Women’s Studies 2325
“Issues in Women’s Health”
Spring 2013
Online Postings Due Mondays and Wednesdays
Instructor: Ally Day, PhD, ABD Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization: Disability Studies
MA Gender and Cultural Studies,
BFA Creative Writing/BA Political Science
Office Hours: Skype or Google-chat arranged by appointment on Mondays and
Wednesdays (just email me and we can set up a time and format!)
Email: day.345@osu.edu (Email is the best way to reach me!)
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Students who have verification from Disability Services are responsible
for contacting the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary
arrangements. The Office for Disability Services (150 Pomerene Hall;
292-3307; 292-0901) verifies the need for accommodations and assists
in the development of accommodation strategies.
Your Mental Health!
A recent American College Health Survey found stress, sleep problems, anxiety,
depression, interpersonal concerns, death of a significant other and alcohol use among the
top ten health impediments to academic performance. Students experiencing personal
problems or situational crises during the quarter are encouraged to contact the OSU
Counseling and Consultation Services (614-292-5766) for assistance, support and
advocacy. This service is free and confidential.
Course Description
This interdisciplinary course explores the relationships between health and gender under
political, biological, economic, spiritual, cultural and/or socially constructed influences.
We will conduct a comprehensive overview of health literature in public health, feminist
cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, medicine, and popular literature. Topics
include the social construction of gender/sex, feminist critiques of biomedicine, gender
inequities and difference in health epidemiology and the practice of medicine in the
United States, ‘alternative’ approaches and practices in healing, and others.
Students will engage in an interactive approach to learning about issues in women’s health. In
this course, we will use lectures, class discussions, readings, popular culture analyses, journaling,
group work, and in-class activities.
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Course Objectives
By the end of this course, we should all have:
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Knowledge of the history of women’s health activism in the United States.
The ability to conceptualize contemporary activist movements and concerns related to
women’s health.
Knowledge of dominant women’s health issues in the United States.
Ability to interrogate health information (multimedia, print, scholarly and medical
studies) for its inclusion of gender, race, class, citizenship, religious, and dis/ability
difference.
An Analysis of the relationship between women’s bodies and public policy.
Empowerment to “tell our doctors a thing or two” ala Women’s Health Movement.
Required Text(s):
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Worcester, Nancy and Marianne H. Whatley. (2009) Women’s Health: 5th Edition.
Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
Netflix Streaming Subscription (we will be watching several documentaries online
throughout the semester)
Silliman, Jael. Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice.
Boston: South End Press.
The Boston Women’s Health Collective. Our Bodies Ourselves. 2011. (This is the most
recent edition. If you already have an edition from 2005 or 2000, that will work).
Required reading is available on Carmen.
Additional readings may be added throughout the course period.
Course Requirements and Grade Distribution
Attendance & Participation
150 points
Artifact Presentation
50 points
10 Journals (out of 14 options) (10 @ 10pts Each)
100 points
Midterm Exam
50 points
Memoir Paper
100 points
Final Exam
50 points
Annotated Bib (Final Project)
100 point
_______________________________________________________
TOTAL POINTS
600 points
Grading Scale:
A
AB+
B
B-
93-100%
90-92%
87-89%
83-86%
80-82%
558-600
540-557
522-539
498-538
480-497
E
C+
C
CD+
D
< 60% <360
2
77-79%
73-76%
70-72%
67-69%
60-66%
462-479
438-460
420-432
402-419
360-401
Course Requirements/Assignments
Class Discussions (Participation & Attendance) and Expectations
Active participation is a critical part of the learning experience in this course.
We will explore a variety of issues, some of them quite controversial and complicated. Thus,
it's important that we all respect each other's needs, values, and views. Personal opinions
play a role in class dialogues but do not substitute for a concerted effort to grasp the scholarly
material in the course. Understanding the material does not mean you have to embrace all or
any of the viewpoints represented. However, it does require that you read it, think about it,
and discuss it. Please keep in mind that we address this class from a perspective that assumes
inequality exists.
I will take this time to remind you as adults to respect each other’s opinions and input. If at
any time anyone is disrespectful to any other individual in the class, I reserve the right to
remove posts and address students individually.
But what does class participation look like online?
Every week you are required to participate in two ways: you must post questions on the
assigned reading and you must respond to your classmates’ questions on the assigned
reading. Each class date, you have 24 hour period to complete your posting.
