Course description:
This course introduces the vast, complex, changing field of women’s studies. Students will be asked to become conversant with the history of feminism and women's movements (nationally and transnationally), to understand and theorize women and gender as categories of analysis, to think through differences that divide and unite, to reflect and move beyond individual experience and to connect feminism to everyday life. Students will be encouraged to raise their own questions about women, gender, feminism(s), modes of women's organizing, and the production of knowledge. While it is impossible to cover all pertinent topics in one semester, this course introduces various specific issues and histories that, taken together, highlight the complexity of Women's Studies as both scholarly endeavor and activist field. It addresses Goal 6 substantially (an intellectually grounded foundation for the understanding of differences and inequalities of gender, race, and class).

Learning objectives:
One objective is for students to gain practical skills useful in any humanistic discipline, including how to analyze texts, how to do research, and improved proficiency in writing. More conceptual learning objectives include understanding how women and gender as categories of analysis intersect with history, politics, religion, society, and culture.

Required books (all on reserve at the Library):

• Freedman, Estelle B. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002.
• Findlen, Barbara, ed. Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation. New expanded ed. Emeryville, Calif.: Seal Press, 2001.
• Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.
• Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Arlie Russell Hochschild, eds. Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company, 2002.
• Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. Reprint. Orlando, Fl.: A Harvest Book, 1989.
• Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 2014.

Weekly schedule:

DEFINING TERMS: WOMEN’S STUDIES, FEMINISM(S), PATRIARCHY, WOMEN'S RIGHTS.

Aug. 29 (M).    Overview of the course.

Aug. 31 (W).    What is women’s studies?

• Jean Fox O’Barr, “The Necessity of Women’s Studies in a Liberal Arts Education,” in Feminism in Action: Building Institutions and Community through Women’s Studies (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994), 85–93.

Sept. 2 (F).       What is feminism?

• Freedman, “The Historical Case for Feminism,” chapter 1 in No Turning Back, 1–13.
• SHORT RESEARCH REPORT: feminism due.

Sept. 5 (M).      What is patriarchy?

• Freedman, “Gender and Power,” chapter 2 in No Turning Back, 17–30.
• bell hooks, “Understanding Patriarchy,” chapter 2 of The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004), http://imaginenoborders.org/pdf/zines/UnderstandingPatriarchy.pdf.

Sept. 7 (W).     Virtue and patriarchy in different cultures: two case studies.

• Patricia Buckley Ebrey, trans., “The Book of Filial Piety for Women Attributed to a Woman Née Zheng (ca. 730),” in Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History, ed. Susan Mann and Yu–Yin Cheng (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2001), 47–69.
• Pat Boone, “The Happy Home Corporation,” chapter 5 in ‘Twixt Twelve and Twenty (New York: Dell, 1960), 79–91.

Sept. 9 (F).       Women’s rights.

• Freedman, “Women’s Rights, Women’s Work, and Women’s Sphere,” chapter 3 in No Turning Back, 45–72.
• “Declaration of Sentiments” (1848), http://www.womensrightsfriends.org/pdfs/1848_declaration_of_sentiments.pdf.

Sept. 12 (M).    Race and American feminism.

• Freedman, “Race and the Politics of Identity in U.S. Feminism,” chapter 4 in No Turning Back, 73–94.
• Sojouner Truth, “Ar’n’t I a Woman” (1851), http://www.blackpast.org/1851-sojourner-truth-arnt-i-woman.
• QUIZ 1 this week.

Sept. 14 (W).   Race and American feminism: women’s voices.

• Sonja D. Curry-Johnson, “Weaving an Identity Tapestry,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 51–58.
• Rankine, Citizen, I, 5–18.

Sept. 16 (F).     Race and sexual identity.

• Cheryl Clarke, “Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance,” in This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, ed. Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa (Watertown, Mass.: Persephone Press, 1981), 128–37.
• JeeYeun Lee, “Beyond Bean Counting,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 67–73.

