WGSS 4375: Women and Visual Culture
Professor Guisela Latorre
Spring 2014
Time and Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays 89:20am
Location: 434 Bolz Hall
Office Hours: TTH 9:30-11 or by
appointment
Office Location: 286 University Hall
Office Phone: 242-7720
Email: latorre.13@osu.edu
Course Description
This course will explore the relationship between women and visual culture, putting
particular emphasis on the fine arts, film, the music industry, mass media, and gaming
culture. Each of these forms of visual culture depends on the construction of women as
visual objects through "the gaze," which contributes to formulations of sexuality, gender,
race and nation. We will explore several theories of "the gaze" and its means of
producing modern identities. Various critical questions will be raised in the course during
the semester: How does the visual differ from other forms of representation when it
comes to portraying women and/or gendered “others”? Can women’s bodies in visual
culture function outside patriarchal discourse? Can “the male gaze” be disrupted or
redirected when women themselves are creating their own images?
Of great interest to us will also be how women of color are particularly vulnerable to the
objectifications of "the gaze." Visual culture has played a critical role in the construction
of stereotypes of Asian, Latina, and Black women. A large portion of this class will then
be spent deconstructing images pertaining to women of color in visual culture. We will
thus arrive at the understanding that “the male gaze” is implicated in the construction of
gendered, racial and colonial hierarchies.
Required Texts
CARMEN Readings.
Requirements
1) Midterm Exam (20%) – This will be an open book exam. You will be asked to write
an in-class essay where you develop your own original arguments and ideas about the
course material from the first half of the semester. Your answer will need to be supported
by information from class lecture, discussion, and readings.
2) Final Exam (25%) – This exam will have the same format as the midterm exam, but
will cover the second half of the semester. In addition to the in-class essay you will also
answer a comprehensive question that asks you to compare or bring together material
from the first and second halves of the semester.
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3) Discussion and Participation (25%) – Thursdays will be mostly dedicated to discussion
and in-class dialogue. It is thus crucial that you complete the assigned readings on that
day in order to prepare for class on Thursdays. You will not be able to pass WGSS 4375
without actively participating in our in-class dialogues and by demonstrating that you
have done the readings.
4) Research Paper on Women of Color and Visual Production (20%): For this paper you
will write a research-based analysis on a current visual production (movie, play, art
exhibition, fashion spread, music videos, etc.) This analysis should focus on the racial
and gender representations in your chosen production. Further details and guidelines for
this paper will be provided during the second week of the quarter.
5) Mini-Presentation (10%): I will assign you one of our readings from the syllabus so
that you can lead discussion on that text. Using PowerPoint, you will outline the main
points of the reading, select images to go along with your presentation and formulate a
series of discussion questions for the class.
Extra Credit
You may earn extra credit in this class by attending one or two events on or off campus
that relate to the topic of women and visual culture. You will then be required to write a 2
to 3-page report on these events. This report, due on the day of our final exam, will need
to include a summary of the event you attend and an explanation of how it relates to our
class. More information will be provided during class lecture and discussion.
Attendance Policy
You are allowed two unexcused absences this semester without affecting your course
grade. I will subtract half a letter grade off your final grade in class for each additional
absence you may incur. For those of you who leave class early or arrive late, you will
earn only partial attendance credit for that day. In addition, you are still responsible for
all the course material you miss during your absences (excused or unexcused.)
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious offense that is strictly forbidden. Use of another's work without
proper documentation, intentional or not, is tantamount to plagiarism and thus
unacceptable. For information on plagiarism and how to avoid it, see the following link:
http://cstw.osu.edu/writingCenter/handouts/research_plagiarism.cfm
Class Discussion Etiquette
As many courses on feminism, gender and ethnic studies do, this class deals with
numerous controversial and sensitive issues that often elicit heated discussion. I expect
that a number of you will disagree with the opinions expressed in the class readings and
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discussion. I certainly expect you to express your honest opinion. Nevertheless, all inclass dialogue needs to happen within an atmosphere of civil intellectual exchange and
mutual respect. Personal attacks, heckling, loud speaking and cutting people off before
they are done talking will not be permitted.
Personal Emergencies
If you experience a personal emergency during this quarter such as a serious illness,
death in the family, accidents and/or other unforeseen circumstances that may potentially
prevent you from completing coursework in this class, please contact me immediately. I
will deal with these emergencies on a case-to-case basis. Be aware, however, that in most
cases you will need to provide documentation for any reported emergency in order to for
me to help you. Note that social events such as weddings, vacations, quinceañeras and
barmitzvahs, to cite just a few examples, are not considered emergencies.
Note on PowerPoint Presentations
I use PowerPoint as a pedagogical tool in almost all my lectures. It is important, however,
that you not misunderstand the function that my PowerPoint presentations have in this
course. These are meant to facilitate in-class note taking by providing you with general
outlines for each lecture. Nevertheless, I do not share my PowerPoint slides outside of
class, nor do I post them on the web. Moreover, it is not sufficient for you to just write
down what is up on the screen because these outlines will merely contain keywords and
ideas that will not make much sense without the oral explanations and discussions that we
will have in class.
Technology Policy
Please turn off all cell phones during class. Texting is strictly forbidden. Laptops, iPads
and tablets are permitted only for the purposes of note-taking and viewing articles
assigned for class during discussion. If I find that you are doing anything else with these
devices during class, you will be automatically deducted one letter grade off your final
class grade.
Class Calendar
Week 1
January 7 – General Introduction
January 9 – Women, Gender and Visual Culture
Week 2
January 14 – The Gaze and the Female Body
January 16 – Discussion
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John Berger, “Ways of Seeing,” in The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, 4952.
Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” in The Feminism and
Visual Culture Reader, 57-65.
Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in
Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” in The Feminism and Visual Culture
Reader, 482-492.
Week 3
January 21 – Art
January 23 - Discussion
 Linda Nochlin, “Why have There been No Great Women Artists?” in The
Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, 263-267.
 Janet Wolff, “Reinstating Corporeality,” Feminine Sentences, 120-141.
Week 4
January 28 – Film – Proposal for visual production paper due
January 30 – Discussion
 Sylvia Harvey, “Woman’s place: the absent family of film noir,” Women in Film
Noir, 22-34.
 Eric Lott, “The Whiteness of Film Noir,” American Literary History, 542-565.
 Brian Gallagher, “ ‘I Love You Too’: Sexual Warfare & Homoeroticism in Billy
Wilder’s Double Indemnity,” Literature Film Quarterly, 237-246.
Week 5
February 4 – Film
 Film Screening – Double Indemnity (1944), starring Fred McMurray and Barbara
Stanwyck, directed by Billy Wilder.
February 6 – Discussion
Week 6
February 11 – Television and Mass Media
February 13 - Discussion
 Marian Meyers, “African American Women and Violence: Gender, Race and
Class in the News,” Critical Media Studies, 95-118.
 John Howard and Laura Prividera, “The Fallen Woman Archetype: Media
Representations of Lynndie England, Gender and the (Ab)uses of U.S. Female
Soldiers,” Women’s Studies in Communication, 287-311.
Week 7
February 18 – Review
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February 20 – Midterm Exam
Week 8
February 25 – The Music Industry
February 27 – Discussion
 Gillian Rodger, “Drag, Camp and Gender Subversion in the Music and Videos of
Annie Lennox,” Popular Music, 17-29.
 Alyssa Robillard, “Music videos and sexual risk in African American adolescent
girls: gender, power and the need for media literacy,” American Journal of Health
Education, 93-103.
Week 9
March 4 – Gaming, Digital Media, and Gender – Outline and bibliography for visual
production paper due
March 6 - Discussion
 Jennifer Jenson and Suzanne de Castell, “An ethnographic study of gender and
digital gameplay,” Feminist Media Studies, 167-179.
 Karla Mantilla, “Gendertrolling: Misogyny Adapts to New Media,” Feminist
Studies, 563-580.
 Claudia Herbst, “Virtual Females and the Sexing of War,” Feminist Media
Studies, 311-324.
Spring Break – March 10-14
No Classes
Week 10
March 18 – Racialized Visions: Asian/Asian-American Women in the Media
March 20 - Discussion
 Gina Marchetti, “White Knights in Hong Kong: Love is a Many-Splendored
Thing and The World of Suzie Wong,” in Romance and the “Yellow Peril”, 109124.
 Eugenia Kaw, “Medicalization of Racial Features: Asian American Women and
Cosmetic Surgery,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 7:1 (March 1993): 74-89.
Week 11
March 25 – Racialized Visions: Latinas on Film
March 27 - Discussion
 Rosa Linda Fregoso, “Lupe Vélez: Queen of the Bs,” in From Bananas to
Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture, 51-68.
 Shari Roberts, “ ‘The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat’: Carmen Miranda, a Spectacle
of Ethnicity,” Cinema Journal 32:3 (Spring 1993): 3-23.
Week 12
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April 1 - Racialized Visions: Black Women and Film – Optional rough draft for
visual production paper due
April 3 - Discussion
 bell hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators,” in The Feminism
and Visual Culture Reader, 107-118.
 Rebecca Wanzo, “Beyond ‘Just’ Syntax: Black Actresses, Hollywood and
Complex Personhood,” Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist History,
135-152.
Week 13
April 8 - Racialized Visions: Black Women and Art
April 10 - Discussion
 Sander Gilman, “Black Bodies, White Bodies: Toward an Iconography of Female
Sexuality in Late Nineteenth-Century Art, Medicine and Literature,” in The
Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, 166-180.
 Lisa Gail Collins, “Historic Retrievals: Confronting Visual Evidence and the
Imaging of Truth” The Art of History, 11-36.
Week 14
April 15- Queer and Transgender Identities
April 17 – Discussion/Review
 Jennifer Reed, “Ellen Degeneres: Public Lesbian Number One,” Feminist Media
Studies, 23-36.
 Patty Jeehyun Ahn, “Harisu: South Korean Cosmetic Media and the Paradox of
Transgendered Neoliberal Embodiment,” Discourse: Journal for Theoretical
Studies in Media & Culture, 248-272.
FINAL EXAM: Friday, April 25, 8-9:45am
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