If your last name is A-L, on Day One of the week you will post questions, putting the
shorter articles on conversation with the autobiography. If you last name is M-Z, you are
required to respond to questions, drawing on examples from our readings.
On Day 2, M-Z will post questions and A-L will respond.
Every week, you are responsible for one question AND one response.
If you fail to post questions or responses within the 24 hour period of the date on the
syllabus, you will be marked absent for the day. You lose 5 attendance and
participation points for every missed post. If you do post a question or response but
you do not reference course materials adequately, you will receive half attendance for the
day.
I will also post Lecture Guidelines, power points and internet links with relevant
information for each class period, helping us make connections between texts from class
period to class period. You are expected to draw on this material in your discussion posts
(questions or responses) as well as your writing assignments. I recommend that you read
the Lecture Guidelines before your begin your discussion posts. If you rarely draw on
the Lecture Guidelines, your attendance and participation grade will reflect that.
If you have missed more than seven posts by the date of the midterm, you will
automatically fail the course.
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LATE ASSIGNMENT POLICY:
+LATE JOURNAL ASSIGNMENTS AND ARTIFACT WRITE-UPS ARE NOT
ACCEPTED. IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR ARTIFACT WRITE-UP DAY, LET
ME KNOW AT LEAST ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE. IF YOU MISS YOUR
PRESENTATION AND HAVE A DOCUMENTED EXCUSE, YOU WILL BE
ALLOWED TO MAKE UP.
++ FOR YOUR TWO PAPERS/RESEARCH PROJECTS, 10 POINTS WILL BE
DEDUCTED FOR EVERY 24 HOUR PERIOD (EVEN IF IT IS JUST 1 HOUR LATE)
THE ASSIGNMENT IS LATE. IF YOUR FINAL PROJECT IS NOT IN BY THE TIME
THE GRADES ARE DUE TO THE REGISTRAR, YOU WILL TAKE A 0 FOR THAT
ASSIGNMENT.
+++ LATE MIDTERM AND FINAL EXAMS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Artifact Presentation and Write-Up
1. SIGN UP FOR A WEEK IN WHICH YOU WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT.
2. Post a link to your artifact (or a scanned document or a brief description) by Monday
at 5 pm on your posting week (or a scanned document or a brief description) on our
Carmen site under the discussion forum “Cultural Artifact Archive”. Include discussion
questions or themes that you want us to think about in relation to the artifact. This
Artifact must relate to women’s health in some way; it does not need to relate to that
week’s topics. 10 pts
3. During the semester, please respond to at least three artifacts of your classmates. Do
this by Thursday at 5 pm the week of the posting. 15 pts
4. By the Monday after your artifact (7 days exactly from your posting) , use the Dropbox
on our Carmen site to submit a 350-500 word analysis of your artifact using an aspect of
our class readings. When possible, please also reflect on your classmate’s responses to
your artifact (or lack of responses…) 25 pts
During the first week of class, I will post a sign up sheet. EVERYONE is required to sign
up for a presentation date. Presentations begin WEEK 2.
Journals
You will be required to turn in 10 journals throughout the semester (see your schedule
for due dates). You will notice on the schedule, there are only 12 due dates for these
journals. YOU MAY PICK 9 OF THE 12 JOURNAL ASSIGNMENTS (IN OTHER
WORDS, YOU CAN SKIP 3!). You will also need to do a creative journal assignment.
Please see below. Length of these 9 journal entries will depend on the type of
assignment/prompt provided for that week but should be between 1-2 pages. Please use
the journal assignments to address course readings, whether or not the prompt
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explicitly states so. Journals are due in class; please have a hardcopy to submit as I will
often ask you to draw on your writings in our class discussions.
Creative Journal Assignment: In addition, you will do one more journal on ANY issue
related to women’s health, whether we covered it in class or not. This journal entry can
be as long or as short as you see fit and can be written in journal style, poetry, or even
sketched or photographed if you are visually-inclined (though you must include a
paragraph of explanation). The only requirement for the Creative Journal is that it be
thoughtful and in reference to a piece of course-reading or an overall course theme. It is
also due BY the WEDNESDAY of the last week of class, as noted below.
Midterm and Final Exams
I’m not super pumped about giving exams because I don’t believe they are the most
effective way to find out if you are absorbing class material. BUT because this class
draws on a breadth of women’s health issues, and I want to make sure you can speak to
this breadth, I will give you two exams. These will be five short-answer questions, which
you will have 24 hours to complete and post in dropbox. You are, of course, welcome to
draw from course readings while you take this exam; it is not meant to trick you! Your
two exams are meant to give you an opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of your
understanding of women’s health issues; your memoir paper and research bibliography
are meant to give you the opportunity to explore one or two issues in depth based on your
own interests.
