925 N. Tyndall, one block west of Park Ave.
All students please note: This is a course guide giving
explicit instructions for how to do well and learn the
material covered in this course. Please keep it handy and
refer to it often!
Your course D2L site should also be referred to on at least
a
weekly basis, as new course info. and announcements will be
posted there!
Syllabus
GWS
© Jacky Fleming
GWS 150 B1
Gender and Contemporary Society
GWS
Tier One Credit Fulfillment
GWS
U of A, Fall 2011, Mon & Wed 10 am-10.50 am
Biological Sciences East, Room 100
My Friday Discussion Group Section:
Professor:
Dr. Euler
Office Hours: Mon & Wed 12-2 pm
(& by appt.)
Office: 109D, 925 N. Tyndall
Email: ceuler@email.arizona.edu
Tel. 520-621-2151
Graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs):
Elizabeth Verklan
Office Hours: Mon & Wed 11 am-12 noon
Office: GWS 105B
Email: everklan@email.arizona.edu
Preceptor: Erica Wager
Josh Morrison
Office Hours: Wed. 11 am-12 noon; Fri. 10.30-11.30 am
Office: GWS 112
Email: jmorriso@email.arizona.edu
Email: ewager@email.arizona.edu
(Open office hours are listed for all members of your course team. Please feel free to drop in and see any of us during these times.
We can help clarify concepts, work on your writing, answer questions, and refer you to other on-campus support systems as needed.
Please communicate with us if you start to have difficulties for any reason! If communicating with us via email, please note that due
to increased class sizes it is imperative that you include your last name and this class number (150B1) in the subject line of ALL
email communications to your course team. Thank you! Good luck, work hard, and we hope you enjoy this course!)
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Course Description:
GWS 150 B1 Gender and Contemporary Society
Dr. Euler
Fall 2011
This course is a basic introduction to a fascinating, dynamic and expanding field of scholarly endeavor the study of women and gender in our contemporary world. What’s the difference between studying
women and studying gender? It’s a good question, and it may be trickier than you think. Over the last
200 years there have been many learned publications about “women,” but it is only over the last 30 years
or so that “gender studies” have emerged. For now, let’s answer that the study of gender involves an
examination of the ways in which human societies have used ideas about masculinity and femininity, as
well as ideas about men and women, to create and sustain hierarchical social structures. Human societies
also create or construct hierarchies based on class, race and sexuality, as well as age, disability or
nationality. Gender studies may include critical analyses of how, when and where these
categories/constructions overlap and interact: we call this intersectionality. A study of women is a study
of a group that in most (not all!) cultures and time periods has held a social, economic, political and
religious status secondary to that of men, but it is not a unitary category. It is a group with many faces all
intersected, if you will, by class/race/sexuality AND gender. A study of gender looks at how both
subordination and privilege operate in all these ways, and may, for example, involve detailed research
studies on the social construction of masculinity and ideas about men or transgendered people.
The field of gender and women’s studies has influenced much scholarly work in the social sciences, and
at the higher levels of learning you may encounter many of the terms we commonly use. By the end of
this semester we expect you to learn and be able to define some abstract concepts such as: hierarchy,
patriarchy, discourse and discursive, feminism/s, subjectivity and the subject, agency, social
constructionism (nurture), essentialism (nature), naturalization, identity, colonialism, and of course,
race, class, gender and sexuality. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were asked to write definitions
of these terms for your last quiz!
Scholars have long claimed the right to study any aspect of human existence, and work on gender-related
issues is now common in the ‘hard’ sciences, as well as in sociology, anthropology, classics, philosophy,
literature, humanities, communication, art, business, law and history. A GWS major or minor can now
be combined with many of these. Because my own disciplinary background is in history, about 50% of
this course will be devoted to examining histories of feminism, the basic context without which gender
studies as a field cannot be explained or understood.
Over the last 200 years the main location where issues relating to women and gender were examined in
depth was within the social, political and philosophical movements described as “feminism.” In this
course we will be using the term “feminisms” in preference to “feminism” because there really doesn’t
seem to be one feminism that speaks for all women, but rather that different theorists have articulated
ideas about what it means to be female and male from various standpoints and cultural perspectives.
Feminisms are integral to the study of gender because they usually have as a main focus legal, political,
economic, social and other representational systems relating to gender.
Core Texts:
Estelle Freedman, No Turning Back: the history of feminism and the future of women. NY: Ballantine
Books, 2002. (Ebook. Available for free through the university library website.)
Primary Sources: http://ntb.stanford.edu/resources3-5.html AND http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm
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Most of the other readings will be available on D2L or through the UA library website. Make sure you
are familiar with and can use D2L before the end of the first week of class!!
