| SES # | TOPICS | FILMS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to course and field of Women's and Gender Studies | (no films) | The MIT "Mens et Manus" Seal Controversy: A Contemporary Gender Debate with Roots in the Past. |
| 2 | The roots of contemporary gender debates: the 19th Century American Women's Rights Movement | Excerpts from Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony. Directed by Ken Burns. PBS, 1999. | Boydston, Jeanne. "The Cult of True Womanhood." Grimke, Angelina. "Human Rights Not Founded on Sex." (1837). |
| 3-4 | Interpreting classic Women's Rights documents: the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments | Excerpts from Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony. Directed by Ken Burns. PBS, 1999. |
Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. "Declaration of Sentiments." Women's Rights Covnention, Seneca Falls, New York, 1848. ———. "Our Costume." The Lily 4 (April 1851): 31.
|
| 5 | Gender, race and suffrage | Excerpts from Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony. Directed by Ken Burns (PBS, 1999). | Douglass, Frederick. "Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage." (January 1867). Truth, Sojourner. "Ain't I a Woman?" In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 33. |
| 6 | Gender, race and suffrage (cont.) | Ida B. Wells: Passion for Justice. Directed by William Greaves (1989). | (no readings) |
| 7-8 | Resistance or illness?: Discourses of women and madness | The Yellow Wallpaper. Directed by John Clive (1989). | Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The following four readings are from the text:
|
| 9 | Patriarchy and the construction of female pathology | (no films) | Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "Hormonal Hurricanes: Menstruation, Menopause, and Female Behavior." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 351-363. |
| 10-11 | The second wave of Women's Rights Activism - The New Feminism (1963-present) | (no films) |
The National Organization for Women 1966 Statement of Purpose Frye, Marilyn. "Oppression." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 7-9. McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege and Male Privilege." Feminist Frontiers. pp. 9-15. Lorde, Audre. "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 35-37. |
| 12 | Socialization and gender roles | (no films) | Lorber, Judith. "'Night to His Day': The Social Construction of Gender." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 41-56. Richardson, Laurel. "Gender Stereotyping in the English Language." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 99-103. Thorne, Barrie. "Girls and Boys Together... But Mostly Apart: Gender Arrangements in Elementary Schools." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 141-151. "Hostile Hallways." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 152-156. Also available from the Safe Schools Coalition (PDF)#. Kimmel, Michael. "What Are Little Boys Made Of?" In Feminist Frontier. pp. 157-159. |
| 13 | Socialization, race, ethnicity and gender roles | (no films) | Twine, France Winddance. "Brown-Skinned White Girls: Class, Culture, and the Construction of White Identity in Suburban Communities." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 174-189. Lopez, Laura, and Frances Hasso. "Frontlines and Borders" Identity Thresholds for Latinas and Arab American Women." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 17-30. Gunn Allen, Paula. "Where I Come From is Like This." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 31-35. Baca Zinn, Maxine, and Bonnie Thornton Dill. "Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 70-75. Walker, Alice. "Womanist." In Feminist Frontiers. p. 93. |
| 14 | Theoretical debates: social construction vs. biological essentialism | (no films) | Kessler, Suzanne. "The Medical Construction of Gender." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 56-70. Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough." The Sciences (March/April 1993): 20-25. ———. "The Five Sexes Revisited." The Sciences (July/August 2000). |
| 15 | Crossing gender boundaries | Ma Vie En Rose. Directed by Alain Berliner (1997). | (no readings) |
| 16 | Transgenderism | (no films) |
|
| 17 | Embodiment, body image and representation of women | Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women. Created by Jean Kilbourne, directed by Sut Jhally (2000). | Galler, Roberta. "The Myth of the Perfect Body." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 119-120. Gimlin, Debra. "Cosmetic Surgery: Paying for Your Beauty." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 105-118. Onishi, Norimitsu. "Globalization of Beauty Makes Slimness Trend." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 494-495. |