Memoir Project Paper (100 points) Due at Mid-Term
It’s really important that we be able to understand women’s health from the point of view
of women and their lived experiences. This semester we’ve been able to read short
articles and excerpts written by feminists, many of whom have had personal experience
with the health issue they are writing about. This assignment is meant to give you the
opportunity to delve into one women’s health issue more in depth from one subjective
perspective. You will choose a memoir formally via a Carmen discussion posting, read,
analyze, and connect it to course readings in a 5-7 page paper due at the end of Spring
Break No outside research is required for this paper. See handout for more details.
Annotated Bib (Final Project)
Annotated Bibliographies are the first step in any long research paper. I will NOT be
asking you to write a research paper for this class but I will ask you to research a
women’s health topic of your choice using peer-reviewed journals. The topic can be
medical, social science, based in the humanities, or truly interdisciplinary.
Step 1: You will propose a research question.
Step 2: You will explore what kinds of journals on our library database are best-suited to
address your research question.
Step 3: You will begin finding article.
Step 4: Annotate each article—which basically means providing a shory summary in your
own words. See Handout for more details on what an annotation looks like.
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Step 5: Repeat 4 times for 4 citations and annotations.
(20 pts per citation and annotation)
Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism
As defined in University Rule #3335-31-02, plagiarism is “the representation of another’s
works or their ideas as one’s own; it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or
paraphrasing of another person’s work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of
another person’s ideas.” Plagiarism is one of the most serious offenses that can be
committed in an academic community; as such, it is the obligation of this department and its
instructors to report all cases of suspected plagiarism to the Committee on Academic
Misconduct. After the report is filed, a hearing takes place and if the student is found guilty,
the possible punishment ranges from failing the class to suspension or expulsion from the
university. Although the existence of the Internet makes it relatively easy to plagiarize, it
also makes it even easier for instructors to find evidence of plagiarism. It is obvious to most
teachers when a student turns in work that is not her or his own; plagiarism search engines
makes documenting the offense very simple.
-Always cite your sources (your TA or your professor can help you with this)
-Always ask questions before you turn in your assignment if you are uncertain about what
constitutes plagiarism
-Always see your TA or professor if you are having difficulty with an assignment.
To preserve the integrity of OSU as an institution of higher learning, to maintain your own
integrity, and to avoid jeopardizing your future, DO NOT PLAGIARIZE
Schedule of Class Meetings
All readings must be completed by class time on the date listed in the syllabus.
The following is a tentative schedule; I might change readings, due dates, or assignments.
It is your responsibility to make sure that you are aware of changes, handouts, and any
other issues or information related to this course.
ALL PAGE NUMBERS REFER TO THE TEXT BOOK, ISSUES IN WOMEN’S
HEALTH, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
Week One
Mon, 1/6
Wed, 1/8
Welcome to Issues in Women’s Health
* Introduction to Issues in Women’s Health/Course Requirements
*Handout: Black Women’s Health Project Mission Statement
Women and Cancer: What Happened to the Politics?
*Cht 13 Intro: Politics of Disease, Prevention and the Environment
(pgs 657-659)
* Lorde: “Power vs. Prosthesis” (660-664)
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*Arditti and Schreiber: “Breast Cancer: The Environmental Connection”
(665-671)
*Arditti: “rGBH Campaign in Massachusetts” (671-672)
*Alexander: “Avoiding the Personal Responsibility Trap” (709-711)
Film Selection: Pink Ribbon, Inc.
