WMGS 5AFall 2016

Women, Genders, and Sexualities

Tuesday/Thursday2:00 to 3:20 p.m. (Block N), Schwartz Hall 112

This syllabus may be modified during the course of the semester.LATTE will always have the updated syllabus.

Professor: Sarah Lamb, Brown 208, phone: x62211,

Office Hours: Thursdays 4:30-5:30, Fridays 11-12, and by appointment

Office: Brown 208 (mailbox in Brown 229)

TAs: Paige Henderson (), Christina Hutson (),

Amity Pauley), Nidhi Sen ()

Course Description:

Women’s, gender, and sexualitystudies is an exciting interdisciplinary field that asks critical questions about the meanings of gender and sexuality in society. The goal is not simply to impart knowledge but also toenvisage ways to enhance social justice and equity in our social, cultural, political, and academic worlds. A key focus of the course is to examine the multiple ways that the three core categories in the course’s title—women, genders, and sexualities—intersect with each other, and with race, class, nationality, religion, age, and other social identities. It explores the position of women in diverse settings, as well as the range and significance of other genders—including trans, queer, androgynous, third, fluid, masculine, feminine, and more—both within the United States and around the globe. We will also study women’s, feminist,and LGBTQ+ activist movements, history, and politics in terms of colonialism, post-colonialism, transnational global markets, and a changing geo-political and religious atmosphere. We willread texts from various disciplines, andexamine theoretical concepts and popular culture to understand how gender is represented in varied fields, and to imagine new methods to think critically about women, gender, and sexualityin our world.

Learning goals: Through this course, students will:

  • Acquire the analytic skills to think about gender as it informs and is informed by social, cultural, political, legal, religious, and national norms.
  • Gain knowledge of contemporary and historical experiences of women, and of the multiple ways that gender and sexuality intersect with race, class, nationality, religion, age, and other social identities—in the United States and around the world.
  • Come to understand how both gender and sexuality—including bodies, desires, inclinations, orientations, roles—are socially constructed.
  • Gain a comprehensive sense of feminist and LGBTQ+ movements in a historical and transnational context.
  • Amass a critical vocabulary and mastery of central concepts in the interdisciplinary field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.
  • Develop and enhance critical/analytical thinking, reading, and writing skills.
  • Develop skills in interviewing and/or participant observation research (research methodologies to be used for one or more of the class papers).
  • Hone skills in in-class speaking and collaborative discussion.

This course is designed for the beginning student in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, and no previous knowledge is assumed. The course is required for the minor or major in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. It also counts as an elective inInternational and Global Studiesand Social Justice and Social Policy, and, when taught by an anthropology faculty member as in Fall 2016, as an elective for the Anthropology major or minor.

Required Texts:Each is also available on Reserve in the Goldfarb Library. Please aim whenever possible to bring copies of the readings to class, and to complete the readings before class on the day assigned.

  • Feminist Frontiers, edited by Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier, and Leila Rupp (9th ed., McGraw-Hill 2012)
  • Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (First Mariner Books 2007)
  • Michel Foucault, Herculine Barbine: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-Century French Hermaphrodite, Introduced by Michel Foucault (Vintage Books 2010 or any other edition; originally published 1980)
  • ChimanandaNgoziAdichie, We Should All Be Feminists (Anchor Books, 2015)
  • Other articles and films will be available through LATTE.

Assignments:

2 short papers (3-4double-spaced pages @ 20% each) 40%

In-class mid-term exam15%

Take-home final exam (5 single-spaced pages)30%

Class participation15%

Expected workload: Success in this four-credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, interviews, fieldwork, researching relevant news and media stories, studying, etc.).

Papers: Topics and guidelines for the two 3-page papers will be handed out several weeks before the work is due (due dates are specified in the syllabus). At least one will involve a mini fieldwork assignment in which you will be asked to observe and analyze particular kinds of social-cultural practices in the environments surrounding you.Late work: Written work submitted after the due date and time will be lowered by one third of a grade for each weekday (or fraction of a day) late, except in documented cases of illness or emergency.