Classroom Policy on Attendance: Attendance at all lectures and Friday discussion sections is
mandatory for this course, and will constitute 5% of your overall grade. This is potentially an entire grade
category and could make all the difference to you by the end of the semester. You are paying for your
education, so it is up to you to take responsibility for it. A finance whiz told me that missing a lecture was
the equivalent of tossing $50 into the trash! Few have ever received a good grade who didn’t come to
class and take notes! The idea behind the random quizzes is to encourage attendance and regular, weekly
studying. The quizzes may occur unannounced during the lecture or discussion periods.
Classroom Policy on Electronic Screens: None allowed. No phones, no laptops, nada. All notes must
be taken with pen and paper. I’m really sorry about this, I know it may seem strange. However, past
experience has unfortunately confirmed the fact that in large classes, someone is often using their screen
in non-academic ways that can be distracting to others nearby. No one has the right to interrupt someone
else’s learning process......anyone can wait 50 minutes to check their messages....
Learning Goals:
1. Students will be expected to greatly improve their critical thinking and writing skills, and become
familiar with arguments about essentialism and social constructionism as they relate to gender, race, class
and sexuality. They will be able to analyze these arguments in written form.
2. Students will learn to “read for intersectionality,” that is, they will analyze various texts for how
gender, class, race and sexuality actually intersect/interact in practice.
3. Students will learn to properly organize and write essays that are evidenced by academic research, and
they will learn to reference this research appropriately.
Assessments: These are what your grade is based on
ALL assessments must be submitted via D2L. In case of dire emergency or technological
failure, assessments may be submitted via email, but in this case they must be sent with
name of student and class number in the subject line, and copied to the professor and one
Graduate Assistant. Please note that D2L often has problems accepting work if you try to
submit within five minutes of the deadline. Aim for submitting your work at least half an
hour before the drop box closes!!!
Late assignments will not be accepted. This policy is in place to encourage good work
habits. No excuses will be accepted unless in the form of a doctor’s note certifying a
medical emergency. If other than a health emergency, photocopies of verifiable
documentary evidence must be submitted to your TA.
These assessments are designed to help you meet your learning goals for this course.
Your final grade in this class will be based on the following, out of a potential 100%:
1. Discussion Questions: 10% of grade: Deadline: Wednesday 11 pm every week. You will submit a
discussion question based on the readings and/or the lectures. You are expected to read the material
for each lecture BEFORE the lecture, and submit a discussion question about it and/or the lectures for
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that week. You will use the D2L QUIZ link to submit your discussion question. The teaching team will
explore these responses and find questions that can be used in the Friday discussion sections.
Grading Criteria: Has that week’s question been submitted? Is the question relevant to that week’s
reading or lecture? Would the question help others explore that theme on Friday?
2. Attendance at Lectures and Discussion Sections (mandatory): 5% of grade. Starting in Week 2, up
to three absences will be allowed before it affects your grade. One point will be deducted for every
absence thereafter. MAKE SURE you sign the attendance sheet if you are in class.
3. Annotated Bibliography: 10% of grade: Deadline: Deadline: Friday September 9th @ 11 pm.
(End of Week 3) This assignment is given early to enable you to receive feedback on your writing
before the drop deadline of 9/18. Two pages. This is a research skill-building exercise, as well as a
possibly useful exercise for future essays. Pick two books and two peer-reviewed journal articles that
are focused on a narrow theme in gender and women’s studies, and write one paragraph discussing each.
Please consult a member of the teaching team for how to properly narrow your theme, and we will also
discuss this in class. For example, don’t try to do a paper on all women in Mexico! Select a narrower
theme, for example, the history of feminism in Mexico in the 1960s and 1970s (place/time specific).
Other examples: gender representations in 1950s Hollywood Westerns (place/time specific); or 2011
Controversies in Third Wave blogs (again, place/time specific); or, France and the Veil Question, 20002011 (place/time specific); sexual trafficking and female poverty in modern Europe, 1990-present
(place/time specific); physical autonomy, abortion and prostitution in recent feminist thought (no place,
but specific on time and content); Black feminist thought during the Cold War; gender, violence and
social problems in modern indigenous communities (place/time specific); a history of the US policy of
‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ from Clinton to Obama; gay marriage and the cultural fear of femininity in 20th C
US; gender policies and programs in the United Nations since 1947; education and empowerment for
women in modern Nepal; cultural relativism and cliterectomy; 20th C women’s activism in the union
[United Farm Workers, Communication Workers of America, etc]; heterosexuality and the politics of
mutuality; definitions of seduction and rape in the early 21st C West; nature or nurture? women and antiwar work in the 1980s (etc etc; you get the idea; these are only examples). These are also examples of
how narrow your essay themes need to be! (Topic + time + place + min. one intersectional variable!)