Week Two
Women & the Health Care System
Mon, 1/13
* “Introduction,” Chapter 1 (pgs. 1-3)
*Halas: “Sexism and Women’s Medical Care” (4-8)
*Johnson: “Pro: Women’s Health Developing a New Interdisciplinary Specialty” (10-14)
*Harrison: “Con: Women’s Health as a Specialty: A Deceptive Solution (14-20)
*Hunt: “How to Tell Your Doctor a Thing or Two” (20-24)
*Kapsalis: “Cadavers, Dolls and Prostitutes” (27-36)
*Martin: Medical Metaphors (Carmen)
Weds, 1/15
DUE: JOURNAL 1
*Ruzek: The Woman’s Health Movement in the United States” (41-46)
*Body and Soul: Clinic Culture and the Radical Health Movement
(Carmen)
*Whelan and Pincus: “Crossing Cultural Borders with Our Bodies,
Ourselves” (52-56)
*Davis: “How Feminism Travels Across Borders (56-57)
*Davis: “Transnational Knowledge, Transnational Politics” (58-65)
Our Bodies, Our Selves In-Class Activity
Week Three
Inequalities and Health
Mon, 1/20
* Chapter 2 Intro (pgs. 83-86)
*Lorde: “Age, Race, Class Sex: Women Redefining Difference” (87-91)
*Lorde: “There is No Hierarchy of Oppression” (91-92)
*Seely: “Racism” (92-96)
*AMA: “What are Health Disparities?” (101-103)
* Gamble: “Under the Shadow of Tuskeegee” (111-116)
*Glasford and Huang: “Immigrant Women’s Health” (123-127)
*Feinberg: “Trans Health Crisis” (127-130)
*Rytilahti: “Financially Vulnerable” (131-134)
*Winbush and Crichlow: “Rural Health Care” (134-136)
Weds, 1/22
Women and Disability
DUE: JOURNAL 2
BWHC: “Disability and the Medical System” (137-138)
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*Kim Hall: Reimagining Disability And Gender Through Feminist Studies
(Carmen)
*Rosemary Garland-Thomson: Integrating Disability. Transforming
Feminist Theory (Carmen)
*Abby Wilkerson: Disability, Sex Radicalism, and Political Agency
(Carmen)
Week Four
Medicalization, Marketing, and the Politics of Information
Mon, 1/27
*Body and Soul: Intro (Carmen)
*Body and Soul: The Politics of Sickle Cell Anemia (Carmen)
Weds, 1/29
* Chapter 4 Intro (213-216)
DUE: JOURNAL 3
* Healthfacts: “Overdosed America” (228-229)
*Moynihan and Cassels: “Advertising Disease” (230-237)
*Popkin: “Direct to Consumer Advertising, Abstinence-Only Education,
and Young Women’s Health” (237-246)
*Healthfacts: The Story of Merck and Gardisil (246-248)
*Healthfacts: How to Read a Drug Ad (251-253)
Week Five
Gender Roles and Health
Mon, 2/03
* Intro Chapter 3 (pgs. 145-149)
* Whatley: “Male and Female Hormones Revisited” (167-168)
*Serano: “Coming to Terms” (169-172)
*Beam: “Body” (173-185)
*Klausner: “Exploding the Binary Sex System” (185-188)
*Fausto-Sterling: “The Five Sexes Revisited” (189-193)
*Chase: “U.S. Genital Cutting, the Intersex Movement, and Medical
Double-Standards” (193-203)
*“Designer Vaginas” (Carmen)
DUE: JOURNAL 4
Weds, 2/05
*In-Class Film Orgasm, Inc.
Due: Memoir Selection (post on Carmen)
Week 6
Puberty and Sexuality
Mon, 2/10
DUE: JOURNAL 5
* Intro: Chapter 5 (259-261)
* Frisch: “Puberty and Growing Up” (263-269)
*Teen Voices: “Don’t Just Go with the Flow” (270-274)
*Advocates for Youth: “Adolescent Sexual Health in Europe and the U.S.” (448452)
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*Advocates for Youth: “Effective Sex Education” (451-453)
*Johnson: “The Truth About Your Clitoris” (454-456)
Weds, 2/12
*Intro: Chapter 9 (pgs. 437-439)
*Pastor: “Education for Sexual Intimacy and Agency” (440-447)
*Douglass and Douglass: “The Orgasm Gap” (466-479)
In Class Film Selection: (Sex)Abled: Disability Uncensored
Week 7
Reproductive Justice, Fertility, & Infertility
Mon 2/17
* Intro Chapter 10 (pgs. 503-508)
DUE: JOURNAL 6
*Loretta Ross: “The Color of Choice: White Supremacy and Reproductive Justice”
(5-9-516)
*Ten Reasons to Rethink Overpopulation” (517-519)
*Blumberg: “Reproductive Technology and the Threat to Diversity” (554-557)
