Instructor: Prof. Irene Browne		Course Times: TTh 2:30 - 3:45 p.m.
Ph: (404) 727-7508				Class location: 132 Schwartz Ctr 
email: socib@emory.edu			Office hours: Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 
						Office location: 207 Tarbutton Hall

WS 100: INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN’S STUDIES
Spring 2005 

	This course will introduce you to major issues and debates within the interdisciplinary field of women’s studies.  

Goals:  

•	to learn about the theories and issues that are central to the field of women’s studies.

•	to develop analytic and practical skills that will help you to effectively interpret the literature, think critically, articulate your own views, and actively contribute to the learning process within the class.

•	to discover how the social constructions of gender, race, class and sexuality are at work in your own life, and to understand how your individual biography is related to broader social and historical forces. 

Description:
	The course is divided into four main sections:

•	In the first section, we will establish some background in women’s studies and feminism.  Our inquiry will begin with the question, “What is women’s studies?”  We will discuss how women’s studies emerged in the 1970s as part of the feminist movement, with a mission to combine scholarship with social activism, to critique existing institutional structures and established paradigms, and to forge a new vision from which to study and live in the world.  We will then investigate  specific past and present political issues (suffrage, pornography, female genital cutting) to illustrate key debates and themes that inform the field of women’s studies.

•	In Section II, “What is Gender?” we will explore the ways that gender is socially constructed through social practices at multiple levels -- from the individual to the institution.

•	The third section focuses on the question: “How does gender shape experience?” and covers topics that have been of particular interest to women’s studies scholars: sexuality, the body, health and economic inequality.

•	In the final section, we will turn to the question of social change, investigating particular social justice issues related to gender, such as sexual violence, domestic violence, and gay/lesbian rights.   Students will be responsible for material in this section of the course.  With the guidance of the instructor, small groups of students will present material and lead discussion.   We end this final section with a novel based on the lives of “las mariposas,” women who were active in the revolutionary struggle in the Dominican Republic against the dictator, Trujillo.
	
Required readings:

!	Álvarez, Julia.  1995.  In the Time of the Butterflies.
!	

!	Readings on “electronic reserve” on EUCLID.  (NOTE: Some of the reserve readings are in edited volumes or anthologies.  They may be listed by the name of the author of the volume, rather than the chapter or article.  See the full reference on the syllabus).

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

	Grading will be based on class participation, successful completion of class assignments, the group projects, a midterm and a final exam.  

Participation: The class is designed as a seminar; class discussion will be the main avenue of learning. Therefore, the participation of each student is essential to the success of the class.  You must attend class regularly and do the readings.  Your participation grade will be based on attendance and the contributions that you make to discussion.  You are allowed two absences without a grade penalty.  Note that I may occasionally distribute short, in-class questions based on the readings that will count towards your participation grade.  As we will be focusing discussion on the readings, you should bring the assigned articles to class on the day they are listed.  You are also expected to check Blackboard daily for information and updates about the class.

Short assignments: Assignments are based on the course material and will be explained in a separate handout.  Your assignment grade will drop by 2 points for each day that the assignment is late.  No exceptions.  (A “day” is 24 hours from the date of the assignment).  If you are out of town when an assignment is due, send it via FAX, email or post (it must be post-marked by the due date).

Paper: You are required to write a 5-page paper on the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies.  A list of paper topics will be distributed during the semester.  You choose to write your paper on a topic that is not on the list with permission from the instructor.

Group Projects: You will receive instructions for the group projects in a separate handout.  To encourage all students to contribute to the activities of their group, your participation in the group will be evaluated by the other group members.  In addition, the final presentation will be evaluated by the class.  These evaluations will be incorporated into your group project grade. 

Exams: There will be two exams in the course.  These exams will require that you demonstrate an ability to think critically and synthesize material from the readings, lectures, class discussions, films, and guest presentations.

Grade Points:
	Participation:				  8%
	Assignments:				15%
	Group presentation:		15%
Paper:					12%
	Exam 1:				25%
	Exam 2:				25%

COURSE SCHEDULE

Jan. 20   Introduction to the course

PART I:  WHAT IS WOMEN’S STUDIES, WHAT IS FEMINISM?

Jan. 25	What is Women’s Studies?
Baumgardner, Jennifer  Manifesta Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. “Prologue: a Day Without Feminism.”
Lee, JeeYeun.  “Beyond Bean Counting.”
hooks, bell.  “Teaching to Transgress: Introduction.”

Jan. 27	First Wave Feminism
Odem, Mary.  Delinquent Daughters, Chapter 1.
“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions: Seneca Falls Convention 1848.”
Davis, Angela.  “Racism in the Woman Suffrage Movement.”