You are expected to have two double-spaced paragraphs on each page, each of which describes the a.)
strengths and b.)weaknesses of a particular work and c.) your reaction to it. CORRECTLY cite the work
for a bibliography, then write a paragraph about it. (For clarity and ease of grading all will learn APA
style not MLA style. See attached style guide for examples.) Make a critical, reasoned appraisal!! Write
clearly!! You may also wish to consult the following guide on how to create annotated bibliographies:
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm
Whenever scholars undertake a study of a new topic, they start with creating a bibliography of sources
that might be useful to them. Scholars and professional writers of all kinds learn to give a reference or a
citation for research works in a consistent, legible way. There are style rules for citing research in your
studies and essays. These must be learned and followed for this assignment. See end of syllabus for
specific examples. Work submitted without using this reference style will be marked down! One of the
main points of the exercise is to learn how to cite things consistently.
4. 20% of grade: Essay One
Deadline: Friday September 23 by 11 pm (end of Week 5)
Please see additional guidelines and grading criteria for all essays below!!
5. 20% of grade: Essay Two
Deadline: Friday October 21th by 11 pm (end of Week 9)
6. 20% of grade: Essay Three
Deadline: Friday November 18th by 11 pm (end of Week 13)
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7. 15% of grade: Three random quizzes (5% each), based on the readings, unannounced. You must be
in class or in your discussion group to take these. Since they are to encourage attendance, no make-ups
will be allowed without documentary evidence of the cause of the absence. The quizzes will have
multiple choice questions about the readings and lectures for the previous two weeks. The point behind
the ‘randomness’ is to help encourage you to attend lectures and discussions. That means no info ahead
of time!!
TOTAL: 100% OF GRADE
THERE WILL BE NO FINAL EXAM FOR THIS COURSE
Guidelines for Essays:
Four pages, double-spaced. Student name and class title at top of first page. Title of essay centered.
Include a “Works Cited” or Reference List page at the end – this is not part of the page count. All direct
quotes must have the page number in the reference. Paraphrasing just needs a reference without page
numbers.
Topics: Each of the three essays must be focused on gender (or the rise of a feminist movement) and at
least one other variable: class, race or sexuality. See annotated bibliography assignment for suggestions
on how to sufficiently narrow your topic.Your essay must use sources to help evidence what you are
writing about. These are not just opinion pieces. You must be able to find and cite researchers who have
done work on your theme. You must use one “direct quote” in at least four of your paragraphs. It must
have quotation marks at the beginning and end. Each quote used should be from a different source. You
may use sources we have read in class if relevant, but it is strongly recommended that you do your own
research for these and find your own sources. This is not a set rule, but try to make sure that most if not
all of your sources were published within the last ten years so that you are using more up-to-date
research.
These four-page papers + Works Cited page are designed to inspire engagement with the written material
and develop your writing and reasoning skills – and hopefully library skills as well. Each essay is
expected to have the following minimum number of references:
1. two books;
2. two peer-reviewed academic journal articles;
3. two PRIMARY SOURCES (original writing by people actually involved, not researchers)
Every Works Cited page MUST have these six references and you must use direct quotes from at least
three of them in the essay. All six must be referenced in the essay somehow.
Grading Criteria/Matrix: 100 Total Points will be awarded for: evidence of critical thinking (10);
focused, narrow theme that you stick to throughout (20); good organization of writing (20); clarity of
writing (10); accuracy of spelling and grammar (10); and proper referencing in each paragraph of the
essay (10); inclusion of “Works Cited” page (10), with all references in text matching this list, and this
list matching all references in the text!! (10) Points will be deducted for inaccurate information,
inaccurate referencing, lack of organization, or lack of writing clarity.
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Very Important: You will be expected to follow the APA referencing style pattern for both in-text
references and “Works Cited” references when you submit these essays, or your grade will be negatively
affected.
Referencing Style Systems: Each academic discipline has a slightly different way of referencing
academic research. These systems are designed to enable the next reader or researcher to track down the
references as an aid to their own research. Likewise, other academic writers include accurate references
as an aid to your research! See APA brief guidelines attached to this syllabus.
Grade Appeals: If you really think there was something we missed or should have taken into
consideration in your essay, submit a written request for a grade review to the TA who graded your work.
Your written request MUST include two examples from the grading matrix to justify the review. The TA
will then copy your essay with comments for the rest of the teaching team to also evaluate. PLEASE
NOTE that if we are requested to review any essay there is the risk that your grade may go either up or
down or remain the same following the review. Please make your review request within three days of
receiving your essay back. Grades will not be reviewed after the final day of class.
EXTRA CREDIT!!
