Course Description:
This course is designed to introduce students to selected themes, ideas, and debates to understand women's experience in the contemporary United States. The course begins with a brief overview of the history of American feminism. Focuses on the similarities and differences among the various strands of feminist criticism of American society. In the second half of the course, we turn to such topics as women in the economy, the politics of health care and reproduction, the social construction of sexuality, and the power of gendered imagery in popular culture. In each of these units, the goal is to explore the complex and subtle ways in which larger social forces influence women's lives and to understand how women (and men) have worked to counteract or influence those forces.
Readings:
Golden and Shreve, eds. Skin deep: Black and white women write about race.
Hesse-Biber, Am I thin enough yet?
Schneir, Miriam, ed. Feminism: The essential historical writings, (Schneir vol.I).
Schneir, ed., Feminism in our time, (Schneir, vol. II).
Sidel, Ruth, Keeping women and children last.
Tavris, Carol, The mismeasure of woman.
Photocopied articles (marked with * on syllabus) available from instructors
Week 1: Introduction: What is women's studies? What is feminism? Reading: *Sheila Ruth, Issues in feminism, chap. 1. Introduction: Mechanics of the course. Lecture: Origins of feminism. Discussion: Why women's studies? What is feminism?
Week 2: The first wave: nineteenth century liberal feminism. Reading: Schneir, vol. 1, Adams (2-4), Wollstonecraft (5-16), Grimké (35-48), Declaration (76-82), Mott (99-102), Stone (103-109), Stanton (110-121), Anthony (132-142), Mill (162-178). Lecture: Origins, impact, and limitations of liberal feminism. Discussion
Week 3: The first wave: other forms of nineteenth century feminism. Reading: Schneir, vol. 1, Fuller (62-71), Douglass (83-85), Garrison (86-89), Truth (93-98), Woodhull and Claflin (143-154), Stanton (155-159), Engels (189-204), Bebel (205-211), Gilman (230-246), Goldman (308-324), Woolf (344-355). Lecture: Cultural and socialist feminism.
Hand out assignment for project: Staging a feminist conference in 1900 Discussion
Week 4: Project presentations
No Reading, prepare for oral presentation Video:One woman, one vote (Part I).
Presentation of project, hand in individual conference proposals.
Week 5: Second wave: liberal and radical feminism Reading: Schneir, vol. II, Friedan (48-67), NOW (95-102), Steinem (408-415), Jones (108-124), Redstockings (125-129), Morgan (148-159), Radicalesbians (160-167), Millett (229-244), Firestone (245-256), Daly (260-271). Lecture: The rebirth of feminism Discussion
HONORS SECTION: HAND IN PAPER #1
Week 6: Feminism and issues of race and ethnicity (I) Reading: Schneir, vol. II, Lorde (168-170), National Black Feminist Org. (171-174), Combahee River (175-187), Wallace (295-309), Hill (469-477), "African American Women in Defense of Ourselves" (478-480). Lecture: Not white, not middle-class: The feminisms of diversity. Discussion
Week 7: Feminism and diversity (II) Reading:Skin deep, selections Lecture: Feminism and the continuing challenge of diversity. Discussion
Week 8: Women and the economy: Poverty and welfare and the "double shift." Reading: Reading: Sidel, intro. and 1-80.
MIDTERM Discussion
Week 9: Women and the economy Reading: Sidel, pp. 81-199 Lecture: Discrimination and opportunity. Discussion
Week 10: The biology of sexual difference. Reading: Tavris, The mismeasure of woman, chaps. 1,3,4.
Honors section: *Ruth Hubbard. Have only men evolved? Lecture: Historical overview. Discussion
Week 11: The cultural construction of women's bodies Reading: Hesse-Biber. Am I thin enough yet?
Honors section: *Susan Bordo. Reading the slender body. Film:Body politics (Films for the humanities). Discussion
PAPER DUE IN SECTION (Not Honors Section)
Week 12: Violence against women. Reading: *Rhode. Sex and violence. In Speaking of sex: The denial of gender inequality. Video:Defending our lives or guest lecture. Discussion
Week 13: Sexuality and sexual identity. Reading: Schneir, vol. II, Rich (310-326).
*Erotica and pornography by Gloria Steinem; *Feminism, moralism, and pornography by Ellen Willis;
Honors Section * Cherrie Moraga, From a long line of vendidas: Chicanas and feminism. In Teresa de Lauretis, ed. Feminist studies/critical studies, 173-190.
* Chapkis, Wendy. The meaning of sex
(Guest) Lecture: Women as sexual beings. Discussion
Week 14: Women and popular culture: media images. Assignment: Students divide into groups to develop project for presentation in final week. Reading: * Paglia, Camille. Madonna; * Gordon, Suzanne. Madonna the feminist; * Zeisler, Andi. Amazon women on the Moon. Video: Dream Worlds II Discussion
Week 15: Popular culture. Lecture: The challenges of feminism in the '90s.
Review for final exam.
Group presentations
Honors section: PAPER #2 DUE IN SECTION
