WS/AC 240: INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S STUDIES
Winter 2009 Angell Hall Aud 3, 2:00-4:00PM, Mondays and Wednesdays
Instructor: Lynn Verduzco-Baker (Women’s Studies & Sociology)
Office: 2200 Lane Hall
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesday 11:00am – 1:00pm & by appointment.
“Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression.” --bell
hooks (2000) Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics.
ABOUT THE COURSE
Welcome! This course provides an introduction to the study of women and gender in the US from
a feminist perspective. Our readings will range across a wide body of feminist scholarship in order
to familiarize you with key questions, theoretical tools, and issues within the field of women and
gender studies. The course aims to sharpen your critical awareness of how gender operates in
institutional and cultural contexts, in your own life, and in the lives of others different from you.
Two questions are central to our studies: How is gender created and maintained through social
practices (for example, the way we raise children or create our identities)? How do these gendered
social practices intersect with other social categories, such as race and ethnicity, social class and
sexuality? Most of the course materials are drawn from the US context; however, several weeks’
readings and lectures will introduce you to feminist work in other parts of the world and
transnationally.
By the end of the course, you will have learned how to apply a range of analytic tools to contexts
and issues in the world around you in order to understand how gender, race, class and sexuality are
shaping and being shaped by social and institutional phenomenon. You will also have a deeper
understanding of the ways in which feminist activism seeks to address gender issues and an
awareness of the pitfalls feminists (and non-feminist activists) must avoid in order to create social
change that does not give some groups new freedoms at the cost of other groups.
CLASS STRUCTURE & STUDENT PARTICIPATION
Although there will be short lectures at the beginning of each class, the majority of class time will
be spent in discussion of the topic and readings and in activities designed to help you understand,
synthesize and apply what you have learned. So, you will participate in small and large group
conversations and activities which will provide you with opportunities to ask questions, explain
your ideas and challenge yourself to understand the concepts in more depth. This class is intended
to stimulate a personal interest in the material and challenge you to think critically about race and
ethnic issues once the course is over, therefore, it is very interactive.
A portion of your grade in this class will be based on your verbal participation (i.e., your
contributions to the discussions and activities). This means that if you are absent from class, arrive
late or leave early, you cannot earn participation points (and cannot make them up later). I realize
that some students are uncomfortable speaking in front of a large group, therefore, activities will
often include both small group and large group components to ease those students’ discomfort. If
you feel you are not able to participate in class discussions, see me by the second week of class so
that we can create an alternative way for you to participate in class discussions.
By taking careful lecture notes, reading the course material and actively engaging in class
discussion and activities, you will be more successful in this course. Coming to class ready to
discuss the week’s topics (and remember: questions are just as valuable as answers!) will help
everyone understand these difficult subjects better and, therefore, do better on exams and
assignments.
Also, I strongly encourage you to attend office hours at least once during the term to ask questions
or discuss class material, exams and/or your progress in the course. I am here to help!
Attendance is mandatory. An excused absence is one that is occasioned by illness or another
unavoidable circumstance. Please notify me as soon as possible (preferably before missing class)
via email about excused absences. If your absence is caused by an illness or athletic event, please
provide me with a note from your doctor or athletic director. If you expect to have an excused
absence (e.g., religious holiday, scheduled athletic event, performance, etc), notify me within the
first 2 weeks of class.
GRADING
10%
25%
25%
40%
Participation in class discussion/activities
Media Analysis Paper
Praxis Group Project
Exams (2 Exams-20 % each)
Participation:
I expect students who participate well to ask questions (yes, questions count!) and to contribute
comments that show they are keeping up with the material. I will circulate among small discussion
groups not only to offer my assistance but also to understand who is actively engaging with the
material. Simply being present is not enough! Occasionally you will be assigned short, informal
assignments that are intended to help you engage with the readings and to apply what we have
been learning. These assignments may be reading response journals (posted onto the course site)
in which you respond to what you’ve read, for example: make connections between the reading(s)
and your own life experiences, point out parts that are confusing to you, discuss something in the
reading(s) that surprised or challenged you and/or make a connection between something you’ve
read or learned and a current issue in the news.
Media Analysis Paper
You will choose an “object” from popular culture (e.g., news issue, magazine spread,
advertisement, television show/series, film, online images, videos, etc.) to analyze for this paper.
Using the theoretical and analytical tools you acquire in class, you will 1) present your idea to
class which will allow you to start thinking about how you will analyze this “object” and get your
peers’ feedback and ideas and 2) write a 5 page essay that uses the theories and concepts you have
learned in class to unpack the gender, class, sexual and racial norms evident in the “object”.
