WS/AC 240: Introduction to Women's Studies Winter 2009
REVIEW SHEET FOR THE FINAL EXAM
Final: Tuesday April 28, 10:30 to 12:30 pm, MLB Aud 3 (our usual classroom). Closed book, in class exam.

Bring a blue book. Blue books will be collected and redistributed before the exam starts, so please
don’t write your name on it before the exam.

The exam will include a list of the titles and authors of the readings

Please see the “Tips and Strategies” handout available on our Ctools site for suggestions about how
to approach your preparation for the exam.
Part I. Id Qs: 49% = 7 Qs x 7 points each. For each of these topics from the second half of the course, two
terms from this list will appear on the exam; you must identify 7 terms, each from a different topic. For each
term you choose, define and briefly explain its significance for Women’s Studies. We aren’t looking for a
dictionary definition (or one you found on the internet) – we want you to explain the meaning and
significance of the term in the context of this course and women’s studies generally. The best answers define
the term, relate it to a lecture or reading and discuss its significance to WS. Each response should be one
paragraph (approx 3-5 sentences). Knowing these terms will also help you write your essay.
motherhood

institution of motherhood

hegemonic motherhood

marginalization

motherhood is gendered

social construction of motherhood

pronatalism

motherhood mandate

new momism

deviancy discourses
gender and health

momism

Nurse’s health study

diagnostic bracket creep

corporate construction of disease

medicalization

osteopenia

breast cancer kitsch
masculinities

hegemonic masculinity

diverse masculinities

counterhegemonic masculinities

disciplinary systems

gendered institutions

the world gender order

gendered imperialism

transnational business masculinity

orthogonal genders
feminist future

Master¹s tools

Postfeminism

Feminist identification
global/transnational feminisms

global sisterhood

nationalism

voluntary vs. forced

subcontracting

traditional vs. modern

colonial civilizing mission

pivoting the center

hypocritical morality

third world feminisms
women and work

pay gap/glass ceiling

gendered division of labor

reproductive labor

gender schemas at work

motherhood penalty

social class

Black women’s workplace experiences
violence

Rape law reform

Stranger rape myth

Women of color anti-violence model

Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA)

Brotherhood

Identity politics

Comfort women

Military-sexual complex

Interpersonal violence

Feminist legal studies

Mens rea


Queer politics
Radical coalition work
COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY (51%)
ONE of the essay questions below will appear on the final exam. You will be asked to write an essay of
1000-1200 words in response to that question. You must draw on at least 3 course readings and 2 lectures in
developing your analysis, but it is preferable to draw from more sources.

Although there have been many published/blogged essays on these two stories, do not draw
from their analyses. Rather, place your analysis within the context of the course. Essays that do not
clearly draw on materials/concepts from the course will not receive passing grades.

Your essay should focus on content from the second half of the course, but you may also
discuss theoretical concepts introduced in the first half of the semester if they are relevant.

Remember, you are being asked to write an essay with a clear thesis and conclusion, not
simply a list of responses to the ideas in the essay question.
Question 1 Thomas Beatie: The Pregnant Man
http://advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid52947.asp?page=1
In March 2008, The Advocate, a mainstream gay periodical, published a first person account by Thomas
Beatie, a transgender man who was pregnant with his first child. Beatie is legally married to a woman who is
unable to bear children due to endometriosis, so the couple decided that Thomas, who had not surgically
altered his reproductive organs, should carry their child. Please go to the link above and read the story
carefully (note that there are two pages).
Analyze this story using concepts and theory presented in class and in the course readings.
However you choose to approach this question, your analysis must consider:

Social constructions of motherhood

Hegemonic masculinity

Masculinities

Feminist perspectives on health
Question 2 Beauty School of Kabul
http://www.beautyacademyofkabul.com/html/background.htm
Please go to the link above, and carefully read the story, a synopsis of a documentary titled Beauty School of
Kabul, which focuses on a group of American hairdressers who travel to Afganistan to open a beauty school.
Afghan women were trained to be beauticians and their training was funded by several different American
fashion magazines and cosmetic companies.
Read the piece carefully. Note the ways in which the author frames the lives of Afghan women. Pay close
attention particularly to the binaries it establishes and the assumptions it makes about gender, culture and
political systems.
However you choose to approach this question, your analysis must consider:

Problematic aspects of these binaries and assumptions

Global feminisms

Gender and violence

Medicalization