Introduction to Sexuality, Women’s and (SWAG 205) Spring 2018 - Rollins College ______Professor Ashley Josleyn French Monday 6:45 p.m.- 9:15 p.m. [email protected] Cornell Social Science 135 ______

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course presents and origins of Sexuality, Women's, and Gender studies. We will discuss classic texts of the contemporary feminist movement. The course raises consciousness about sexual stereotypes, anger, female friendships, lesbianism, mothering, violence against women, political power, economic power, transnational issues, queer theory, and masculinity.

COURSE MATERIAL Most course readings will be available on Blackboard. You also should obtain copies of one required text and one novel of your choosing. We also will be watching films and documentaries, all of which can be obtained from Netflix, Amazon, other media outlets, or from a library.

Required Text: Lorber, Judith. Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics (5th Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Select one novel: Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula Le Guin Sex Wars: A novel of Gilded Age New York- Marge Piercy The Thing Around Your Neck- Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

IMPORTANT DEADLINES AND EVENTS January 29th- Submit book selection February 5th- In-class film: Iron Jawed Angels February 12th- First Book Group Meeting February 19th- In-class film: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry February 26th- Second Book Group March 5th- Midterm March 5th- In-class film: MissRepresentation March 12th- Spring Break March 19th- In Class film: Paris is Burning March 26th- Visit to Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Ria Brodell Exhibit April 2nd- Third Book Group April 9th- Guest Speaker: Kristin Winet April 23rd: In-class film: The Education of Shelby Knox April 30th- Final Book Group May 7th- Final Presentations

READING SCHEDULE

Monday, January 29th- The First Wave  Rosemary Tong, Contemporary Feminist Thought, pp. 11-22  Flexner and Fitzpatrick, “The Seneca Falls Convention, 1848” in Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the , Boston: Harvard University Press, pp. 66-72.  Flexner and Fitzpatrick, “From Seneca Falls to the Civil War” in Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States, Boston: Harvard University Press, pp. 73-95.  Sojourner Truth- “Ain’t I a Woman?’ http://www.sojournertruth.com/p/aint-i- woman.html

Monday, February 5th-The First Wave II  Flexner and Fitzpatrick, “The Emergence of the Suffrage Movement” in Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States, Boston: Harvard University Press, pp. 136-148.  Flexner and Fitzpatrick, “A Hard-Won Victory, 1918-1920” in Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States, Boston: Harvard University Press, pp. 300- 317.  Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality: and their Contributions to Gender Equality

Monday, February 12th- History of the Second Wave  Rosemary Tong, Contemporary Feminist Thought, pp. 23-33  Sara M. Evans, “Personal Politics,” Tidal Wave: How Women Changed America at Century’s End, New York: Free Press, pp. 18-60  Eric Hobsbawm, Selections from The Age of Extremes

Monday, February 19th- Theorizing the Second Wave  Simone de Beauvoir, Selections from The Second Sex  Betty Friedan, Selections from The Feminine Mystique  Steinam, “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation”  “No More Miss America”  Mainardi, “The Politics of Housework”  Phyllis Shlafly, Positive Woman Essay  The Combahee River Collective Statement  Redstockings Manifesto: http://www.redstockings.org/index.php/rs-manifesto  Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality, “Radical ,” pp. 127-150.

Monday, February 26th- Women’s Health, Sexuality, Economic Power Required  Our Bodies, Ourselves, “The Politics of Women’s Health in the United States,” Women: Images and Realities, A Multicultural Anthology. Suzanne Kelly, et al., Eds. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012, pp. 322-329.

2  Bordo, Susan. “Are Mothers Persons? Reproductive Rights and the Politics of Subject- ivity” in Unbearable Weight  Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” 1980.  Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House”  Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality: Lesbian Feminism, pp. 151-167 and Standpoint Feminism, pp. 183-202.  “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,” by Anne-Marie Slaughter (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it- all/309020/) Suggested  GloriaSteinem,“IfMenCouldMenstruate,”OutrageousActsandEverydayRebellions.NewYor k: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983, pp. 337-340.