Up to five percent of your grade possible! If you do miss a discussion question or quiz for any reason,
you can do extra credit to make up for it. You can do extra credit even if you don’t miss any other
assessments, but just want to improve your grade. See attached form to submit Evidence of
Intersectional Exploration.
Students can attend up to five educational events on campus during the semester which stretch and
expand their understandings of intersectionality, with one point being awarded for each event. (Social
events don’t count.) This syllabus has attached a sample form that you must get signed at the event and
turn in to the TA as soon as possible afterwards so that credit may be awarded. There are so many events
on campus that the D2L Calendar can’t possibly list them all, but we will try to list as many as we can.
For example, all of the following regularly present films, conferences, lectures and outside speakers:
Women’s Resource Center, LGBT Affairs, African American Studies, Native American Studies, Chicano
Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, Sociology, History, Philosophy,
Psychology, etc. Google them and find their UA webpage. Get their calendar of events. You are
responsible for finding out when/where events are happening. You will try to attend events outside your
normal sphere of experience as a way of exploring intersectionality. For example, if you primarily
identify as a white LGBT, don’t just attend all the LGBT events. Go to a film on Middle Eastern Studies
or attend a Native American Studies event. If you identify as male, make sure you attend some largely
women’s events. If you identify as heterosexual, attend some LGBT events. Bridge! Cross over any
usual comfort zones you may have had! These events don’t have to be about gender per se, but must
relate to gender/race/class/sexuality in some way. Also, these events do not have to be limited to those
occurring at the U of A. Ask your professor or TA ahead of time if in any doubt about whether an event
is eligible for credit. On the form you must note any observations about the intersections of
gender/race/class/sexuality that occur to you when you attend or credit will not be
awarded.
Expected Learning Behaviors and Outcomes: Students are expected to help foster a safe,
nonjudgmental, welcoming space where open-minded, challenging learning can take place. Let’s all try
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to make this as comfortable space as possible in which to learn about complicated and sometimes
controversial issues. Students are expected to keep opening their minds to potentially new and disturbing
ways of thinking about the world (so it may not always be comfortable!) Students are expected to read
each week’s material before they get to class. Each lecture has an accompanying reading load of between
20-40 pages, so please schedule a minimum of two hours outside class to accomplish this, per lecture.
This is where the majority of your in-depth learning will take place. Students are expected to attend class,
ask questions, and participate in/contribute to the weekly discussion workshops on Fridays. Students are
expected to take detailed notes during lectures. Students are expected to proactively find out definitions
for words they may not understand. This is your education: only you can make the most of it. Only you
can make the university experience work for you.
This is a Tier One General Education course where you will practice and learn skills to assist you in the
rest of your university career, such as information-gathering and critical reading and thinking about
meaning. Students are expected to significantly improve both their verbal and writing skills over the
course of this semester. If you honestly feel that improvement in these areas is not occurring, you are
expected to take responsibility for your own learning and seek out the necessary resources, such as the
Writing Center (free weekly writing tutoring) or asking questions of your professor and TA after class
and during our open office hours. If you can’t make those hours make an appointment. We will do all we
can to support you, but it’s your education – get everything you can from it and make the university
system work for you! You are the only one who can make that happen. All students are strongly
encouraged to come to office hours with questions and/or problems as often as necessary. Everyone
should try come to office hours at least once over the course of the semester.
Course Policy: Scholars are expected to learn how to discuss and debate material, and to generally treat
each other, with mutual courtesy and respect. Arriving late to class, or being noisy during class, are not
courteous behaviors. No screen time during class: this includes cell phones, the internet, etc. This is
because others often find these activities too distracting, and it detracts from the concentration and focus
needed in class. The course policy of not accepting late assignments is in place to help students learn and
accept the necessity of self-responsible behavior.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: This is a very serious academic offence and can potentially
automatically result in a failing grade. Students have been caught at this every semester, so don’t be
foolish and think you are the one who will get away with it. Cheating is just shooting your own self in
the foot: you never learn what you could have. Plagiarism means you have copied someone else’s work,
or not attributed work to the person who actually did it. This includes copying and pasting from websites
without quoting and referencing the material. If in your writing you quote or paraphrase from any
source other than your own brain, you MUST add a citation/reference letting other scholars know where
you got that information. When in doubt, acknowledge the source. If you have any questions or doubts
about specific instances please consult your professor or TA. Self-plagiarism is submitting the same
paper for more than one class: this is also a serious academic offence.