*Cohen: “The Market for Yale Women’s Eggs” (571-574)
*Medical Apartheid: Eugenic Control of African American Reproduction
(Carmen)
*Sharon Lamp, W. Carol Cleigh: “A Heritage of Ableist Rhetoric from the
Eugenics Period” (Carmen)
Weds 2/19
* SELECTIONS OF UNDIVIDED RIGHTS (to be divided in class previously)
Week 8
Pregnancy, Birth, & Lactation
Mon, 2/24
DUE: JOURNAL 7
* Intro Chapter 11 (581-582)
*Haire: “The Cultural Warping of Childbirth” (583-589)
*Hyder: “Routine Midwifery Care: Why Not Here?” (589-592)
*Keefe: “Overview of Maternity Care in the U.S.” (592-593)
*Maine: “How do Socioeconomic Factors Affect Disparities in Maternal
Mortality?” (595-597)
*Coburn: “How the Marketing of Breastmilk Subtistutes Undermine the
Health of Babies” (602-607)
Weds, 2/26
Due: Midterm Exam
Week 9
Mon, 3/03
In-Class Film: Business of Being Born
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Weds, 3/05
*Anne Fingers Excerpt (Carmen)
DUE: JOURNAL 8
*Allison Kafer: Debating Feminist Futures: Slippery Slopes, Cultural
Anxieties and the Case of Deaf Lesbians (Carmen)
SPRING BREAK March 11th-15th
Due: Memoir Paper in Carmen
Dropbox 5 pm, MARCH 15th
Week 10
Aging, Ageism, & Mid-Life & Older Women’s Health Issues
Mon, 3/17
DUE: JOURNAL 9
*Read: Black Midwives and Healthcare (Carmen)
* Intro Chapter 12 (pgs. 623-625)
*Sceriha: “The Dreaded Old Woman Fights Back” (628-633)
*Macdonald: “An Open Letter to the Woman’s Movement” (633-634)
*Lock: “Menopause’s Milder Side” (635-637
*Worcester: “Hormone Replacement Therapy: Getting to the Heart of the Politics
of Women’s Health” (637-644)
Weds, 3/19
Researching Workshop in Class
Week 11
Women and Mental Health
Mon, 3/24
DUE: JOURNAL 10
*Selections from Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Dis/Orders(Carmen)
*Selection from Hunger So Wide and So Deep (401-414)
*Selection from Lying in Weight (Carmen)
Weds, 3/26
*Lauren Slater Reading (on Carmen)
*WOC Feminist Therapy Reading (on Carmen)
*Feminist Therapy Cht 1, 59-76 (Carmen)
Week 12
Food, Chemicals, and Women’s Bodies:
Mon, 3/31
* Intro Chapter 8 (377-379)
*Worcester: “Nourishing Ourselves” (380-390)
* Sistah Vegan Readings (on Carmen)
*Worcester: “Fatphobia” (391-392)
*Cognard-Black: “Extreme Makeover: Feminist Edition” (422-424)
*Warbanski: “The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry” (426-429)
Due: Research Question
for Final Project
In-Class Film Selection: A Place at the Table OR Food, Inc..
Weds, 4/02
Women, Violence and Health
DUE: JOURNAL 11
*Useful Community Teaching Visuals (329-331)
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*Worcester: “The Unique Role Health Professionals Can Play in
Recognizing and Responding to Battered Women” (337-339)
*Richie and Kanuha: “Battered Women of Color” (341-346)
*Merrill: “Same-Sex Battering and Domestic Violence Theory” (348-353)
*Courvant and Cook-Daniels: “Trans and Intersex Survivors of Domestic
Violence” (353-357)
*Crenshaw “Mapping the Margins” (on Carmen)
Week 13
HIV: Rethinking Women’s Health in a Global Epidemic
Mon, 4/07
*Medical Apartheid: Human Genome Project and AIDS (Carmen)
Weds, 4/09
*HIV Infection Rates Ohio (Carmen)
DUE: JOURNAL 12
*Pgs 675-676 “Women and the Risks and Burdens of HIV”
*WOC AIDS Overview (on Carmen)
*Cathy Cohen Reading (on Carmen)
In-Class Film Excerpt: Frontline and the Age of AIDS
Week 14
Mon, 4/16
Women Living with HIV
*AIDS Anthology Intro (on Carmen)
*AIDS Anthology Excerpts (on Carmen)
*Marvelyn Brown’s The Naked Truth Excerpts (on Carmen)
*Mavelyn Brown’s Appendix (on Carmen)
Weds, 4/16
FINAL EXAM DUE
DUE: Creative Journal (if you haven’t already passed one in—don’t forget!)
Finals Week: FINAL RESEARCH PROJECTS DUE FRIDAY, APRIL 25TH BY 5 PM
IN THE CARMEN DROPBOX.
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