| SES # | TOPICS | STUDY QUESTIONS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to course and field of Women's and Gender Studies | In-class exercise Write for ten minutes. State your argument and address at least one counterargument. Background The MIT seal, with the Latin inscription "Mens et Manus" ("Mind and Hand") was first adopted in 1864. (MIT opened in 1865.) The seal pictures a scholar with a book and a laborer with an anvil; both are male figures. The seal symbolizes the ideal of cooperation between knowledge and research and the mechanical or manual arts. Many see the seal as signifying the necessity for the practical application of knowledge. The seal was modernized during MIT President Howard Johnson's administration (1966-71). Yet the presence of two male figures—and the absence of female representation—on the seal has generated some controversy on campus. A student diversity rally in spring 2001 called for a new MIT seal that would represent both a male and female figure. The Brass Rat, the MIT ring, has twice recently featured a female figure on the seal shank; students were divided in their reaction to the change. The seal remains a point of contention within the MIT community. With a female president now at the helm of MIT, many in the community think that it's time to address the issue of the seal again. Questions Should MIT change the traditional "Mens et Manus" seal to represent both a male and female figure? Support your view with evidence. What's at stake in this issue? |
| 2 | The roots of contemporary gender debates: the 19th Century American Women's Rights Movement | Homework Select three quotations for discussion from the Grimke essay. Write at least two paragraphs responding to two of the quotations, making connections between the Grimke quotations, other readings and/or contemporary gender issues. In-class exercise Quotations from Angelina Grimke's "Human Rights Not Founded on Sex" (1837): "Now if rights are founded in the nature of our moral being, then mere circumstance of sex does not give to man higher rights and responsibilities." (p. 1) "When human beings are regarded as moral beings, sex, instead of being enthroned upon the summit, administering upon rights and responsibilities, sinks into insignificance and nothingness." (p. 1) "My doctrine then is, that whatever is morally right for man to do, it is morally right for woman to do. Our duties originate, not from difference of sex, but from the diversity of our relations in life…" (p. 1) "I recognize no rights but human rights-I know nothing of men's rights and women's rights for in Christ Jesus, there is neither male nor female." (p. 3) "…the present arrangements of society…are a violation of human rights, a rank usurpation of power, a violent seizure and confiscation of what it sacredly and inalienable hers…" (p. 4) "…woman has just as much right to sit in solemn counsel…as man…just as much right to it upon the throne of England or in the Presidential Chair of the United States." (p. 4) |
| 3-4 | Interpreting classic Women's Rights documents: the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments | In-class exercise Quotations from Susan B. Anthony's speech after her "civil disobedience voting" (1872): "I not only committed no crime, but instead simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution." "It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union." "…It is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government-the ballot." "The only question to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not. Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities." |
| 7-8 | Resistance or illness?: Discourses of women and madness | Homework Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper": Write about question 4 and 2 others. (Answers should be about a page to a page and a half, typed, double-spaced.) 1. What is the meaning of the title? Why did Gilman use first person narration? Why is the female protagonist unnamed throughout the text? 2. How would you describe the narrator's voice in this text? How does that voice evolve over the course of the novella? How does the fragmented style of the narrative influence you as a reader? 3. How does Gilman engage with traditional ideas of femininity in this story? What do the house and wallpaper symbolize? What does the woman/women in the wallpaper represent? 4. What is the meaning of the last scene? Has this woman liberated herself from patriarchy as an individual through her madness or has she experienced the ultimate victimization? 5. Gilman was very much an activist writer and authored texts in many different voices (the social scientist, the journalist, the utopian writer, the Gothic writer). What is she advocating in this story? What are the risks of this narrative strategy for a politically-oriented feminist writer? 6. What contemporary issues does "The Yellow Wallpaper" evoke? Why do you think it has become one of the five most popular readings in college courses? In-class exercise Write for 5 minutes: What connections do you see between "Declaration of Sentiments" and "The Yellow Wallpaper?" In what ways do these texts not relate to one another? |