The UA Library also has a tutorial on plagiarism at:
http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/plagiarism/index.html
Please take personal responsibility for reviewing the University of Arizona’s guidelines and policies on
academic integrity and plagiarism:
http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/policiesandcodes/codeofacademicintegrity#prohibited_conduct
"Plagiarism" means “intentionally or knowingly representing the
words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise.” UA Policy Manual, Section 5-302.
https://azregents.asu.edu/rrc/Policy Manual/5-302-Definitions (Code of Conduct).pdf
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Most college undergraduates will spend a significant portion of their four years in
school working on improving their writing skills. It is a lifelong process! We can
all improve our writing skills, no matter our level of education. The University of
Arizona offers several excellent (and free) services to students who have the desire
to learn to write properly. These include:
The Writing Skills Improvement Program: http://web.arizona.edu/~wsip/
The Think Tank (tutoring, etc.): http://www.studentaffairs.arizona.edu/thinktank/
The Writing Program: http://english.arizona.edu/index_site.php?id=36
If you get a comment on your paper suggesting that you seek out these resources, we have not
said it lightly. We are trying to encourage you to improve your writing because the ability to
write clearly is at the very core of a liberal arts education. If we make the effort to suggest that
you get help to improve your writing, please make the effort to do so.
You may also come into the course team’s office hours to get feedback on essays
at least three days before they are due.
This will NOT be done via email!
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Student Information
Since there are so many students in class, it is hard to get to know everyone. However, if each of you would please fill out
a bit of information about yourselves, and attach a photo of yourself to this form, it will help us get to know you a little bit
over the semester. Thank you!!
NAME:
YEAR:
PLEASE ATTACH
PHOTO HERE
MAJOR:
CLASS TITLE:
Have you ever taken any Gender and Women’s Studies classes before this one? If so, which ones?
Why are you taking this class? Did the title interest you? If so, why? Or are you taking it because you
need the Tier 1 Requirement?
What would do you expect or hope to learn during this course?
What career plans do you have at the moment?
What to you is the best thing about being at university? What do you find the easiest?
What is the worst part about university to you? What is the most difficult thing for you?
What are you currently most passionately interested in in your life?
Would you be interested in learning more about the Gender and Women’s Studies Major or Minor?
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Evidence of Intersectional Exploration
(Please submit this form to receive extra credit)
Name of Student:
Name of Class: GWS 150 B1, Gender and Contemporary Society (Dr Euler)
Name of Event Attended:
Date of Event Attended:
Name of Organizer/Responsible Party:
Signature of Organizer/Responsible Party:
(Please only sign at end of event to evidence student attendance.)
Student Intersectional Observations/Comments:
Evidence of Intersectional Exploration
(Please submit this form to receive extra credit)
Name of Student:
Name of Class: GWS 150 B1, Gender and Contemporary Society (Dr Euler)
Name of Event Attended:
Date of Event Attended:
Name of Organizer/Responsible Party:
Signature of Organizer/Responsible Party:
(Please only sign at end of event to evidence student attendance.)
Student Intersectional Observations/Comments:
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GWS 150 B1: Gender and Contemporary Society Course Schedule
FALL 2011
(Tentative schedule; any changes will be announced in class ahead of time.)
PLEASE DO ALL THE READINGS BEFORE YOU COME TO THE LECTURE!!
SET ASIDE A MINIMUM OF TWO HOURS PER LECTURE
FOR THIS LEARNING TASK.
IF YOU RUN OUT OF TIME, SKIM FASTER.
IT IS POSSSIBLE SOME READINGS MAY CHANGE DURING THE SEMESTER:
THIS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN CLASS AND ON D2L.
Week 1
Aug 22 Monday Course team introductions. Discussion of class size issues, syllabus. Introduction to
Contemporary Gender issues.
Aug 24 Wednesday Introduction to Contemporary Gender issues. Why are we interested in gender and
women? What is this class about? Why an historical approach? What is intersectionality? Short video
featuring GWS scholar.
Aug 26 First Friday discussion workshop. Further review of assessments and course requirements.
Explanation of how office hours work. Explanation of extra credit scheme. Clarify expectations and
policies. Lectures, reading and note-taking. Examples of how to take notes. Accessing D2L and
electronic texts at the library.
Week 2: Begin historical context of gender studies – last 200 years
Aug 29 Monday Early beginnings of modern gender concerns, 1792-1848. What was life like for
women in the West before 19th-century feminist campaigns? What role did ideas about gender play in
establishing social norms?
Finish reading before lecture: Freedman (2002) No Turning Back, “Historical Feminism,” pp. 1-44.
(Ebook)
Aug 31 Wednesday Early history of resistance to gender-based hierarchies.
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Finish reading primary sources before lecture:
Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Ch. 2: The Prevailing Character of a
Sexual Character Discussed. http://www.bartleby.com/144/2.html (First 10 pages only)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott (1848) The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls
Conference, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/senecafalls.asp (All)
Sojourner Truth (1867), Keeping the Thing Going While Things are Stirring,
http://www.pacifict.com/ron/Sojourner.html (All)
John Stuart Mill (1869) The Subjection of Women, Ch. 3.
