Here is the sample paragraph for the next section of the paper. Your mission is to draft two paragraphs--each one analyzing and evaluating a different premise. Use your rubric and this sample paragraph as a guide:
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Nelson’s second premise—that femininity is unhealthy—puts her at odds with a potentially large group of readers and would benefit from more careful qualification. As Nelson defines it, femininity requires women to act “passive, dainty, obsessed with their physical appearance, and dedicated bolstering the sense of superiority of men” (441). For Nelson, this traditional femininity is “obviously” unhealthy, but postfeminist critics might argue that women who can successfully manipulate men through their femininity actually enhance their personal and social power. According to this view, Madonna panders to male sexual desire by objectifying herself but Madonna’s self-objectification makes her wealthy, powerful, and liberated. Postfeminists could make a similar argument about one of Nelson’s own examples, Serena Williams. From this perpsective, Serena’s sexy outfits do not demean her and subordinate her to men; instead, they attract a male audience to women’s tennis that raises the status of women in general and Serena in particular. To avoid this critique of her reasoning, Nelson might qualify her argument by recognizing these prominent examples but framing them as exceptions rather than rules. In other words, Madonna and Serena might find power in the femininity game, but the typical working woman often finds that appealing to these tradtional roles limits her more than liberates her. At a minimum, Nelson needs to at least recognize this counter-argument and respond to how it might complicate her own reading of the gender games and roles women must play.
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