Sept. 19 (M).    International feminisms.

• Freedman, “The Global Stage and the Politics of Location,” chapter 5 in No Turning Back, 95–119.
• Gloria Anzaldúa, “Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to 3rd World Women Writers,” in Moraga and Anzaldúa, This Bridge Called My Back, 165–73.

Sept. 21 (W).   A case study in gender, religion, and identity: women’s rights in post-revolution Iran.

• Satrapi, Persepolis, 3–19, 72–79, 94–102, 126–34, 143–53.
• Marjane Satrapi, “Veiled Threat,” The Guardian (12 December 2003), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/dec/12/gender.uk.

Sept. 23 (F).     Reflections on feminism, patriarchy, women’s rights, and identity politics.

• QUIZ 2 this week.

Sept. 26 (M).    Domestic labor.

• Freedman, “Never Done: Women’s Domestic Labor,” chapter 6 in No Turning Back, 123–44.
• Barbara Ehrenreich, “Maid to Order,” in Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 85–103.

Sept. 28 (W).   Gender and economics.

• Freedman, “Industrialization, Wage Labor, and the Economic Gender Gap,” chapter 7 in No Turning Back, 145–69.
• SHORT RESEARCH REPORT: gender and work, part 1 due.

Sept. 30 (F).     Gender, work, and family, part 1.

• Freedman, “Workers and Mothers: Feminist Social Policies,” chapter 8 in No Turning Back, 170–99.
• Susan Cheever, “The Nanny Dilemma,” in Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 31–38.

Oct. 3 (M).     Gender, work, and family, part 2.

• Arlie Russell Hochschild, “Love and Gold,” in Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 15–30.
• Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, “Blowups and Other Unhappy Endings,” in Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 55–69.
• SHORT RESEARCH REPORT: gender and work, part 2 due.

Oct. 5 (W).Migrant workers.

• Nicole Constable, “Filipina Workers in Hong Kong Homes: Household Rules and Relations,” Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 115–41.
• Joy M. Zarembka, “America’s Dirty Work: Migrant Maids and Modern-Day Slavery,” in Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 142–53.

Oct. 7 (F).Reflections on women’s labor.

• QUIZ 3 this week.

[Fall Break, Oct. 8–11]

Oct. 12 (W).     Health and disability.

• Freedman, “Medicine, Markets, and the Female Body,” chapter 9 in No Turning Back, 203–28.
• Cheryl Green, “One Resilient Baby,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 272–80.

Oct. 14 (F).      Health and size: women’s voices.

• Abra Fortune Chernik, “The Body Politic,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 103–11.
• Nomy Lamm, “It’s a Big Fat Revolution,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 133–41.

Oct. 17 (M).     Beauty and race in America.

• Gerald Early, “Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant,” The Kenyon Review, n.s., 12, no. 4 (Autumn 1990): 132–45.

Oct. 19 (W).     Sports: women’s voices.

• Sharon Lennon, “What Is Mine,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 212–22.
• Rankine, Citizen, II, 23–37.

Oct. 21 (F).      Reproduction in the U.S.: history and policies.

• Freedman, “Reproduction: The Politics of Choice,” chapter 10 in No Turning Back, 229–52.
• SHORT RESEARCH REPORT: reproduction due.

Oct. 24 (M).     Reproduction: women’s voices.

• Inga Muscio, “Abortion, Vacuum Cleaners and the Power Within,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 112–17.
• Allison Crews, “And So I Chose,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 142–49.

Oct. 26 (W).     Sexuality and self-determination.

• Freedman, “Sexualities, Identities, and Self-Determination,” chapter 11 in No Turning Back, 253–75.
• Lisa Tiger, “Woman Who Clears the Way,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 153–64.

Oct. 28 (F).      Research and writing workshop.

• FIRST TEST due.