Exams: Both the in-class midterm exam and the take-home final exam will consist largely of short essays and short-answer questions based on the readings, lectures, discussions, and films. You will be asked to supply both detailed information and your own interpretations, while also engaging with a range of course concepts and texts. It will be difficult to do well on the exams if you do not carefully keep up with both readings and lectures. The lectures often cover material not duplicated in the readings, so attending class is very important. Exam dates are specified in the syllabus.A make-up midterm examination will be given only to students in cases of documented illness or emergency, or if arrangements have been made well in advance (also requiring documentation, such as a letter from an athletic director). Students who simply fail to show up for the midterm exam will receive a 0 for the exam.

Class participation includes:

  • 1) attendance,
  • 2) timely completion of reading assignments (by the date listed in the syllabus),
  • 3) thoughtful contribution to class discussions, including participation in discussion sections, small-group activities, and some pre-posting of ideas on LATTE (requiring careful reading), and
  • 4)occasional"pop” in-class writing responses, in which you will be asked to make critical reflections on the day’s readings. The aim of such short exercises, or “low stakes writing,” is to allow you to synthesize course materials, demonstrate your own critical thinking, and receive regular feedback. They can also serve as a helpful motivator to keep up on course work and be useful for students who feel less comfortable contributingto oral discussions.

Regarding attendance: Students are permitted two free absences; if you need to miss more than two classes for any reason, you may mitigate the negative impact on your class participation grade by submitting via email to your TA informal reflections on the day’s readings within four days of the missed class.

Small-group discussion sections: Each student will be a member of a discussion group led by a TA that meets periodically during our class time. Before each discussion section, students will post on LATTE a comment, question, or reflection related to a recent reading or film that they would like to discuss. The LATTE postings will contribute to the class participation grade.

Technology: Since this is a large class, it becomes difficult to ensure that students are using their laptops, ipads, and other technological aids solely for the purpose of taking notes or accessing readings. Your use of social media and other internet-aided pastimes distracts you, your classmates, and your professor. Using laptops and smartphones for non-class-related purposes during class on a regular basis will result in lowering your class participation grade by one full grade (so, from an A to a B, or a B+ to C+). We will give one warning only, and after that, it is up to you to put away your devices or suffer the grade reduction.

Community participation: Each student is encouraged to attend at least one WGS or related event this semester as part of your class participation. Your attendance should be recorded by a TA at the event (if a TA is present) and followed up by a few informal reflections sent to your TA via email. WGS program events will be announced in class, and other relevant events organized by student groups and other departments may also suffice if you cannot make a WGS program event.

Academic integrity: You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity (see section 4: “Maintenance of Academic Integrity”-- ). Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Remember, you must indicate through quotations and citation when quoting from any outside source (internet or print).

Academic accommodations: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please contact me as soon as possible.

Communication: Announcements, changes, assignment guidelines, and other information will be communicated through LATTE. It is essential that you are enrolled for the course and have complete access to LATTE.

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Outline of classes. Plan to complete the assigned reading before class on the day listed.

I. Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Thursday, 8/25: First day of class.

  • “Let’s Talk About Sexuality & Gender” booklet – (and on LATTE alphabetized by “Let’s”)
  • “Introduction” to Feminist Frontiers (hereafter FF): pp. 1-3.

II. Bodies and Meanings: Does Sex = Gender?

Tuesday, 8/30:

  • Judith Lorber, “‘Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender” (FF, 1st published 1993): pp. 33-49.
  • Susan Stryker, “Transgender Feminism: Queering the Woman Question” (FF, 1st published 2007): pp. 63-69.
  • Optional: Take the Kate Bornstein Gender Aptitude Test:
  • View clips in class from “War Zone,” a film by Maggie Hadleigh-West (1998) [What does it feel like to be a woman on the street in a cultural environment that does nothing to discourage men from heckling, following, touching or disparaging women in public spaces?] [The whole film is available for viewing on LATTE.]
  • Recommended for those who enjoy theory: Judith Butler, “Critically Queer” – section on “Gender Performativity and Drag” (pp. 21-24), GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 1 (1993): pp. 17-32. (LATTE)

III. Intersectional Thinking: Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality, Nation, Age, Ability—Intersecting Forms of Power, Inequality, and Identity

Thursday, 9/1:

  • Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” (FF, 1st published 1984): pp. 22-23.
  • Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (FF, 1st published 1988): pp. 11-17.
  • Amy Villarejo, “Tarrying with the Normative: Queer Theory and Black History,” Social Text 84-85, Vol. 23, Nos. 3-4 (Winter 2005): pp. 69-84 (LATTE). [Note that this is a dense text; it’s fine if you read the first few pages: pp. 69-72 and skim or skip the rest.]
  • Karen Pyke and Denise Johnson, “Asian American Women and Racialized Femininities,” Gender and Society 17(1), February 2003: pp. 33-53 (LATTE).
  • Recommended:Jon Greenberg: “Looking for Proof of Male Privilege in Your Daily Life? Here Are 7 Undeniable Examples,” everyday feminism (May 4, 2015), on LATTE).
  • Recommended: Robin DiAngelo, “White Fragility,” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 3(3) (2011): 54-70. (LATTE)

IV. Sexualities and Identity.

Tuesday, 9/6:

  • Feminist Frontiers: Skim theIntroduction to the “Sexualities” section: pp. 282-283.
  • Karin Martin and Emily Kazyak, “Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children’s G-Rated Films” (FF, 1stpublished in 2009): pp. 153-164.
  • Elizabeth Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, and Paula England, “Is Hooking Up Bad for Young Women?” (FF, 1st published 2010): pp. 301-305.
  • Yen Le Espiritu, “‘We Don’t Sleep Around Like White Girls Do’: Family, Culture, and Gender in Filipina American Lives” (FF, 1st published 2001): pp. 178-192.
  • Leila Rupp and Verta Taylor, “Straight Girls Kissing” (FF, 1st published 2010): pp. 305-309.
  • First essay assignment (due Friday, 9/30) posted on LATTE and distributed in class.

Thursday Sept. 8th: Brandeis Monday. This class will not meet. [Instead, aim to catch up on any readings you may have missed from the first few days of class.]

Tuesday, 9/13:

  • Don Kulick, “The Gender of Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes” in The Gender, Culture, and Power Reader, edited by Dorothy Hodgson (Oxford U Press 2016: pp. 65-75), abridged from American Anthropologist 99(3): 574-585, September 1997. (LATTE)
  • Donald Donham, “Freeing South Africa: The ‘Modernization’ of Male-Male Sexuality in Soweto,” Cultural Anthropology13(1) (1998): pp. 3-21.(LATTE)
  • Recommended (optional): Naisargi Dave, “Indian and Lesbian and What Came Next: Affect, Commensuration, and Queer Emergences,” American Ethnologist 38(4) (2011): pp. 650-665 (LATTE): It’s OK to skip or skim the theoretical introduction (pp. 651-652): Read the first few paragraphs of the article on p. 650 and then begin again with “The Fire Affair” on p. 652.

V. Beyond the Binary: Exploring Transgender and Genderqueer Identities in Culture, Society, and History.

Thursday, 9/15:

  • Catherine Newman, “Pretty Baby” (FF, 1st published 2005): pp. 165-167.
  • Susan Stryker, “An Introduction to Transgender Terms and Concepts” in Transgender History (Seal Press 2008): pp. 1-29. (LATTE)
  • Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook, “Doing Gender, Doing Heteronormativity: ‘Gender Normals,’ Transgender People, and the Social Maintenance of Heterosexuality” (FF, 1st published 2009): 309-322.

Tuesday, 9/20:

  • Serena Nanda, “Life on the Margins: A Hijra’s Story,” in Everyday Life in South Asia, edited by Diane Mines and Sarah Lamb (Indiana U Press 2010): pp. 124-131. (LATTE)
  • Film clips shown in class from: “Amra Ki EtoiBhinno… Are We So Different?” [documentary film on Bangladeshi hijra, gay, and bisexual communities: winner of best documentary short film 2012, directed by Lok Prakash, 36:39]

Thursday, 9/22:

  • Jane Ward, “Gender Labor: Transmen, Femmes, and Collective Work of Transgression”In Boris and Parrenas, eds. Intimate Labors (2010): pp. 78-93. (LATTE)
  • Film clips shown in class: “You Don’t Know Dick: Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men” (directed by Candace Schermerhorn, Northern Light Productions, 1997, 58 min.). [The whole film is available on LATTE and recommended.]