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/m/mill/john_stuart/m645s/chapter3.html (First 10 pages only)
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Sept 2 Friday Discussion workshop; types of hierarchies (social, political, economic etc); understanding
differential social status; gender, race, class and sexuality as means of constructing social hierarchies.
What have students noticed about hierarchies in their own lives so far?
Week 3
Sept 5 Monday LABOR DAY. NO CLASSES.
Finish reading: Freedman (2002) No Turning Back, “Gender and Power Before Feminism,” pp. 45-72.
Sept 7 Wednesday Early campaigns to promote gender equality.
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read primary sources before lecture:
Frances Power Cobbe (1878) Wife-Torture in England. Contemporary Review, 32 (April), 55-87. (D2L
and U of A library website) (Read pp. 70-80)
Marie Jenney Howe, An Anti-Suffrage Monologue (New York: National American Woman Suffrage
Association, 1913). http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4963/
Mary Church Terrell (1898) The Progress of Colored Women. http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?ammem/murray:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28lcrbmrpt0a13div2%29%29
(First 10 pages)
Mary Ritter Beard (1913) Have Americans Lost Their Democracy? (On the visit of Emmeline Pankhust).
In: Making Women’s History, The Essential Mary Ritter Beard, pp. 85-88. (D2L)
Sept 9 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. Violence against women;
classism (Cobbe), racism and separate suffrage organizing; anti-suffrage arguments about women’s
nature, women’s role; “maternalist feminism.”
**Annotated Bibliography Assessment Due 11 pm
Week 4
Sept 12 Monday 1918-1949: Post-suffrage, post-war work on gender. “Liberal feminism” & “socialist
feminism.”
Read before lecture:
Sheila Rowbotham (1979) Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (D2L extracts)
Sept 14 Wednesday Post-suffrage, post-war work on gender
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read primary sources before lecture:
Clara Zetkin (1922) Organizing Working Women,
http://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1922/ci/women.htm
Simon de Beauvoir (1949) extracts from The Second Sex (D2L)
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Sept 16 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. Analyse intersectionality in
Zetkin and Beauvoir. What is Beauvoir trying to say about how women have been viewed in Western
society? Define/discuss nature/nurture and public/private and how they are related. Define/discuss liberal
and socialist feminisms and their historical relationship.
Week 5
Sept 19 Monday The 1950s: Eleanor Roosevelt and state feminism; women in civil rights movements;
anti-colonial women’s struggles.
Read before lecture:
Freedman (2002). No Turning Back, Ch.2, Race and the Politics of Identity in US Feminism, pp. 73-84.
(Ebook)
Marisela Chavez (2010) “We have a long, beautiful history”: Chicana feminist trajectories and legacies.
Ch. 4 in: Nancy Hewitt, No Permanent Waves: recasting histories of US feminism
Sept 21 Wednesday Beginnings of the “second wave.” Limitations of “wave” analogy.
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read primary sources before lecture:
Betty Friedan (1963) The Feminine Mystique, Ch. 2: The Happy Housewife Heroine (D2L)
Anne Koedt (1968) “Abortion Rally Speech” http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/notes/#abortion
Mary Ann Weathers (1969) An Argument for Black Women’s Liberation as a Revolutionary Force
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/fun-games2/argument.html
Sept 23 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. Compare Beauvoir’s and
Friedan’s ideas about gender. What do they have in common? How do you think they differ? How do
Friedan and Rosen deal with “race” “class” or “sexuality” if at all?
**Essay 1 Due Today 11 pm
Week 6
Sept 26 Monday 1960s “Second wave” feminism: NOW, SNCC, and radical thought and practice.
Read before lecture:
Freedman, No Turning Back, pp. 83-94.
Becky Thompson (2002) Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism.
Feminist Studies 28 (2), 336-360.
Sept 28 Wednesday 1970s: Revolution?
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read primary sources before lecture:
Anne Koedt (1970) The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm
http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/CWLUArchive/vaginalmyth.html
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Shulamith Firestone (1970) The Dialectic of Sex extract (D2L)
Third World Women’s Alliance (1970) Black Women’s Manifesto
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/blkmanif/
Sept 30 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. Defintions: Women, race,
nature, patriarchy; intersectionality.
Week 7
Oct 3 Monday Race, class, gender and sexuality in so-called ‘second wave’ feminism
Read before lecture:
Ulla Taylor (2010) Black feminisms and human agency. Ch. 3 in: Nancy Hewitt, No Permanent Waves:
recasting histories of US feminism.
Oct 5 Wednesday 1970s: Revolution??