Feb. 1	Second and Third Wave Feminisms
Johnson, Alan.  “Feminists and Feminism.”  Chap. 5 in The Gender Knot.
Rowe-Finkbeiner.  “Signs of the Times: Defining the Third Wave.”  Pp. 85-105 in The F-Word: Feminism in Jeopardy.
Green, Cheryl.  “One Resilient Baby.”  

Feb. 3       Multiracial Feminisms
Crenshaw, Kimberle.  “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women.”
McIntosh, P.  “White Privilege, Male Privilege…”
	Short assignment I due

Feb. 8	Female Genital Cutting
Steady, Filomina Chioma. “African Feminism: a Worldwide Perspective” (from Women in Africa and the African Diaspora).
Gruenbaum, Ellen.  “Female Circumcision Controversy, Introduction.”

Feb. 10	Pornography
McElroy, Wendy.  “A Feminist Defense of Pornography.”
Dworkin, Andrea.  “Against the Male Flood.”  In Cornell, ed.  Feminism and Pornography.
Ross, Becki.  “‘It’s Merely Designed for Sexual Arousal:’ Interrogating the Indefensibility of Lesbian Smut.” Part I (pp. 264-281) and Part II (pp. 304-307) in Cornell, ed.  Feminism and Pornography.
Short assignment II due

Feb. 15	Key Issues and Debates, cont.
Lazreg, Marnia.  “Decolonizing Feminism.”  In Feminism and ‘Race,’ ed. Kum-Kum Bhavnani.
Miles,Angela. “North American Feminisms/Global Feminisms - Contradictory or Complementary?” (from Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power from Africa to the Diaspora).
Lorde, Audry.  “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference.” (Sister Outsider).

PART II:   WHAT IS GENDER?

Feb. 17- Gender as Social Construction

Feb. 17 	McGuffey and Rich. “Playing in the Gender Transgression Zone.”
Best, Amy.  Prom Night: Youth, Schools and Popular Culture.  Chap. 3: “Fashioning the Feminine: Dresses, Jewelry, Hair and More.”
	Short assignment III due

Feb. 22	FILM
Colapinto, John.  “The True Story of John/Joan.”  Rolling Stone 12/11/97.
Fausto-Sterling.  “The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female are Not Enough.”

Feb. 24 	GUEST PRESENTATION
Preves, Sharon.  “Sexing the Intersexed.”

March 1  	Discussion: Multiple Genders, Multiple Sexes.

March 3	*** EXAM 1 ***

PART III: HOW DOES GENDER AFFECT THE LIVES OF WOMEN (AND MEN)?

March 8-	Sexualities
March 22

March 8	FILM: But I’m A Cheerleader
Wilchins, Riki.  “It’s Your Gender, Stupid!”
Smith, Barbara “Homophobia: Why Bring it Up?”

March 10	Lorde, Audre.  “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power.”

Almaguer, Tomas.  “Chicano  Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior.”  
Sokolove, Michael.  “Can This Marriage Be Saved?”

March 14-		****** SPRING BREAK ******
March 18
March 22	Tanenbaum, Leora. Chapters 1 and 3 in  SLUT! Growing Up Female with A Bad Reputation.

March 24- Gender Representations: Culture, Beauty, Bodies 
March 29

March 24	Eating disorders and disordered eating
Lovejoy, Meg.  “Disturbances in the Social Body.” 
Kaw, E.  1998.  “Medicalization of Racial Features: Asian-American     Women and Plastic Surgery.”
Chernik, Abra Fortune.  “The Body Politic.”

March 29	Bodies, cont.
	Group projects
Urla and Swedlund.  “The Anthropometry of Barbie: Unsettling Ideas of the Feminine Body in Popular Culture.”  
Mackler, Carolyn.  “Memoirs of a (Sorta)Ex-Shaver.”
Short assignment IV due

March 31-	Gender, Money and Power
April 

March 31	 Sex  work
 Rogers, B.  “Bitter Harvest.”
“Barbara.”  “It’s A Pleasure Doing Business with You.” 
Raymond and Hughes.  “Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States,” pp. 16-24.

April 5	Women, Poverty and AIDS
Farmer, Paul.  “Women, Poverty and AIDS”
Connors, Margaret.  “Sex, Drugs and Structural Violence.”

April 7	Group projects, exam review
Short assignment V due

April 12	*** EXAM II ***

PART IV.  WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN GENDER AND SOCIAL CHANGE?

April 14	Group projects

April 19	Group presentations

April 21	Group presentations

Women and Revolution

April 26	In the Time of the Butterflies, Parts I & II

April 28	 In the Time of the Butterflies, Part III

May 2	Summary
Lorde, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action.”
Paper due