Dear Lick-Wilmerding Community,

Welcome to the second annual GENDER WEEK on the Hyphen!

We have been working hard to gather voices from many perspectives throughout our school’s community. Each day we will post new articles and interviews, Lick Who? pictures, links to relevant media, and discussion prompts.

Why is it important to discuss gender? What are different views of femininity? Masculinity? Why is long hair associated with women? How do societal pressures affect men and women differently? This week we hope to provide you with articles to read and media to interact with to help you craft your own answers to these and other questions.

No one can intellectually participate in conversations they know little about, and no one can know too much. Our goal, essentially, is to give you resources, as many as we can gather, to arm you with information and confidence in discussing gender. Consider the Hyphen a bird feeder, filled with resources, seeds for thinking and discussion. We hope you will participate in our formal Hyphen discussions in the Center and online and add ideas to the chalkboard in the Center; we hope this week sparks continuing informal discussions.

Read, share, listen, and keep an open mind this week and every week. Welcome to Gender Week!

Zoe Harris and KK Narita, Hyphen Co-managing Editors