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read primary sources before lecture:
Radicalesbians, The Woman Identified Woman (1970) (D2L)
Judy Syfers (1971) Why I Want a Wife
http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/CWLUArchive/wantawife.html
Chicago Women’s Liberation (1971) How to organize your own consciousness-raising group
http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/CWLUArchive/crcwlu.html
Juliet Mitchell (1971) Woman’s Estate (extracts) (D2L)
Combahee River Collective (1978) A Black Feminist Statement (D2L)
http://circuitous.org/scraps/combahee.html
Oct 7 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures; what is “false universalism”?
What kinds of rhetorical strategies were employed by 1970s feminists? What seems old-fashioned and
what seems modern and familiar about their thinking? Can you find examples of intersectionality in their
writings?
Week 8
Oct 10 Monday Understanding gender, race and sexuality in the 80s and 90s
Read before lecture:
Adrienne Rich (1980) Compulsory Heterosexuality (D2L)
Audre Lorde (1984) Sister Outsider, pp. 40-59. (D2L)
Gloria Anzaldua (1983) La Prieta, In: This Bridge Called My Back (D2L)
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Oct 12 Wednesday Conservative backlash after 1980; feminist activism at the United Nations
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read before lecture:
UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (D2L)
Susan Faludi (1991) Backlash (D2L extracts)
Oct 14 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures; what kind of work is currently
happening at the UN on issues like peace, female literacy, trafficking, and human rights?
Week 9
Oct 17 Monday Understanding gender in the 80s and 90s
Read before lecture:
Tina Chanter (2006) Gender: Key Concepts in Philosophy, Ch. 1, pp. 8-30: Formative Moments and
Concepts in the History of Feminism. (D2L)
Bowden & Mummery (2009) Understanding Feminism, Ch 3: Sexuality and Desire, pp. 73-98.
(This reading will lay the groundwork for helping you to have some basic understanding of Wednesday’s
readings, which are challenging.)
Oct 19 Wednesday 1990s Post-modern feminist thought: who or what is the subject?
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read Before Lecture:
(These readings are to expose you to post-structuralist theories of the 1990s, so read them but don’t
worry if you feel like you don’t understand all of it. It is just to give you a sense of what advanced
scholars were doing in the field in the 1990s. These are still some of the most influential theoretical
works in gender studies. The selections are only a few pages long each.)
Judith Butler (1990) Gender Trouble (D2L extracts)
Joan Scott (1988) Gender and the Politics of History (D2L extracts)
Denise Riley (1988) Am I That Name? (D2L extracts)
Oct 21 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. Can we have feminism if we
no longer have women? How does the evolution of gender studies link in to earlier debates and issues in
feminist history?
***Essay 2 Due Today 11 pm!
Week 10
Oct 24 Monday Gender and Race in the 21st century
Read Before Lecture:
(Each selection is just a few pages long)
Andrea Smith (D2L extracts)
Susurro, Indigenous Feminisms, website: http://likeawhisper.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/indigenousfeminism-indigenous-feminism-without-apology/
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Patricia Hill Collins (D2L extracts)
Chandra Mohanty (D2L extracts)
bell hooks (D2L extracts)
Oct 26 Wednesday Gender and Race in the 21st C
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read Before Lecture:
Cristina Tzintzun, Colonize This! pp. 17-28 in: Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman (Eds). (2002)
Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. (D2L)
Pandora L. Leong, Living Outside the Box. pp. 343-356 in: Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman (Eds).
(2002) Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. (D2L)
Ljeoma A. “Because You’re a Girl” pp. 215-229 in: Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman (Eds). (2002)
Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. (D2L)
Oct 28 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures; how are power hierarchies
constructed? Why are they constructed? How does intersectionality and critical race theory (Monday’s
readings) relate to lived experience (Wednesday’s readings)?
Week 11
Oct 31 Monday Gender and Class in the 21st C: feminization of poverty?
Read Before lecture:
Pat Mahoney and Christine Zmroczek (Eds.) (1997) Class Matters: ‘Working-class’ Women’s
Perspectives on Social Class. London: Taylor and Francis, pp. 1-29; 101-108. (D2L)
Barbara Ehrenreich (2001) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, pp. 1-10, 122-150. New
York: Henry Holt and Company. (D2L)
Nov 2 Wednesday Gender/ Class /Race in the 21st C
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read before lecture:
Nancy Hartsock (1998) Marxist Feminist Dialectics for the 21st Century. Science and Society 62 (3), 400413.
Cynthia Levine-Rasky (2011) Intersectionality Theory Applied to Whiteness and Middle-classness.
Social Identities 17 (2), 239-253.
Nov 4 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. In what ways can
intersectionality theory apply to privileged as well as subordinated social positionings? Can Marxist
Feminism still answer questions about gendered relations of labor and capital?