Oct. 31 (M).     Sex-positive feminism: women’s voices.

• Rebecca Walker, “Lusting for Freedom,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 19–24.
• Lisa Palac, “How Dirty Pictures Changed My Life,” in Next: Young American Writers on the New Generation (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994), 146–63.

Nov. 2 (W).     Sex work: two case studies.

• Paul S. Ropp, “Ambiguous Images of Courtesan Culture in Late Imperial China,” in Writing Women in Late Imperial China, ed. Ellen Widmer and Kang-i Sun Chang (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 17–45.
• Denise Brennan, “Selling Sex for Visas: Sex Tourism as a Stepping-stone to International Migration,” in Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 154–68.

Nov. 4 (F).       Gender and violence.

• Freedman, “Gender and Violence,” chapter 12 in No Turning Back, 276–302.
• Margaret Atwood, “Unpopular Gals,” in Good Bones and Simple Murders (New York: Nan A. Talese, 1994), 6–10.

Nov. 7 (M).      Film: Sut Jhally, dir., Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women (Northampton, Mass.: Media Education Foundation, 2010).

• ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES and RESEARCH WORKSHEETS due.

Nov. 9 (W).     Rape.

• Emilie Morgan, “Don’t Call Me a Survivor,’ in Findlen, Listen Up, 33–39.
• Helen Benedict, “The Scandal of Military Rape,” Ms. Magazine (Fall 2008): 40–45.

Nov. 11 (F).     NO CLASS. Post reflections on body politics on Canvas discussion board.

• QUIZ 4 this week.

Nov. 14 (M).    Creativity and feminism.

• Freedman, “New Words and Images: Women’s Creativity as Feminist Practice,” chapter 13 in No Turning Back, 305–25.
• Mary Gordon, “Foreword,” in Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, vii–xiv.

Nov. 16 (W).   Women as writers.

• Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, 3–40.

Nov. 18 (F).     Women as visual artists.

• Carol Snyder, “Reading the Language of The Dinner Party,” Woman’s Art Journal 1, no. 2 (Autumn 1980–Winter 1981): 30–34.
• Floris Barnett Cash, “Kinship and Quilting: An Examination of an African-American Tradition,” The Journal of Negro History 80, no. 1 (Winter 1995): 30–41.

Nov. 21 (M).    Women and music.

• Kevin Dunn, “Pussy Rioting: The Nine Lives of the Riot Grrrl Revolution,” International Feminist Journal of Politics 16, no. 1 (2014): 317–34.
• Carrie Battan, “Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ Is a Revelation of Spirit,” The New Yorker (April 24, 2016), http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/beyonces-lemonade-is-a-revelation-of-spirit.

[Thanksgiving Recess, Nov. 23–27]

Nov. 28 (M).    Women and politics.

• Freedman, “No Turning Back: Women and Politics,” chapter 14 in No Turning Back, 326–47.

Nov. 30 (W).   Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

• Readings TBA.
• RESEARCH PAPER due.

Dec. 2 (F).       Activism and empowerment.

• Frida Kahlo and Kathe Kollwitz, “Transgressive Techniques of the Guerrilla Girls,” Getty Research Journal no. 2 (2010): 203–208.
• Kevin Dunn and May Summer Farnsworth, “‘We ARE the Revolution’: Riot Grrrl Press, Girl Empowerment, and DIY Self-Publishing,” Women’s Studies 41, no. 2 (2012): 136–57, especially pp. 146–56.

Dec. 5 (M).      Citizen and politics.

• Rankine, Citizen, VI, 81–135.

Dec. 7 (W).      Advocating for change.

• Erica Gilbert-Levin, “Class Feminist,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 165–72.
• Daisy Hernández, “Bringing Feminism a la Casa,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 209–11.

Dec. 9 (F).       Reflections on women, creativity, and activism.

Dec. 14 (W).    SECOND TEST due, 11:30am.

Course requirements: