" (Sanders 296). to me, this is the thesis because that's what this whole story is about. how should a man be looking at a women? this question is carried through the whole story.

[Kaylie Johanns]

On page 296 at the end of paragraph two, I did not understand the word
compendium.
Compendium- a brief treatment or account of a subject, especially an
extensive subject.

[Kaylie Johanns]

page 296, How does a man look at a woman?

[Kaylie Johanns]

I replyed to Jill because in the essay, Sanders talks a lot about the
different ways that men look at and how they think of women and how it
is effecting our society today.

On Oct 25, 8:15 am, Jill Ferraguto <jill.ferraguto.ber...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Kaylie Johanns]

In the essay, Sanders talks about how his college roommate would have
naked pictures of women on his walls from a Playboy magazine. In many
schools today the rumors and issues with nude pictures of girls are
getting out of control and there are now laws that are trying to put a
stop to it. To me, it sounds like Sanders is saying the only way men
portray women is by seeing them pose in a naked picture.

[briana mcloughlin]

a word i came across that i don't know was "smugly" on page 297.

smugly: contentedly confident of one's ability, superiority, orcorrectness; complacent.

[briana mcloughlin]

"what were these if not hooks thrown out into male waters?" page 298

[ryan gallagher]

A word i didn't know was sashaying on page 295. Sashaying means to
glide, move, or proceed nonchalantly.

[briana mcloughlin]

Sanders first story about the girl in pink shorts and the pink halter connects to one of our essential questions. to what extent do our bodies determine our personalities, identify our choices, and make us the individuals we are? in that first story, the girl's apparel determined a lot. it made her the individual that they boys liked and that the boys stared at. by her dressing like that one can say that she chooses to dress like that for the attention, while another can say that she chooses to dress like that because it fits her personality. 

[ryan gallagher]

One question i found was "...what were these if not hooks thrown out
into male waters?" this can be found on page 298

[ryan gallagher]

On page 294 Normans's mother says, "Just think how it makes her feel
to have two boys gawking at her." I think this shows how the mother is
trying to teach the boys to respect girls. Many people teach their
kids to respect women and find it poorly reflects the parents when the
kids don't.

[ryan gallagher]

I think a man should look at a woman as he would look at anyone else.
Theres no reason to treat women any different.

On Oct 25, 8:15 am, Jill Ferraguto <jill.ferraguto.ber...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Mujtaba Khan]

The introduction starts off from the narrator and his friend Norman who get attracted to a girl who is wearing revealing clothes when they are in the car. The narrator describes the strange feeling he has towards this experience especially after Norman's mother yells at both of them for staring at that girl. The narrator mentions at that point he doesn't really care because he's only eleven years old, but this experience in the car really makes an influence on his behavior . I agree with Jill that the thesis starts in the beginning of the second page when the narrator says,"tried to figure out what power had sprung from that sashaying girl to zap me in the belly"(295). The introduction ends here because the author introduces his main topic that he will refer to of how people react to women in different periods of time. The narrator mentions how "as [he] grew a beard,[his] taste shifted from girls to women" (295). He tries to say how his inner behavior changes as he grows up because he gets more attracted to females.

[Mujtaba Khan]

One question that Sanders poses is "Chassis? I knew what it meant for a car, an airplane, a radio, or even a cannon to have a chassis. But could a girl have one as well?"(294). The narrator asks this question when he's in the car with his friend Norman and are distracted by a girl.

[Mujtaba Khan]

One unfamiliar word that I came up with while I was reading the story was "tantalizing" on page 295. This means to have something that provokes interest or desire especially that which remains unobtainable or beyond one's reach.

' 

[Mujtaba Khan]

Sanders reaction to the girl as a young boy makes me connect to my childhood and my friends. For example, when Sanders looks at that girl with the revealing clothes, he doesn't really realize what the big deal is because he doesn't really have any feelings for her and he is just confused. The narrator says, "Until that moment, it had never made any difference to me,,,,,,for my imagination had been entirely devoted to other mysteries. I was eleven"(294). However, his friend, Norman who is more mature and older gets easily distracted and starts to stare at that girl. The narrator doesn't have those type of feelings because he's still immature and young. It isn't until he grows up when he realizes why this experience really bothered and confused him. This makes me connect to me and my friends when we were young in elementary school and used to question the relationship between a male and a female. We really didn't understand it completely until we got older and realized the significance of the relationship because before we were clueless and really didn't have those type of feelings.

[Mujtaba Khan]

One question that I would like to reply to is how should a man look at a woman? I believe a man should respect the woman and try to stay in his limits even if he might be distracted by that one individual. Staring at someone because of their beauty would look awkward and might make the woman uncomfortable in the location that she might stand in. So I believe a man's duty is to look at the woman as if he is looking at any ordinary person and avoid doing things that would make the woman feel upset about herself. If a man follows this then there wouldn't really be a problem of how someone is looking at the other differently making one of the sides superior than the other.