Week 12
Nov 7 Monday Gender and Sexuality in the 21st C
Read Before Lecture:
Aulette and Wittner (2012) Ch. 4, Sexualities, pp. 98-121. In: Gendered Worlds (D2L)
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Chris Ingraham (2005) Thinking straight: the power, the promise and the paradox of heterosexuality.
Introduction AND Ch. 1 by Stevi Jackson, Sexuality, heterosexuality and gender hierarchy : getting our
priorities straight. (D2L)
Nov 9 Wednesday Gender and Sexuality in the 21st C
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read Before Lecture:
Aulette and Wittner (2012) Ch. 4, Sexualities, pp. 122-140. In: Gendered Worlds (D2L)
Meem, Gibson and Alexander, Nature, Nurture, and Identity, pp. 121-149. (D2L)
In: Meem, Gibson and Alexander, Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBT Studies. New York, Sage,
2010. (D2L)
Nov 11 Friday VETERANS’ DAY. NO CLASSES.
Week 13
Nov 14 Monday Gender and Sexuality in the 21st century
Read Before Lecture:
Eve Shapiro (2010) Gender Circuits (D2L extract)
Eric Anderson (2002) Openly Gay Athletes: Contesting Hegemonic Masculinity in a Homophobic
Environment. Gender and Society 16 (6), 860-877.
Nov 16 Wednesday Gender and sexuality in the 21st century
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read Before Lecture:
Catherine Saalfield, (1993) Lesbian Marriage…..(K)Not! pp.187-195 in: Arlene Stein, Sisters, Sexperts,
Queers: Beyond the Lesbian Nation. New York: Penguin. (D2L)
Kate Bornstein (1994) Gender Outlaw (D2L extracts)
Nov 18 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. What is heteronormativity?
How are feminism and gay rights related? Are sexual identities now as important as they were in the
1970s and 1980s? How does feminism relate to issues of femininity or “deficient masculinity” in men?
What does “hegemonic masculinity” mean?
***Essay 3 Due Today 11 pm!
Week 14
Nov 21 Monday Global feminist politics today: a brief introduction to transnational feminisms
In-class handout of guidelines for Wednesday’s online quiz: your own personal intersectional
transnational gender politics platform proposal (1 page)
Read Before Lecture:
Freedman (2002) No Turning Back, The Global Stage and the Politics of Location, pp. 95-119.
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Jan Jindy Pettman (2004) Global Politics and Transnational Feminisms. pp. 49-63 in: Luciana Ricciutelli,
Angela Miles, and Margaret H. McFadden (Eds.) Feminist Activism and Vision: Local and Global
Challenges. London: Zed Books.
Nov 23 Wednesday No face-to-face class; submit online quiz instead. See handout from Monday for
guidelines on this assignment.
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures also due today!
Reading: Jill Vickers and Vanaja Dhruvarajan (2002) Gender, Race, and Nation: A Global Perspective.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 25-63. (D2L) (Please read this even if we are not meeting as a
class.)
Nov 25 Friday THANKSGIVING RECESS. NO CLASSES.
Week 15
Nov 28 Monday Transnational feminisms in the 21st C
Read Before Lecture:
Vandana Shiva (2004) Women: The Custodians, pp. 25-33
AND
Arlie Russell Hochschild (2004) Love and Gold, pp. 34-45 in: Luciana Ricciutelli, Angela Miles, and
Margaret H. McFadden (Eds.) Feminist Activism and Vision: Local and Global Challenges. London: Zed
Books. (D2L, one file – keep scrolling down to find both!)
Nov 30 Wednesday Transnational feminisms: local case study
**11 pm, D2L discussion question on this week’s readings and lectures due today!
Read Before Lecture:
Sylvanna Falcón (2006) "National security" and the violation of women : militarized border rape at the
US-Mexico border.
Rosa Linda Fregoso (2006) The complexities of "femicide" on the border.
Renee Saucedo (2006) INS raids and how immigrant women are fighting back.
Readings 15, 16 and 17 In: INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. Color of Violence: the INCITE!
anthology. Cambridge, Mass, West End Press. (D2L)
Dec 2 Friday Discussion workshop on this week’s readings and lectures. How do transnational
feminisms relate to local border issues?
Week 16
Dec 5 Monday Alda Facio (2004) The Empire Strikes Back But Finds Feminism Invincible, pp. 373385 in: Luciana Ricciutelli, Angela Miles, and Margaret H. McFadden (Eds.), Feminist Activism and
Vision: Local and Global Challenges. London: Zed Books.
Dec 7 Wednesday
Review of Semester. No discussion question due. LAST DAY OF CLASSES.
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