Andersen Blog #1

"Composing as a Woman" is Misleading

Flynn’s “Composing as a Woman” starts promising with the quote from Adrienne Rich, however, she under-delivers in her discussion of composing as a woman by using broad strokes generalizations about women being more interested in building community and men being more interested in conquering. She argues that “we have not examined our research methods or research samples to see if they are androcentric. Nor have we attempted to determine just what if meant to compose as a woman” (425), and unfortunately, contrary to her article title, neither does she. I was hoping to get real insights into the process for women as writers yet she focuses her attention on a small sample study to prove her pre-determined hypothesis that women write about community and men write about victories. My own writing, for example, does not include community, unless required to do so specifically by the assignment itself. With my own personal journaling, community is rarely, if ever mentioned. Recognizing that I, too, am a small sample, I was disappointed in the conclusions this article makes.