| 18 | Embodiment, body image and representation of women (cont.) | (no films) | Banks, Ingrid. "Hair Still Matters." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 110-118. Keyes, Cheryl. "Empowering Self, Making Choices, Creating Spaces: Black Female Identity via Rap Music Performance." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 129-138. Hill Collins, Patricia. "Black Sexual Politics." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 318-322. |
| 19 | Sexuality and reproductive politics | (no films) | Tolman, Deborah. "Doing Desire: Adolescent Girls' Struggles for/with Sexuality." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 302-312. Wagle, Mary-Jane. "Abstinence-Only: Breeding Ignorance." In Feminist Frontiers. p. 257. Risman, Barbara, and Pepper Schwartz. "After the Sexual Revolution: Gender Politics and Teen Dating." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 313-318. Espiritu, Yen Le. "'We Don't Sleep Around Like White Girls Do': Family, Culture and Gender in Filipina American Lives." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 160-173. Smith, Andrea. "'Beyond Pro-Choice versus Pro-Life': Women of Color and Reproductive Justice." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 389-402. |
| 20 | Sexualities and gender | (no films) | Rupp, Leila J. "Toward a Global History of Same-Sex Sexuality." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 332-341. Messner, Michael A. "Becoming 100% Straight." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 341-345. Naples, Nancy. "Queer Parenting in the New Milennium." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 196-299. Goodridge v. Dept of Public Health, Massachusetts 2003 Walters, Suzanna. "Wedding Bells and Baby Carriages: Heterosexuals Imagine Gay Families, Gay Families Imagine Themselves." |
| 21-22 | Gender and work | (no films) |
Bose, Christine, & Bridges Whaley, Rachel. "Sex Segregation in the U.S. Work Force." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 195-204. Reskin, Barbara. "The Realities of Affirmative Action in Employment." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 229-230.
|
| 23 | Gender and work (cont.) | (no films) | Gerson, Kathleen. "Moral Dilemmas, Moral Strategies, and the Transformation of Gender: Lessons from Two Generations of Work and Family Change." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 258-271. Kang, Miliann. "The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of Bodies and Emotions in Korean Immigrant-Owned Nail Salons." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 217-228.
|
| 24 | Violence against women | (no films) | Martin, Patricia Yancey, and Robert Hummer. "Fraternities and Rape on Campus." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 417-426. Allen, Robert, and Kivel Paul. "Men Changing Men." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 426-428. Steinem, Gloria. "Supremacy Crimes." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 428-430. Nagel, Joane. "Sex and War: Fighting Men, Comfort Women, and the Military-Sexual Complex." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 441-452. |
| 25 | Global politics | (no films) | Sen, Amartya. "More than 100 Million Women Are Missing." The New York Review of Books 27, no. 20 (December 20, 1990). Enloe, Cynthia. "The Globetrotting Sneaker." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 453-457. Chang, Grace. "From the Third World to the 'Third World Within': Asian Women Workers Fighting Globalization." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 462-473. Abu-Lughod, Lila. "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 484-493. Darraj, Susan Muaddi. "It's Not an Oxymoron: The Search for an Arab Feminism." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 550-559.
|
| 26 | Contemporary feminism course reveiw | (no films) | Taylor, Verta, Whittier, Nancy, and Fabrizio Pelak, Cynthia. "The Women's Movement: Persistence Through Transformation." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 503-518. Aronson, Pamela. "Feminists or 'Postfeminists'? Young Women's Attitudes toward Feminism and Gender Relations." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 519-531. Jervis, Lisa. "The End of Feminism's Third Wave." In Feminist Frontiers. pp. 532-533. |
Table of Contents
Study Materials
Readings
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Required Book
Taylor, Verta, Nancy Whittier, and Leila Rupp, eds. Feminist Frontiers. 7th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2007. ISBN: 9780073196084.
Readings by Session
Below are the required course readings divided into class sessions. For study questions relating to these readings, please see study materials.