1 Sociology 216: Gender and Society
Tuesday and Thursday, 5:00 p.m. – 6:20 p.m., Annenberg Hall G21
Instructor: Christine Wood (c-wood@northwestern.edu)
This course introduces students to core themes in the social-scientific analysis of gender. This
course examines the creation and reproduction of gender identities, gender ideologies, and genderbased social institutions. A central focus of the course is on the construction of gender and
sexuality as meaningful social categories. We will explore the varieties of ways that scholars have
analyzed gender roles and relations, including social structural, cultural, and biological
perspectives; the intersections of gender, race, and class as social identities; gender and bodies;
gender, power, and sexual violence; gender and sexuality; and the economic and political
circumstances of family life.
COURSE FORMAT
Lecture and class discussion
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Participation and Attendance: 20%
Attendance is mandatory. Students should come to class having read and thought about
the material.
Mid-Term Examination: 40%
I will give a mid-term exam composed of short answer questions in-class on Tuesday,
January 28. For the exam, you are responsible for all material from the readings and
lectures. The exam will ask you to synthesize, analyze, and respond to readings and
lectures.
Take-Home Final Examination: 40%
The take-home final will consist of two essays of 5-7 pages each. The take-home final will
be due on Friday, March 14, in Christine Wood’s mailbox at 1812 Chicago Avenue.
The assignment for the take-home final will be distributed in class on Thursday,
February 27.
2 Schedule of Reading Assignments, Written Assignments, and Exams
Week 1
Tuesday, January 7: Introduction
Thursday, January 9:
Approaches to Gender
Theories
of
Gender:
Sociological
and
Historical
Reading Assignment:
Laquer, T. 1986. “Orgasm, Generation, and the Politics of Reproductive Biology.”
Representations 14, pgs. 1-41.
West, C. and Zimmerman, D. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1:2, pgs. 125151.
Week 2
Tuesday, January 14: Theories of Gender II: Gender and “Sex”
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Chapters 1 and 3 in Sexing the Body.
Thursday, January 16: Understanding the Intersections of Gender and Race
Bederman, G. 1995. “Remaking Manhood through Race and ‘Civilization,’” pgs. 1-44
in Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the U.S., 1880-1917.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images.” In
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, pp. 6996.
Week 3
Tuesday, January 21: Gender and Bodies
Bordo, S. 1990. “Reading the Slender Body.” Pgs. 83-111 in Body Politics, Ed. By Jacobus,
Keller, and Shuttleworth. New York, NY: Routledge.
Gagne, P. and McGaughey, D. 2002. “Designing Women: Cultural Hegemony and the Exercise of
Power among Women Who Have Undergone Elective Mammoplasty.” Gender & Society 16:6,
pgs. 814-838.
3 Thursday, January 23: Gender and Sports
Craig, M. and Liberti, R. 2007. “‘Cause That’s What Girls Do:’ The Making of a Feminized
Gym.” Gender & Society 21:5, pgs. 676-699.
Messner, M. 1989. “Masculinities and Athletic Careers.” Gender & Society 3:1, pgs. 71-88.
Mid-term Review Session.
Week 4
Tuesday, January 28: Mid-Term Exam in Class
Thursday, January 30: Gender and Sexuality I
Chauncey, G. 1995. Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male
World, 1890-1940. New York: Basic Books. Chapters 1 and 3, pgs. 1-29 and pgs. 65-97.
Moore, M. 2006. “Lipstick or Timberlands? Meanings of Gender Presentation in Black Lesbian
Communities.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32:1, 279-305.
Week 5
Tuesday, February 4: Gender and Sexuality II
Pascoe, CJ. 2007. Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Chapter 3,
pgs. 52-83.
Anderson, Eric. 2007. “‘Being Masculine is not about Who You Sleep With…:’ Heterosexual
Athletes Contesting Masculinity and the One-time Rule of Homosexuality.” Sex Roles 58, 104115.
Thursday, February 6: Gender, Power, and Violence
Armstrong, Elizabeth A. and Laura Hamilton. 2009. “Gendered Sexuality in Young Adulthood:
Double Binds and Flawed Options.” Gender & Society 23, 589-616.
Armstrong, E., Hamilton, L., and Sweeney, B. 2006. “Sexual Assault on Campus: A Multilevel,
Integrative Approach to Party Rape.” Social Problems 53:4, 483-499.
Hamilton, L. 2007. “Trading on Heterosexuality: College Women’s Gender Strategies and
Homophobia.” Gender & Society 21:2, 145-172.
4 Week 6
Tuesday, February 11: Gender and Reproduction I
Beisel, N. and T. Kay. 2004. “Abortion, Race, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America.”
American Sociological Review 69, 458-518.
Davis, A. “Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights.” Pgs. 202-221 in Women, Race, and
Class. New York: Random House.
Thursday, February 13: Gender and Reproduction II
Luker, K. 1985. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California
Press. Chapters 7 and 8, pgs. 158-215.
Week 7
Tuesday, February 18: Gender and Work I
Gerson, K. 1986. Hard Choices: How Women Decide about Work, Career, and Motherhood.
Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapters 4 and 5, pgs. 69-122.
Percheski, Christine. 2008. “Opting Out? Cohort Differences in Professional Women’s
Employment Rates from 1960 to 2005.” American Sociological Review 73:3, 497-517.
Thursday, February 20 – NO CLASS
Week 8
Tuesday, February 25: Gender and Work II
Hochschild, A. 1989. The Second Shift. New York: Penguin. Chapters 2, 4, and 5, pgs. 11-22;
35-61; 62-78.
Thursday, February 27: Gender and Work III
Doucet, Andrea. 2004. “‘It’s Almost Like I Have a Job, But I Don’t Get Paid.’: Fathers at Home
Reconfiguring Work, Care, and Masculinity.” Fathering 2:3, 277-303.
Take-home final distributed in class.
Week 9
Tuesday, March 4: Gender and Science
Fox, Mary Frank. 2006. “Gender, Hierarchy, and Science.” Pgs. 441-457 in Handbook of the
Sociology of Gender. Ed. By Janet Saltzman Chafetz. Houston: University of Houston Press.
5 Thursday, March 6: Review and questions session
Week 10
Tuesday, March 11 (Reading Week)
Thursday, March 13 (Reading Week)