Monday, March 5th MIDTERM EXAM In Class: Watch MissRepresentation

Monday, March 12th SPRING BREAK

Monday, March 19th- Third and Fourth Waves--Social Construction of Gender and Queer Theory Required  Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality: Postmodernism and Queer Theory, pp. 284-303  Judith Butler, Selection from Undoing Gender  Patricia Hill Collins. Black Feminism, knowledge and Power in Judith Lorber’s Gender Inequality.  Rebecca Walker, Ms. Magazine, “Becoming the Third Wave’  Take “How privileged are you?” Quiz online: https://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how- privileged-are-you?utm_term=.or0GvNPl1#.tkDwGqpjo Suggested  Rupp, Taylor, and Shapiro. “Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes.” Sexulaities. Vol 13(3): 275–294.

Monday, March 26th-Masculinities and Transgender Feminism  Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality: Feminist Studies of Men, pp 253-255.  Michael Kimmel, “’Bros before Hos’: The Guy Code” https://terikovacs.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/bros-before-hoes-article.pdf  Raewyn Connell and James Messerschmidt, “Hegemonic Masculinity” in Gender Inequality: Feminist theories and Politics,” ed. Judith Lorber, Los Angeles: Roxbury, pp. 255-263.  Susan Stryker,“Transgender Feminism: Queering the Woman Question,” Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study. Paula S. Rothenberg, Ed. 10th ed. New York: Worth, 2016, pp. 71-77.

 Watch film: Growing Up Coy

3 Monday, April 2nd- The Body, Sex and Gender • Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality: Third Wave Feminism and Toward a New Feminism, pp. 304- 330 • Naomi Wolf, “The Beauty Myth,” The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: Anchor Books, pp. 9-19. • “The Porn Connection” (Chapter 4) in The Purity Myth, Jessica Valenti • Selection from The Body and Society, Bryan Turner Please watch at least one of the following films: • Watch documentary: The Testimony • Watch documentary: SexyBaby • Watch documentary: Hot Girls Wanted

Monday, April 9th- Food and Feminisms Required  Feminist Food Studies: A Brief History. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/ &httpsredir=1&article=1002&context=umpress_fbc  bell hooks, “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance.”: https://de.ryerson.ca/DE_courses/uploadedFiles/6052_Arts/CSOC202/Modules/Module _00/eating%20the%20other.pdf  Kristin Winet, “From Street Food to Digital Kitchens: Toward a Feminist Rhetoric of Culinary Tourism (or, How not to Devour Paris and Eat Your Way through Asia)." food, feminisms rhetorics. Southern Illinois University Press, pp.100-118.  Carrie Helms Tippen, “Writing Recipes, Telling Histories: Cookbooks as Feminist Histriography,” food, feminisms rhetorics. Southern Illinois University Press, pp. 15-29. Suggested  Rebecca Ingalls, “Reconstructing The Female Food-Body: Profanity, Purity, and the Bakhtinian Grotesque in Skinny Bitch,” food, feminisms rhetorics. Southern Illinois University Press, pp.222-236  Barbara Katz Rothman, “A Tale of Two Social Movements” in A Bun in the oven: How the Food and Birth Movements Resist Industrialization, Press, pp 1-15.

Monday, April 16th- #metoo  The Silence Breakers: http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/  Barbara Kingsolver- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/16/metoo- women-daughters-harassment-powerful-men?CMP=share_btn_fb 

Monday, April 23rd- Religion, Gender and Sexuality  “Living the Good Lie” The New York Times  “Fringe me up, Fringe Me Down” in Bitchfest  “Feminist theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic Revival” in Cultural Anthropology, Saba Mahmood (2001)

Monday, April 30th – Mothering/Motherhood

4  Chodorow, Nancy. Selections from The Reproduction of Mothering.  Rich, Adrienne. Selections from Of Woman Born  Hill Collins, Patricia. “Work, Family and Black Women’s Oppression” Chapter 3, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, 2000. Second edition. https://caringlabor.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/patricia-hill-collins-work-family-and- black-womens-oppression/  O’Reilly, Andrea. Introduction to 21st Century Motherhood: Experience, Identity, Policy, Agency  Watch YouTube videos of live births (vaginal: natural and medicated; c-section) and The New York Times Slideshow: C-sections

Monday, May 7th Final Presentations and Projects

ASSESSMENT Attendance and Participation (10%) Weekly attendance and class participation are key to your success in the college classroom.

