Reference no: EM133799222

Assignment:

Instructions: Brittney Cooper, Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University, reflects on her choice to stop using chemical relaxers in the context of the U.S. Army's new guidelines banning cornrows and locks. The article below offers first-person commentary on the structural and systemic regulation of Black women's bodies. The policy has advantages and disadvantages which impact the individual decisions of women.

You will read the article about Brittney Cooper's experience and compose an essay in which you will reflect on the impact that the Army's policy had on her decision making and where this dynamic exists in other social institutions.

Step 1: Read the article:

Step 2: Compose an essay, answering the following questions:

1. How does the U.S. Army's policy banning cornrows and locks reflect the structural and systemic regulation of Black women's bodies, according to the author?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the U.S. Army's policy on cornrows and locks, and how do they impact individual decisions made by Black women? How is it different from the expectations of men? Where else do you see the systemic regulation of individual behavior in society?
3. In what ways can individual acts of resistance, such as the professor's decision to stop using chemical relaxers, challenge and subvert the social structures that regulate Black women's bodies within the context of the U.S. Army's policy?
4. Where do you see this "interplay" (influence of social structure on individual choices) happening in other social institutions?
5. Include in-text citations from the article.