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I have two assignments for you. a GRQ’s and a discussion. Please, do the GRQ’s first and then discussion. Here is the discussion details:This week will be the transition into our final study for the semester, The Argonauts. In a bid to tie together the many themes we’ve discussed this term – about media, public health, narrative, representation, freedom, legacy/history, the public – we will explore the many layers of this work over the next few weeks. This memoir centers around notions of intimacy, family, motherhood, sex, and permissiveness, and how they all rely on certain stable notions of self (sexuality & gender especially). As Nelson explains at the beginning, her reference to the Argo is a metaphor for the couple who says “I love you,” as a way to renew its existence through dramatic change while still keeping its name. This change, for Nelson, happens in the arenas of sexuality, gender, and relationality.A similar set of problems and dynamics, though dealt with differently, are unpacked in this week’s assigned viewing, The Danish Girl. Starring cisgender heterosexual actor Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, one of the earliest trans women to benefit from gender affirmation surgery, the film focuses particularly on the changing nature of Elbe’s relationship with wife Gerda vis-a-vis Elbe coming out and beginning to present to the wor

ld as a woman. Pay close attention to themes in which gender or sexuality seem to mediate the integrity or dynamic of this relationship.In your initial post this week, reflect on some ways gender and sexuality mediate your sense of things like togetherness, family, intimacy, closeness, or home. In other words, how do these support the everyday relationships and feelings you take for granted? For instance, do you have certain gendered expectations of your friends based on their gender identities/expressions? (Do you expect different things from man friends vs. woman friends?) Another example- are there things your family members do that create a sense of normalcy, but might be gendered? (What does mom do vs. what does dad do, sister vs. brother, etc.) The goal here is to work backwards from the way the seeming “stability” of relationships feels different when background factors – like gender and sexuality – change. This tells us that the relative normalcy of our lives likely depends more on these things than we observe- this is what your post should explore.In your response, offer your thoughtful feedback on what they said. How do their examples compare/contrast from your own? What different ways of seeing/expecting things from gender/sexuality emerged in your post versus your classmates’? These are some of many questions you could explore.