[Jill Ferraguto]

I came across the word ogling on page 296.

Ogling:

to look amorously, flirtatiously, or impertinently.

[ryan gallagher]

The person i chose to look up was John Berger. http://www.johnberger.org/johnberger.htm
John Berger is a storyteller, essayist, novelist, screenwriter,
dramatist and critic. His work has influenced many people including
our author Scott Russel Sanders. I think Sanders made this reference
because as an art critic, Berger sees a lot of paintings and other
works of or with women and knows a great deal about them and can
answer the question Sanders had. "By turning herself (or allowing her
self to be turned into) a work of art, does a woman truly escape men's
proprietary stare?" (300)

[Jill Ferraguto]

I chose to research Simone de Beauvoir. She was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. Scott included her piece to show from a woman's perspective, and also stating the opossing side's view. Just because a man looks at a woman, it doesn't mean he automatically considers her to be an object. When she dresses the way she does, she arouses the man and catches him in her 'trap'. That is what Simone is trying to say on page 299.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/

[Jill Ferraguto]

(In addition to my last post [forgot we had to make it into one])

Sander's final conclusion was that men will still look at women with confusion, but also with yearning. This means that yes, some women will still be starred at whether they dress to attract men or it just happens that way. Sometimes, women will not "asked" to be starred at but it will still happen. Other times women ask for it and then they become an "object" towards men. In many different cases, it is no ones fault. His structure of his essay helped me conclude this because he look different view points, from different experts and philosophers. With their arguments, he backed them all up with his opinionated evidence yet, he answered his own question in the end. Also, throughout the pieces of evidence from the experts and philosophers, he tried to answer the question: How are women supposed to be looked at? without coming straight across and saying it.

[briana mcloughlin]

Sander's final conclusion was that some women are naturally pretty and don't mean to be looked at by a man, and some women choose to dress and appear the way they want to, to be looked at my a man. his structure and tone supported this because his tone throughout the story was neutral and not getting defensive over one point of view to another. for example, he would add in information from someone with the view of women do it to themselves, then he would add in another view where the person thought that some women are just naturally attractive.

[briana mcloughlin]

http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/phil/philo/phils/beauvoir.html

i think that Sanders chose Simone de Beauvivor because she was an intelligent women who grew up with 2 other sisters so her point of view will be different than a man's view on this topic. also, she was fascinated by beauty

[Kaylie Johanns]

Question 7:
I think the final conclusion that Sanders wanted to share in his essay
was how does a man look at a women? To support his purpose he uses
different examples in different stories that explains there are many
ways men look and apeal to women.

[Mujtaba Khan]

http://www.johnberger.org/johnberger.htm

I chose to look deeply in John Berger whose an art critic, novelist, painter and an author. He's one of those influential writers whose work examines the different relationships and conflicts between individuals and society. His writing consists of connections between people, places, and community and as well as collaborations with other writers or thinkers. I believe Sanders references Berger in his story because Berger can make deep interpretation between two different groups of people and he could clearly explain their relationship and what type of connection they have. For example, Sanders included Berger's quote that said, "Thus she turns herself into an object" (303). Sander's includes Berger's quote because he's explaining to the reader how sometimes it's not always the man's fault in staring at woman because women sometimes dress up in a way that forces man to look at them in that type of perspective. When Berger talks about turning into objects, he's trying to say how women sometimes put themselves in that condition where males can't resist looking at them. Therefore, Sanders includes Berger's quote to show one side of the argument of looking at women.

[Mujtaba Khan]

I believe Sander's final conclusion was that, "As long as men have eyes, they will gaze with yearning and confusion at women"(304). I agree with Jill that Sander's explains that men will not stop looking whether it is the woman's fault or not. For example, the author has a neutral tone in the story because he gives arguments from both perspectives. He explains that it doesn't make a difference whether a woman is just naturally pretty and dresses a certain way normally or if she wears clothing to attract males because men will look at both type of women in the same way. Sanders say, "Why, I wondered then wonder still, do so many women decorate themselves like dolls? And does that mean they wish to be viewed as dolls?"(299). I believe the question that Sanders asks says that men don't really know if the women that they are looking at really wants to be looked at or not because both ways the guy is going to be distracted naturally by a woman who he thinks is attractive. However, the author also shows the other side of the argument that women shouldn't be looked at in a certain way by men because some just look like that normally. When the narrator's friend, Norman was staring at the girl with the pink shorts, his mother had said, "Just think how it makes her feel to have you two boys gawking at her" and Norman didn't care because he said that it "makes her feel like hot stuff"(295). Even though some women might feel uncomfortable, there will be men who won't resist in looking because that will be their natural reaction. Therefore, Sanders explains the complicated connection between men and women and how there really isn't a side who's wrong.