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Praxis Group Project:
This project is designed to help you think about how feminism informs everyday, real world
activities, spaces, and organizations. It will help you to explore the role of feminist praxis outside
of class and to utilize the theoretical tools you learn in class in another context. I hope that at the
end of the semester, your working team will be able to give our class a broad sense of the range of
ways in which women (and men) are changing the world.
For this project you will form a “working team” of 2-3 students from class. Over the course of the
semester your team will develop a project that explores the ways in which feminist theory is
connected to feminist action by choosing one of several project types: critically examine an
organization or set of organizations that address(es) a particular gender(ed) issue; conduct your
own activist action; or conduct a survey of how a particular issue is being addressed across the
world. You will use the concepts we have learned in class to explain how your own activist action
or the work of organizations you researched are incorporating (or not) feminist theories. Your
group will present your findings to the class at the end of the term as well as submit a portfolio of
the components of the project (proposal, 4-5 page paper describing your project, methodology and
findings, bibliography, and, if relevant, interview questions, etc.).
Exams:
Exams will be short answer (you will be asked to define and explain the significance of key terms
and concepts from lectures and readings) and essay questions. Exams will not be cumulative,
however, keep in mind that the topics throughout the course overlap and remain relevant.
Required Readings:
•
Textbook: Feminist Frontiers, 8th Ed. Verta Taylor, Leila J. Rupp, Nancy Whittier ISBN
0073404306 /9780073404301. This book is available at Shaman Drum bookstore (311-315 South
State St., 734.662.7407). The list price of the text is $75, but you may be able to used copies for
less. Please note that the 8th edition is the most current version of this text, and we’ve chosen to
assign it to maximize the resale value of your textbook.
•
This text is also available as an e-textbook (a downloadable version that expires after one
year) for a reduced price ($38.75) at: http://coursesmart.com/
•
There are also occasional supplemental readings available on CTOOLS, as noted in the
schedule below. You are expected to bring your textbook and/or your notes from the readings to
discussion section every week. There is also a Ctools site for this course that will include materials
such as handouts, lecture outlines, descriptions of assignments, and readings that are not in the
textbook.
LATE ASSIGNMENT POLICY
All assignments are due at the beginning of class time unless otherwise noted.
Late assignments lose 1/3 of a grade for each day late, e.g., if your paper is graded as an A- but it
is one day late, you will receive a B+. Assignments will not be accepted more than three days late.
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EXPECTATIONS
The subject matter of this course provokes thought; it can also evoke passion and emotion.
Consequently, we must lay some ground rules*:
 Focus comments on ideas from course texts. This class is an opportunity to discuss
IDEAS, particularly those ideas we will read about in the assigned materials and hear
during lectures. Please focus your comments on those ideas.
 Offer respectful comments and evidence to support arguments or positions. Since everyone
is required to speak and share ideas, it is important that we feel safe doing so. Therefore,
respectful comments and body language are crucial (and expected). Debate (and
disagreement) is productive and welcome; however, it must be conducted professionally
through the use of evidence and well constructed arguments rather than personal attacks.
 Actively engage in the discussion. Actively listen when you are not speaking; the class will
be more interesting as a result! Talking privately during discussions is distracting and
disrespectful.
*NOTE: Anyone unable to follow these policies may be asked to leave the classroom and will not
receive participation points that day.
OTHER POLICIES & PROCEDURES
Special Needs: If you seek accommodations for a documented special need, please see me,
preferably within the first two weeks of the term so accommodations can be made.
Electronics: Turn off cell phones. Laptops will be allowed in class, however, I reserve the right to
ban them if students are unable to refrain from using them to check facebook, read/send email, etc.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is using another author’s (or person’s) words or ideas in your work without
crediting him or her. When you fail to supply quotation marks for exact quotations, or fail to cite
the sources of your ideas, or adopt the phrasing of your sources without references or credit, you
are plagiarizing.
At times you will incorporate other texts (written, verbal or virtual) into your writing. When your
work includes ideas or words from someone else, you must provide references and citations for the
sources. We will talk more about how to do this in class. Please remember: if you are in doubt
about how (or whether) to cite a source, ask me! If you haven’t already, please read the section on
“Academic Misconduct” in the manual LSA publishes for undergraduates. It is online:
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/student_services/manual/student.html
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SCHEDULE OF READING AND LECTURE TOPICS
Please do the reading listed for each week before you come to class.
WEEK 1
Introduction to the course
Introduction, pp 1-3
Hooks, b. 2000. Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Cambridge, MA: South End
Press. Ch 1 Feminist Politics – where we stand. (pp. 1-6) CTOOLS
To interpret the world and change it: Women’s studies and feminism
Frye, M. (2004). “Oppression”. In L. Richardson, V. Taylor, & N. Whittier (Eds.) Feminist
frontiers, 6th ed (pp. 6-8). Boston: McGraw Hill. CTOOLS
13. Feminist Consumerism and Fat Activists: Grassroots Activism and the Dove ‘Real Beauty’
Campaign, Judy Taylor 127
Duncan, Barbara. 2005. “Searching for a Home Place: Online in the Third Wave.” In Different
Wavelengths: Studies of the Contemporary Women’s Movement.” New York: Routledge: 161-178.
