Women’s Studies 10.1 (#28268)
San Jose State University
Susana L. Gallardo
MW 9-10:15a / DMH167
Spring 2008-09
prof@chicanas.com
Office: DMH 238A
Office Hours: Mon 10:30-noon, Tues noon-12:30pm
http://prof.chicanas.com/ws10/
WS 10: Perspectives on Sex & Gender
This course is a basic introduction to the study of gender and feminist theory. With readings,
films, and discussion, we will explore the relevance of gender studies to various topics in modern
society. We will consider ideas about masculinity, femininity, biology, and gender as a cultural
construct, as well as how these ideas play out in a modern society of inequalities. How does
gender interact with race, class, and sexuality? How does it affect our lives, and the world?
Like many social science arts courses, this class is not about providing hard and fast answers. It
is about raising productive questions about women, men, and gender in a modern world, and
equipping you to articulate your own views in a compelling and thoughtful manner. No
prerequisites are necessary other than an interest in the subject, a willingness to consider new
ideas, and a respect for views other than your own.
Required Texts
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis Available at Roberts Bookstore, 330 S. 10th Street (408) 286-0930
Course Reader available at San Jose Copy, 109 E. Santa Clara Street (@Fourth, one block north
of MLK Library, next to Chevron station).
Course Requirements
Participation:
10%
Informal writing
15%
(one-page papers, study guides, worksheets)
Midterms (2)
50%
Final Exam
25%
I take into account your effort and improvement over the semester. If your final grade is on the
border, improvement can push it up from a B to B+, or B+ to A-.
Attendance
This class relies heavily on your participation. You must be prepared to discuss the readings for
the day assigned. Class participation means bringing the day’s reading to class, arriving on time,
asking and answering questions, and being reasonably respectful of your peers and instructor. If
you do miss class, you are still responsible for turning in assignments before class, and getting
makeup notes from another student.
Participation
The depth of this course depends largely on the strength of your contributions as individuals
from different backgrounds and perspectives. I hope you will participate regularly in class. You
also have the option of participating online by contributing to the class blog at
http://prof.chicanas.com/ws10/. You are invited to post relevant news stories, post-class
WS 10.1 / 1
thoughts, questions, whatever. This blog option is especially encouraged if you are not
comfortable participating in in-class discussion.
Objectives
As a General Education course, this class is intended to develop your writing and critical
thinking skills. This course is designed to meet the D1 General Education requirements:
 Students will be able to identify and analyze the social dimension of society as a context
for human life, the processes of social change and social continuity, the role of human
agency in those social processes, and the forces that engender social cohesion and
fragmentation.
 Students will be able to place contemporary developments in cultural, historical,
environmental, and spatial contexts.
 Students will be able to identify the dynamics of ethnic, cultural, gender/sexual, agebased, class, regional, national, transnational, and global identities and the similarities,
differences, linkages, and interactions between them.
 Students will be able to evaluate social science information, draw on different points of
view, and formulate applications appropriate to contemporary social issues.
You will also hone your web and library research skills in a research workshop.
Academic Integrity
All assignments must be your own original work. Plagiarism defeats the purpose of the
educational process and shortchanges you, your peers, and your instructor as well. Students
suspected of plagiarism will be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs for disciplinary action.
Learn more about what constitutes plagiarism at http://tutorials.sjlibrary.org/plagiarism/
Special Needs
Please let me know as soon as possible if you have a learning or physical disability requiring
specific accommodations. Also for general assistance, please be sure to take advantage of the
Disability Resource Center in Admin Bldg 110 or see http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/
Videos
Videos are regularly scheduled during class time, but can also be seen independently at the IRC
Instructional Resource Center (DMH).
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WS10.1 Course Schedule
Subject to change at instructor’s discretion
Wk
1
2
3
M/W
1/26
Topic
Reading
Terms to Know
Intro / Sex & Gender
---
1/28
2/2
Changing Gender
Norms
Defining Feminisms
2/4
“Bad Hair Days”
“Intersexuals Fight Back”
Johnson, "Patriarchy"
Sen, “Many Faces of Inequality”
sex, gender, “doing
gender,” gender
socialization
Video: Rosie the Riveter
2/9
Gender, Race &
Science
2/11
Gould, "Women's Brains"
McIntosh, “White Privilege”
Emily Martin, “Seed and…”
VIDEO: Race, Power of
an Illusion
4
2/16
2/18
A History of
Feminisms
What issues define
feminism for each of
these writers?
5
2/23
2/25
Defining Masculinity
What does it mean to be
a man? Who gets to
define masculinity?
Friedan, “Feminine Mystique”
Allison, "Question of Class"
Mohanty, "Genealogies"
Pratt, "Who Am I"
Gloria Nelson, “Operating
Engineer”
Selections, She’s Such a Geek
Kimmel "Masculinity"
Messner, "Boyhood Sports"
7
3/2
MIDTERM
3/4
Internet Research
Workshop – Meet in
Industrial Studies 134A
Women & Work
3/9
3/11
8
3/16
Organized sports is a
‘gender
ed institution’…and also a
‘gendering institution…’
Video: Tough Guise
6
social construction,
essentialism, patriarchy,
oppression, privilege
How do gender norms
change? Who can change
them?
objectivity, craniometry,
Race, “race,” ethnicity,
Hoffman’s extinction thesis,
“Just because race is not
biological, doesn’t mean
that it isn’t real”
“feminine mystique,”
voluntary motherhood,
1,2,3 wave feminisms,
liberal, radical, multiracial
feminisms
"He Works, She Works"
Padavic & Reskin, “Work &
Gender
Video: Daddy & Papa
3/18
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wage labor, wage gap,
wage hierarchy,
occupational segregation,
un/productive work, wage
labor, repro/family work,
informal work,
transformational work
* * * * * SPRING
9
10
3/30
Study Day
4/1
Men, Women, &
Domesticity
How does society
discourage men from
taking more active
domestic roles?
Gerson, "Involved Fatherhood"
Mainardi, "Politics of Housework"
Blades & Rowe-Finkbeiner,
“Motherhood in America”
family wage gap, sexuality,
4/6
Gender, Race &
Social Policy
Hartmann & Yi, "Rhetoric &
Reality"
Mink, "Violating Women"
feminization of poverty,
AFDC/TANF, federal
poverty line, “cycling,”
working poor
4/8
11
BREAK * * * * *
4/13
4/15
Gender, Beauty & the
Media
VIDEO: Killing Us Softly
Scott "Fresh Lipstick" &
Wolf, "Beauty Myth"
Objectification,
sexualization of violence
MIDTERM II
12
4/20
Resisting Inequality:
Persepolis
Persepolis, 1-75
Persepolis, 76-end
4/29
Gender & Resistance
Guest speaker: Dr.
Shahin Gerami
5/4
Gender & Sexuality
"When You Meet…," "Hetero
Quiz," & "If It's Not On…"
Violence
VIDEO: Defending Our
Lives
Koestner, “Perfect Rape Victim”
Buel, "Domestic Violence"
4/22
13
14
4/27
5/6
15
5/11
5/13
Course Review /
Exam prep
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Kinsey's continuum,
missing discourse of desire,
coital imperative
Continuum of sexual
violence, five types of rape,
"the average rapist," “This
is my wife,” 63%