Weekly Reading Responses on Blackboard (20%) Over the course of the semester, you should submit 10 posts on Blackboard (Discussion Forum) regarding the weekly reading. Submissions should be made the evening before class. (Sunday evenings by Midnight for full credit.) Write a 200-400 word response to the assigned reading for the week. These responses will be integral to our discussions, and you may be called upon to read from your response or discuss your response with the class or in a small group. Do not simply summarize, but engage with the texts.

Book Group Participation and Corresponding Essays (20%) Book groups will be an opportunity for students to read a text of their choosing and apply the theories and concepts of the course to the topic(s) or problem(s) presented in the selected text. Students will be divided into conversation groups at class meetings according to their book selection. Each group will be composed of 3-5 students, each of whom have selected the same text for the semester. You will be expected to submit short essays corresponding to each reading assignment.

Midterm (25%) A midterm exam covering the terms, theories and history of the First and Second Waves of the Feminist Movement will be administered on Monday, March 5th.

Final Project and Presentation (25%) For the final project, students will choose between a few options for final projects and presentations. Options will include: 1) a Media Analysis, 2) Food and Feminisms project, 3) a Gender fieldwork project or 4) Interview Project. More details on these options will be discussed later in the semester.

Makeup exams and/or extensions on assignment due dates will be given ONLY in cases of documented dire emergencies.

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OFFICE HOURS AND CONTACT INFORMATION Your questions and concerns are very important to me. I am happy to set up meetings by appointment. Generally, the best time to meet will be before or after class. If those times do not work for you, please contact me to set up another time. The most efficient way to reach me is via email at [email protected]. Don’t hesitate to contact me early and often!

ATTENDENCE POLICY Attendance of class should be a priority during your college education. If you miss more than 2 classes, then your final grade will be dropped by 5 points. If you arrive late or leave early more than three times, it will count as an absence.

ABSENCES- RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS AND/OR CAMPUS BUSINESS The professor will accommodate a reasonable number of excused absences for religious holidays and official off-campus college business such as academic conference presentations and athletic competitions. However, per the College’s policy on excused absences (http://www.rollins.edu/catalogue/academic_regulations.html#class-attendance), students must discuss with the professor the dates of the anticipated absences no later than the last day of the drop period. Students must present to their professor written evidence of the anticipated absences and discuss with him/her how and when make-up work should be completed prior to missing the class. Students should not expect to receive allowance for excused absences if they do not meet with the professor beforehand and clarify the dates as necessary. Absences will be addressed by the faculty member in accordance with his/her attendance policy. The professor retains the right to determine what would be considered to be a reasonable number of absences (excused or otherwise) for the course. A student will not fail a course because the number of religious observances and/or college business absences exceed the number of absences allowed, except if excessive absences make it impossible to fulfill the expectations of the course. The student’s class participation grade in the course, though, may still be affected.

CHANGES TO THE SYLLABUS This syllabus has been thoughtfully prepared, and it is my intention to adhere as closely as possible to it as the semester unfolds. However, a variety of circumstances can impact the progress of a course, and it is often necessary to alter a syllabus. Thus, this syllabus will be subject to changes which may be made at my discretion as necessary. If and when I make any adjustments, I will provide you with ample notification and explanation of those changes so you can plan accordingly.

PLAGIARISM Plagiarism is an extremely serious offense and will not be tolerated in this course. The penalties for plagiarizing in this course include (but may not be limited to): assignment of a zero for the work or failure for the entire course–-at the discretion of the professor—and notification of the Honor Council, the Dean of Arts & Sciences, and/or other appropriate officers of the College.

6 Ignorance of the rules of proper citation will not be accepted as an excuse for plagiarizing. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism and/or how to properly cite the sources you use in this course, please ask them in class, email me, or come talk to me in my office. I am always available and eager to discuss this issue with students.

