Sex and Gender Roles
SOC 257, Hunter College, Fall 2015
Tu/Th 8:25 – 9:40pm, W405
Tom Buechele
Office hours: Tu 4 – 5pm
Email: tbuechel@hunter.cuny.edu
Description:
Is gender “natural”? Are people born male or female, or do they become gendered? What does it
mean to have just these two categories? What does the concept of gender accomplish? How have
“gender roles” changed through history? These are some of the questions we will be discussing in
this class. We will also be looking at the ways gender, race, class, age, and sexuality intersect,
relate, or diverge. What do categories of identity mean? What is their purpose? What are the
social relations that produce gendered categories, and what sorts of relations do the categories
produce?
Here’s what you should get from this class:
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Leave this course thinking about the world differently.
Learn to explore ideas and arguments and put them into conversation with each other.
Read closely. Read to learn.
Understand the “work” our concepts or beliefs do for us. (e.g. what does sexism
accomplish and for whom? Or, what does the term “community” really mean, and for
whom?)
Think about the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world and why.
Understand scale: individual, group, and systemic social relations.
If you take this class seriously, and spend time thinking about the issues and ideas we discuss,
you will take away important critical skills and insight that will be with you for the rest of your
academic career (as well as other important areas of your life). Additionally (and this may be of
importance to some of you) if you do not take this class seriously, do the readings, think
critically, and participate, you may not pass. I do not want to fail anyone, but I will not hesitate to
do so if necessary.
Requirements:
Participation, Absences and Lateness (20% of Grade)
This part of your grade will be based on how often you participate in class. This includes
asking questions; you should always feel comfortable asking questions in this class. The
lowest grade for class participation will be given for poor attendance or for total lack of
participation. If you come to every class, but never participate do not expect a good
participation grade. The highest will be given for attending regularly and participating to
advance class discussion and for showing your fluency in the course material. Examples
of contributions that advance the class discussion: answering a question posed by the
instructor or another classmate, posing thoughtful questions, stating disagreement with
the author/other students/instructor and backing that position up with a solid argument.
To participate in a thoughtful manner, you must support your opinions with textual
references and/or describe relevant experiences and be open to critique and/or
disagreement. In addition, please critique or disagree with others in a respectful way;
belittling comments directed to any person will not be tolerated. You should also be
prepared to have something to say if called on by the instructor. To fully participate in a
class where the texts are instrumental to the class discussion and content, you must bring
the readings to class. An additional way to earn credit toward your participation grade is
to look up words in the text you did not know and share the definitions with the class.
Persistent absences or lateness will result in a reduction of your final grade consistent
with the policies of the university and of the department of Sociology. More than 6
absences will result in an automatic F.
Forum Posts (30% of grade)
The class will be put into 7 groups of about 5 each (some might have 4 or 3 and some may have
more than 5 depending on final registration numbers). Each group will have its own blog where
you will have a collaborative online writing portfolio. Each student will have to create her/his
own wordpress.com account to access the blog. (There will be a training session on this in class).
This blog will be attached to the class blog. Each week your group will write a post of at least 250
words (the equivalent of about 1 double spaced page) in response to that weeks reading/video
assignments. These posts are less formal than the short essays and are meant as a way for you to
reflect, ask questions, and/or post other information in relation to that week’s topic. What you can
post is RELATIVELY open ended as long as it relates in some way to the topics that the texts
that week covers. This is also a good opportunity for you to ask questions in response to the
readings as well. For instance you my at times find these readings difficult and you can pose
question to your group about the meaning of the text or specific concepts the texts are using. You
should post questions at least every other week as part of this assignment. We will use these
questions and posts in class to generate discussion beyond my lecturing. EVERYONE in the
group most post something. These posts are due every week by Noon the day of first class of that
week.
Presentation: (25% of grade)
In which you’ll give a 10 to 15minute presentation on one reading explaining the author’s key
points, giving examples from the text, and raise at least one question for the class. A write up of
your presentation is to be handed in along with your presentation.
Midterm (TBA)
In Class Writing/Quiz (TBA)
Final (25% of grade)
ABSOLUTELY NO cell phones, online chatting, etc during class. If I see you doing these
things, I will consider it an absence and deduct points from your grade accordingly. Also, come to
class on time. More than 15 minutes after the start of class will also be considered an absence.
Incompletes policy: No incompletes will be given except in the case of family or medical
emergencies.
Plagiarism policy: Any student committing plagiarism will automatically fail the course.
This is not negotiable. This applies to written work and oral presentations. Do not present, for
example, a Wikipedia summary as your own words. Any act of plagiarism will result in academic
and disciplinary sanctions through the Committee on Academic Integrity and the CUNY FacultyStudent Disciplinary Procedure. If you have ANY QUESTIONS about what plagiarism is, ASK
ME.
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Week 1:
Th August 27 Introduction – What is gender and why are we talking about it?
Week 2:
T Sept 1
Wordpress and Group Formation.
Categories, socialization, performativity
Th Sept 3
Bob Nowlan, “Critical theory and gender”
Week 3:
T Sept 8
West and Zimmerman, “Doing Gender”
Th Sept 10
No Class
Week: 4
T Sept 15
No Class
Th Sept 17
Judith Butler, “Performative acts and gender constitution”
Week 5:
T Sept 22
No Classes Scheduled
Th Sept 24
Butler – Continued
Week 6:
T Sept 29
Michael Messner, “Boyhood, organized sports, and the construction of
masculinity”
Feminist Waves and Social Movements around Gender and Sexuality
Th Oct 1
Film
Week 7:
T Oct 6
Forms of Feminist Theory
Th Oct 8
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Address at the Seneca Falls Convention” and
“Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” andFriedan –
“Feminine Mystic”
Week 8:
T Oct 13
Anne Phillips “Public Spaces, Private Lives”
Th Oct 15
Emma Goldman, “Marriage and Love” and “Woman Suffrage”
Carl Wittman, “A Gay Manifesto”
Week 9:
T Oct 20
Shulamith Firestone, introduction to “Dialectic of Sex”
Th Oct 22
Silvia Federici, “Wages for Housework” and “The Means of
Reproduction”
Bodies and identity
Week 10:
T Oct 27
Film
Th Oct 29
Donna Haraway, “Cyborg Manifesto”
Week 11:
T Nov 3
Bob Connell, “Hegemonic masculinity”, Michael Messner “Becoming
100 Percent Straight”
Th Nov 5
Audre Lorde, “Age, race, class and sex: women redefining difference”
(Film)
Week 12:
T Nov 10
Angela Davis, “Standards for a new womanhood”
Th Nov 12
Grace Chang, “Globalization in living color”
Week 13:
T Nov 17
FILM
Th Nov 19
Steven Gregory, “Men in paradise”
Week 14:
T Nov 24
Thanksgiving
Week 15:
T Dec 1
Th Dec 3
Week 16
T Dec 8 Review
Th Dec 10 Final