WEEK 2
What do we mean by “gender”? Elizabeth Cole
Pollit. 1995. “Why Boys don’t play with dolls.” In NY Times, October 8, 1995, CTOOLS
6. "Night to His Day": The Social Construction of Gender, Judith Lorber 53
37. The Bare Bones of Sex, Anne Fausto-Sterling 407
5. The Blind Man’s Harley: White Canes and Gender Identity In America, Catherine Kudlick 39
Racial Diversity Among Women
Williams, Patricia J. 1996. “My best White friend: Cinderella Revisted.” In Callaloo, 1: 809-813
CTOOLS
38. "A Way Outa No Way": Eating Problems among African-American, Latina, and White
Women, Becky Wangsgaard Thompson 421
19. "We Don't Sleep Around Like White Girls Do": Family, Culture, and Gender in Filipina
American Lives, Yen Le Espiritu 193
2. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh 12
WEEK 3
Intersectionality
Hurtado, A. 1989. “Relating to privilege: Seduction and rejection in the subordination of White
women and women of color.” In Signs, 14: 833-855. CTOOLS
9. Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism, Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton
Dill 89-95
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3. Frontlines and Borders: Identity Thresholds for Latinas and Arab American Women, Laura M.
Lopez and Frances S. Hasso 20-39
BOX: Feminism and Disability Studies, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson 95
The Combahee River Collective. 1995. “A Black Feminist Statement.” In Words of Fire. Ed.
Beverly Guy-Sheftall. New York: New Press, 232-240.
WEEK 4
History of the US Women’s Movements
51. The Women's Movement: Persistence through Transformation, Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier,
and Cynthia Fabrizio Pelak 556
Thompson, B. 2002. “Multiracial feminism: recasting the chronology of second wave feminism.”
In Feminist Studies, 28: 337-360. CTOOLS
Mack-Canty, Colleen. 2005. “Third Wave Feminism and Ecofeminism: Reweaving the
Nature/Culture Duality.” In Different Wavelengths: Studies of the Contemporary Women’s
Movement.” New York: Routledge:195-211.
Coalitional Politics
Reagon, Bernie Johnson. 1983. “Coalition Politics: Turning the Century.” In Home Girls: A Black
Feminist Anthology. Ed. Barbara Smith. New York: Kitchen Table Press: 356-368.
Smith, Andrea. 2006. “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking
Women of Color Organizing.” In The Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology. Ed. INCITE!
Women of Color Against Violence. Boston, MA: South End Press, 2006: 66-73, 279.
Lee, Jee Yeun. 1995. “Beyond Bean Counting.” In Listen Up: Voices From the Next Feminist
Generation.” Ed. Barbara Findlen. Seattle: Seal Press: 205-211
WEEK 5
Sexuality
33. Trading on Heterosexuality: College Women’s Gender Strategies and Homophobia, Laura
Hamilton 359
34. Black Sexual Politics, Patricia Hill Collins 375
35. Loving Women in the Modern World, Leila J. Rupp 389
21. Learning from Drag Queens, Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor 223
8. Transgender Feminism: Queering the Woman Question, Susan Stryker 83
Martin, Karin A. 2009. “Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions, Talk, and
Strategies with Young Children.” In American Sociological Review, Vol. 74 (April): 190–207.
CTOOLS
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WEEK 6
Midterm
Gendered Constructions of Class
Bettie, Julie. 2000. “Women without Class: Chicas, Cholas, Trash, and the Presence/Absence of
Class Identity.” In Signs, Vol. 26 (1) (Autumn, 2000): 1-35.
Sittenfeld, Curtis. “Parents' Weekend.” In Prep: A Novel. New York: Random House: 167-206.
Moraga, Cherrie. 1981. “La Guera.” In This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women
of Color. Ed.. Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. Latham, NY: Kitchen Table Press: 27-34.
Clips from video People Like Us (during class)
WEEK 7
Global/transnational Feminisms
10. Feminism Without Borders, Chandra Talpade Mohanty 97
46. The Globe Trotting Sneaker, Cynthia Enloe 512
47. Forced to Choose: Beyond the Voluntary/Forced Prostitution Dichotomy, Jo Doezema 517
48. Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism
and Its Others, Lila Abu-Lughod 527
BOX: Fourth World Conference on Women Beijing Declaration 614
WEEK 8
Women, Sports & the Media
Nauen, Elinor. 2008. “A sporting chance: Title IX and the seismic shift in women's sports.” In
America 20 (Oct. 2008): 15+.