| 10 | The second wave of Women's Rights Activism - The New Feminism (1963-present) | In-class exercise Write for 5 minutes on Betty Friedan's "The Problem That Has No Name": What are the elements, in your view, of a piece of "catalyst writing", i.e. writing that ignites the spark of social change? Which elements does Friedan's chapter possess? Why do you think this was the book that lit the fire of the second wave of American feminism? What's it like to read Friedan today? |
| 12 | Socialization and gender roles | In-class exercise Language and the Gendered Order: Comment on these examples. Have these students/worker been treated fairly or unfairly? How do your answers reflect your sense of the importance of language usage and particular styles of verbal communication to gender equality? 1. A student turns in a literature paper in which she refers to the human race as "mankind" and individuals as "he". The paper is returned with a failing grade because the student did not use inclusive language, as the professor had requested in the assignment prompt. 2. An editor at a publishing house includes in her assistant's job evaluation a negative comment about her assistant's refusal to use inclusive language (e.g. humans, he/she) in her prose. 3. A female student receives a low grade for her political science oral presentation because, in the instructor's words, "She uses typical unassertive female speech patterns and a deferential style." When the student questions the grade, the instructor tells her that the low grade will benefit her because it will inspire her to be a more assertive speaker which will help her not only in school, but also in her future professional life. Comment: How important is language to gender equality? |
| 19 | Sexuality and reproductive politics | In-class exercise The current legal age of sexual consent in most states within the U.S. is 16. Should this age limit be (a) lowered—to what? (b) raised—to what? (c) abolished? Comment on the reasons for your answer. |
| 20 | Sexualities and gender | In-class exercise Write for five minutes: What factors enable movements for gay and lesbian equality to begin and to achieve success? How are lesbian/gay movements similar to and different from other social movements, e.g. women's, civil rights? |
| 21-22 | Gender and work | Homework Write about a page in response to the question below: Choose an item of your own clothing that has been manufactured in another country. Find out all you can about the working conditions and pay at the factory that manufactured this item. Some issues to consider include: how workers are recruited, types of workers (e.g. women, men, children), working conditions and hours, rates of pay, legal protections (e.g. to unionize). What is the effect of learning this information? |
| 23 | Gender and work (cont.) | In-class exercise Choose one of these quotes from Arlie Russell Hochschild's "Love and Gold" and write for about five minutes: "But if First World middle-class women are building careers that are molded according to the old male model, by putting in long hours at demanding jobs, their nannies and other domestic workers suffer a greatly exaggerated version of the same thing. Two women working for pay is not a bad idea. But two working mothers giving their all to work is a good idea gone haywire. In the end, both First and Third World women are small players in a larger economic game whose rules they have not written." (p. 20) "The notion of extracting resources from the Third World in order to enrich the First World is hardly new. It harkens back to imperialism in its most literal form: the nineteenth century extraction of gold, ivory and rubber from the Third World….Today, as love and care become the "new gold", the female part of the story has grown in prominence. In both cases, through the death or displacement of their parents, Third World children pay the price." (p. 26) "If love is a precious resource, it is not one simply extracted from the Third World and implanted in the First; rather, it owes its very existence to a peculiar cultural alchemy that occurs in the land to which it is imported." (p. 24) "On the one hand, the First World extracts love from the Third World. But what is being extracted is partly produced or "assembled" here: the leisure, the money, the ideology of the child, the intense loneliness and yearning for one's own children." (p. 25) "In a sense, migration creates not a white man's burden but, through a series of invisible links, a dark child's burden." (p. 27) "Just as the market value of primary produce keeps the Third World low in the community of nations, so the low market value of care keeps the status of women who do it—and ultimately, all women—low. (p. 29) |
| 25 | Global politics | In-class exercise What are the major incentives to organizing a global gender rights movement? What are the major barriers to organizing a global gender rights movement? |