VI. Masculinities.

Tuesday, 9/27:

  • R.W. Connell, “Masculinities and Globalization” (FF, 1st published 1999): pp. 87-98.
  • Deborah Cameron, “Performing Gender Identity: Young Men’s Talk and the Construction of Heterosexual Masculinity” inThe Gender, Culture, and Power Reader, edited by Dorothy Hodgson (Oxford U Press 2016, 1st published 1998): pp. 201-211. (LATTE)
  • Richard Mora, “‘Do It All For Your Public Hairs!’: Latino Boys, Masculinity, and Puberty,” Gender and Society 26(3): 433-460. (LATTE)
  • Kimberly Theidon, “Reconstructing Masculinities: The Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration of Former Combatants in Colombia” in The Gender, Culture, and Power Reader, edited by Dorothy Hodgson (Oxford U Press 2016): pp. 420-429. (LATTE)
  • Film clips shown in class: “Do I Sound Gay?” (directed by David Thorpe, 2014) [Is there such a thing as a "gay voice"? Why do some people "sound gay" but not others? Why are gay voices a mainstay of pop culture but also a trigger for bullying and harassment?]
  • Consider also representations, performance, and experiences of masculinity in “You Don’t Know Dick.”

Thursday, 9/29: Discussion sections during class time.

  • Bring in an example of a representation of masculinity (from popular culture, everyday conversations or practices around you, the media, advertising, etc.). Does your piece represent “hegemonic masculinity” or an alternative?
  • Catch up on any readings from 9/27 that you may have missed.
  • Post on LATTE by 9 pm on Wed. eve. (9/28): Choose one quote from a recent course text or film (be precise and cite the quote properly) and then pose a comment, question, or reflection--something you would like to discuss further in section.

Friday, September 30th by 5 pm: 1st short essay due on LATTE.

Monday and Tuesday, October 3rd and 4th: Rosh Hashanah: No university exercises.

  • Begin reading over the weekendFun Home: A Family Tragicomic: Read at least through chapter 3 (pp. 1-86): This is a fast and engrossing read.

VII. Feminist, LGBTQ+ and Social Activist Movements over Time, in the US and Abroad: Fighting Inequalities.

Thursday, 10/6:

  • Continue Fun Home through chapter 4.
  • Sherry Ortner, “Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?” abridged version of original 1974 article reprinted in The Gender, Culture, and Power Reader, edited by Dorothy Hodgson (Oxford U Press 2016): pp. 5-16. (LATTE): Focus on pp. 5-11 and “Conclusions”; OK to skim or skip pp. 12-15.
  • Choose at least one(more are recommended, though—each very interesting!) of the following classic texts from feminist history (selections from The Essential Feminist Reader, edited by Estelle B. Freedman, Modern Library 2007) (all on LATTE in one combined pdf labeled Essential Feminist Reader):
  • Francois Poullain de la Barre, “On the Equality of the Two Sexes” (France, 1673): pp. 10-14.
  • Sojourner Truth, “Two Speeches” (United States, 1851, 1867): pp. 63-66.
  • Susan B. Anthony, “Social Purity” (United States, 1875): pp. 85-91.
  • W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Damnation of Women” (United States, 1919): pp. 204-210.
  • Gro Haarlem Brundtland (Norway), Closing Address at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (1995): pp. 410-414.

Tuesday, 10/11:

  • Continue Fun Home: chapters 5-6 (pp. 121-186).
  • Palesa Beverley Ditsie (South Africa), “Statement of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission” to the UN 4th World Conference on Women (1995): pp. 408-409 in the Essential Feminist Reader (look within the “Essential Feminist Reader” pdf on LATTE)
  • In class: clips from “American Experience: Stonewall Uprising” (PBS, 2011, 90 min.) [Stonewall Uprising explores the dramatic event that launched a worldwide rights movement. When police raided a Mafia-run gay bar in Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, gay men and women did something they had not done before: they fought back. As the streets of New York erupted into violent protests and street demonstrations, the collective anger announced that the gay rights movement had arrived.]

VIII. Gender at Home and Work: Families, Kinship, Marriage, Labor.

Thursday, 10/13: Discussion sections during class time.

  • Feminist Frontiers: Skim the Introductions to Section Five on “Work” (pp. 195-196) and Section Six on “Families” (pp. 242-243).
  • Complete Fun Home: chapter 7 (pp. 187-232).
  • Laurie Essig and Lynn Owens, “What If Marriage Is Bad for Us?” (FF, 1st published 2009): pp. 258-260.
  • Post on LATTE by 9 pm on Wed. eve. (10/12): Choose one quote from a recent course text or film (be precise and cite the quote properly), and then pose a comment, question, or reflection--something you would like to discuss further in section.

Tuesday, 10/18: