COURSE SYLLABUS/ 107-242A INTRODUCTION TO FEMINIST THEORY
Fall term 2004: MW 9:30 – 10:30 plus conference
Professor M. Deslauriers
September
1 Introduction
6 LABOUR DAY HOLIDAY
8 Bartky, “Toward a Phenomenology of Feminist
Consciousness”
LIBERAL FEMINISM
13 Ronald Dworkin, “Liberalism”
15 Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
20 Truth, “Ain’t I A Woman?”
CRITICISMS OF LIBERAL FEMINISM
22 Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist
Statement”; hooks, “Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory”
MARXIST AND SOCIALIST FEMINISM
27
Marx, The German Ideology & “The Premises of the
Materialist Method”;
Avineri, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx.
29 Jaggar, Chapter 10
October
November
December
CRITICISMS OF MARXIST/SOCIALIST FEMINISM
4 Bartky, “Feeding Egos and Tending Wounds: Deference and
Disaffection in Women’s Emotional Labor”
6 MacKinnon, “The Problem of Marxism and Feminism”
11 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
13 Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”
RADICAL FEMINISM
18 Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex
20 Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse
25 MacKinnon, “Difference and Dominance”
CRITICISMS OF RADICAL FEMINISM
27 Harris, “Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory”
ISSUE: WHAT IS A WOMAN? SEX AND GENDER
1 Rubin, “The Traffic in Women”
3 Haslanger, “Ontology and Social Construction”
8 Butler, “Gender Trouble”
ISSUE: WHO IS A WOMAN? FEMINISM, NATIONALITY AND CULTURE
10 Okin, Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?; Honig, “My Culture Made Me Do
It”; Post, “Between Norms and Choices”.
15 Talpade Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders, Chapter 1, “Under Western
Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses”
17 Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: the Capabilities Approach,
“In Defense of Universal Values”.
ISSUE: PORNOGRAPHY
22Dworkin, “Do We Have a Right to Pornography?”
24 Langton, “Whose Right? Ronald Dworkin, Women, and Pornographers”
29 MacKinnon, Only Words
1 Rich, “Taking Women Students Seriously”
3 wrap-up
ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE DUE:
September 29, November 1.
COURSE OUTLINE/ 107-242A INTRODUCTION TO FEMINIST THEORY
Fall term 2004: MW 9:30 – 10:30 plus conference
PROFESSOR M. DESLAURIERS
Office: Leacock 943
Phone: 398-1098
e-mail: marguerite.deslauriers@mcgill.ca
Office Hours: W 10:30 – 12:30
This course is an introduction to feminist political theory. The aims
of the course are to acquaint students with the diversity of feminist
theories, and to introduce some of the issues on which feminists
differ. The first part of the course will consider liberal feminism,
Marxist and socialist feminism, and radical feminism. These theories
all provide some account of the practices that maintain the inequality
between men and women. The various feminist theories differ, however,
both in their analyses of these practices, and in their recommendations
for political change. Some of the questions we will address are: If
we could ensure that women had opportunities equal to those of men,
would we thereby ensure the equality of women with men? Can the
unequal status of women be analyzed as an instance of, or a function
of, some other political or economic inequality? How are we to
understand equality? Does radical feminism offer a viable political
strategy?
In the first part of the course we will also consider feminist theory
that is critical of the main schools of feminist thought, with two aims
in view. One is to see how such criticisms have provoked a recognition
of differences within feminism. For example, the criticisms of liberal
feminism articulated by women of colour make clear that liberal
feminism, at least in some forms, fails to address the inequality
experienced by many women. The second aim is to raise the question of
the differences among women and whether, in light of those differences,
it is possible to come up with a feminist theory adequate to the
concerns of all women.
In the second part of the course we will consider three issues of
concern to feminists: (1) whether there is an important distinction
between sex as a natural category and gender, or whether most, if not
all, of what we attribute to sex is in fact gender; (2) whether there
is a tension between feminism and multiculturalism, and whether the
traditions of feminism in North America and western Europe have
anything to offer women in developing countries; (3) whether feminist
should support restrictions on pornography.
Students should note that while they will not be expected to have any
prior knowledge of feminist theory or political theory, they should be
prepared to read a substantial amount, and to learn how to read, write
and discuss philosophy. Note also that this course is an introduction
to feminist theory and not an introduction to the circumstances that
have given rise to feminist theory. We will begin with two
assumptions: that women do not now enjoy equality with men, and that
this is neither a natural nor a necessary state of affairs.
TEXT: A required reading package will be available at the Word
Bookstore, 469 Milton Street. COURSE REQUIREMENTS: One exercise in
defining terms (30%), one exercise in analysis (30%), one take-home
exam (40%).
POLICY ON EXTENSIONS: No extensions will be granted without an
appropriate medical note. Late work will be penalized at the rate of a
third of a grade per calendar day past the due date. For example, a
paper that is evaluated as a B, if one day late, will be assigned a
grade of B-; the same paper, if two days late, would receive a C+.
McGill University values academic integrity. All students must
understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and
other academic offences under the code of student conduct and
disciplinary procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more
information).