Davis, Kathryn. 2003. “Teaching for Gender Equity in Physical Education: A Review of the
Literature.” In Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, Vol. 12 (2): 55.
Krane, Vikki. 2001. “We Can Be Athletic and Feminine, But Do We Want To? Challenging
Hegemonic Femininity in Women's Sport.” In Quest, 53(1): 115.
Cooky, Cheryl, et. al. 2010. “It’s Not About the Game: Don Imus, Race, Class, Gender and
Sexuality in Contemporary Media.” In Sociology of Sport Journal, 27: 139-159.
WEEK 9
Marriage
26. Bridal Wave, Melissa Morrison, 291
Kitzinger, C. & Wilkinson, S. 2006. “Genders, sexualities and equal marriage rights.” In Lesbian
& Gay Psychology Review, 7: 174-179. CTOOLS
Edin, K., Kefalas, M. J., & Reed, J. m. 2004. “A peek inside the black box: what marriage means
for poor unmarried parents.” In Journal of Marriage and Family, 66: 1007-1014.
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Motherhood and Reproduction
Bell, Ann V. 2009. “It’s Way out of my League": Low-income Women’s Experiences of
Medicalized Infertility.” In Gender & Society, 23: 688-709.
28. Working at Motherhood: Chicana and Mexicana Immigrant Mothers and Employment, Denise
A. Segura 308
29. Moral Dilemmas, Moral Strategies, and the Transformation of Gender: Lessons from Two
Generations of Work and Family Change, Kathleen Gerson 322
49. The Lady and The Tramp (II): Feminist Welfare Politics, Poor Single Mothers, and the
Challenge of Welfare Justice, Gwendolyn Mink 538
Feminist Media Analysis Paper Due
WEEK 10
Gender and Work
22. Sex Segregation in the U.S. Labor Force, Christine E. Bose & Rachel Whaley 233
BOX: Median Annual Earnings of Full-Time, Year-Round Workers by Education, Race, and
Hispanic Origin, Irene Padavic and Barbara Reskin 242
24. The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of Bodies and Emotions in Korean ImmigrantOwned Nail Salons, Miliann Kang 253
BOX: The Realities of Affirmative Action in Employment, Barbara Reskin 266
25. Maid in L.A., Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo 269
Andronici, J. 2007. “Court gives OK to unequal pay.” in Ms., 17(3): 37-39. CTOOLS
National Committee on Pay Equity Q&A, available here: http://www.pay-equity.org/infoQ&A.html
WEEK 11
Gender and Violence
42. Fraternities and Rape on Campus, Patricia Yancey Martin and Robert A. Hummer 471
44. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of
Color, Kimberle Crenshaw 484
BOX Understanding Sexual Harassment: A Primer for Dudes, Silvana Naguib 482
45. Sex and War: Fighting men, comfort women, and the military-sexual complex, Joane Nagle
494
BOX Femicide in Juarez, Pheona Donohoe 525
WEEK 12
Masculinities
11. Masculinities and Globalization, R. W. Connell 103
18. What are little boys made of? Michael Kimmel 187
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36. "Becoming 100% Straight, Michael A. Messner 400 Williams, P.J. (1996).
“Meditations on Masculinity”. In Callaloo, 19: 814-822. CTOOLS
Berger, M., Wallis, B., & Watson, S. Eds. 1995. Constructing Masculinity. Introduction. New
York: Routledge. CTOOLS
Sedgwick, E.K. 1995. “Gosh, Boy George, you must be awfully secure in your masculinity!” In
Berger, M., Wallis, B., & Watson, S. Eds. (1995) Constructing Masculinity (pp. 11-20). New
York: Routledge. CTOOLS
WEEK 13
Gender and Health
41. Welcome to Cancerland, Barbara Ehrenreich 467
Metzl, J.M. 2003. “Selling sanity through gender.” In Ms, 13(3): 40. CTOOLS
Stern, Alexandra Minna. 2005. “Sterilized in the Name of Public Health: Race, Immigration, and
Reproductive Control in Modern California.” In Journal of American Public Health, 95 (7): 112838.
Praxis Project Presentations
WEEK 14
Visions of a feminist future Elizabeth Cole
52. Feminists or "Postfeminists"? Young Women's Attitudes toward Feminism and Gender
Relations, Pamela Aronson 572
54. Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?, Cathy
Cohen 596
BOX: The Masters Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, Audre Lorde 38
BOX: Transform the World: What You Can Do With a Degree in Women’s Studies, Nikki
Ayanna Stewart 583
Naples, Nancy A. 2005. “Confronting the Future, Learning From the Past: Feminist Praxis in the
Twenty-First Century.” In Different Wavelengths: Studies of the Contemporary Women’s
Movement.” New York: Routledge: 215-235.
Praxis Project Presentations
Praxis Portfolios Due
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