ACADEMIC HONOR CODE REAFFIRMIMATION http://www.rollins.edu/honor-code/documents/academic-honor-code-rollinscollege.pdf Membership in the student body of Rollins College carries with it an obligation, and requires a commitment, to act with honor in all things. The student commitment to uphold the values of honor - honesty, trust, respect, fairness, and responsibility -particularly manifests itself in two public aspects of student life. First, as part of the admission process to the College, students agree to commit themselves to the Honor Code. Then, as part of the matriculation process during Orientation, students sign a more detailed pledge to uphold the Honor Code and to conduct themselves honorably in all their activities, both academic and social, as a Rollins student. A student signature on the following pledge is a binding commitment by the student that lasts for his or her entire tenure at Rollins College. The development of the virtues of Honor and Integrity are integral to a Rollins College education and to membership in the Rollins College community. Therefore, I, a student of Rollins College, pledge to show my commitment to these virtues by abstaining from any lying, cheating, or plagiarism in my academic endeavors and by behaving responsibly, respectfully and honorably in my social life and in my relationships with others. This pledge is reinforced every time a student submits work for academic credit as his/her own. Students shall add to the paper, quiz, test, lab report, etc., the handwritten signed statement:

"On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work."

Material submitted electronically should contain the pledge; submission implies signing the pledge.

CREDIT HOUR STATEMENT FOR ROLLINS COLLEGE COURSES This course is a four-credit-hour course that meets three hours per week. The value of four credit hours results, in part, from work expected of enrolled students both inside and outside the classroom. Rollins faculty require that students average at least 2 ½ hours of outside work for every hour of scheduled class time. In this course, the additional outside-of-class expectations are final project and presentation research.

ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES Rollins College is committed to equal access and inclusion for all students, faculty and staff. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 create a foundation of legal obligations to provide an accessible educational environment that does not discriminate against persons with disabilities. It is the spirit of these laws which guides the college toward expanding access in all courses and programs, utilizing innovative instructional design, and identifying and removing barriers whenever possible. If you are a person with a disability and anticipate needing any type of academic accommodations in order to fully participate in your classes, please contact the Office of Accessibility Services, located on the first floor of the Olin Library, as soon as possible. You are encouraged to schedule a Welcome Meeting by filling out the “First Time Users” form on the website:http://www.rollins.edu/accessibilityservices/ and/or reach out by phone or email: 407-975- 6463 [email protected]. All test-taking accommodations requested for this course must first be

7 approved through the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) and scheduled online through Accommodate at least 72 hours before the exam. Official accommodation letters must be received by and discussed with the faculty in advance. There will be no exceptions given unless previously approved by the OAS with documentation of the emergency situation. We highly recommend making all testing accommodations at the beginning of the semester. OAS staff are available to assist with this process.

TITLE IX STATEMENT Rollins College is committed to making its campus a safe place for students. If you tell any of your faculty about sexual misconduct involving members of the campus community, your professors are required to report this information to the Title IX Coordinator. Your faculty member can help connect you with the Coordinator, Oriana Jiménez ([email protected] or 407-691-1773). She will provide you with information, resources and support. If you would prefer to speak to someone on campus confidentially, please call the Wellness Center at 407-628-6340. They are not required to report any information you share with the Office of Title IX. Sexual misconduct includes sexual harassment, stalking, intimate partner violence (such as dating or domestic abuse), sexual assault, and any discrimination based on your sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation that creates a hostile environment. For information, visit http://www.rollins.edu/titleix/

RECORDING DEVICE In order to protect the integrity of the classroom experience, the use of recording devices is limited to either the expressed permission of the faculty member or with proper documentation from the Office of Accessibility Services. Information about accommodations through Accessibility Services can be found at http://www.rollins.edu/accessibility-services/. Recording without the proper authorization is considered a violation of the Rollins Code of Community Standards.

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Please note that much of this syllabus and reading schedule was derived from the Intro to SWAG course previously taught by Dr. Kimberly Dennis at Rollins College with her full approval.

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