Talking Point #4

Author: Linda Christensen

Title: “Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us”

Reflection: This text was all too familiar to me. Last semester I took a sex and gender class and just like in the reading, I did my own analysis on race, class, and gender roles reflected in popular Disney movies. While reading through the text, i noticed I that I had done what the students in the text had done. They had made general critiques at first and I had done the same. All my critiques were obvious and not incredibly thought out until I developed my paper.

            Christensen’s goal was to get these students to really think. “I want my students to question this accepted knowledge and the secret education delivered by cartoons as well as by the traditional literacy canon.” This text makes me think about the paper I had written and what I wrote about. I noticed the same things the students had but my main point was to explain how these popular Disney movies portrayed the truth in our society. I still agree with what I wrote but after reading Christensen’s writing I don’t agree with my own acceptance of what is wrong. I think because I’m so accustomed to the way things are, change seems impossible. Like in the text, I think some people are poor because not everyone can be rich but why can’t everyone be rich.

            In class, I would like it if everyone could share their opinion on the section of the text on page 4 titled Writing as a Vehicle for Change. I’m interested in hearing what my peers think about the idea of everyone “accepting the inequalities in power and exploitative economic relationship”. I think if people are aware of how this acceptance may be the “root” of the problem they could start a dialog and really think. This thinking could lead to ideas and actions that could change others opinions.