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 three of the aspirational goals of the curriculum: a critical understanding of social inequalities (substantially), a critical understanding of cultural difference (partially), and an intellectual foundation for ethical judgment as a basis for socially responsible action (partially).

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.
• 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. 27 (M).    Overview of the course.

Aug. 29 (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.

Aug. 31 (F).     What is feminism?

• Freedman, “The Historical Case for Feminism,” chapter 1 in No Turning Back, 1–13.
• Katie McDonough, “I’m Not a Feminist, But…,” Salon,Apr. 6, 2013, https://www.salon.com/2013/04/06/im_not_a_feminist_but/
• SHORT RESEARCH REPORT: FEMINISM due.

Sept. 3 (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. 5 (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. 7 (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. 10 (M).    Race and American feminism.

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

Sept. 12 (W).   Race and American feminism: women’s voices.

• Rankine, Citizen, I, 5–18.

Sept. 14 (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.

Sept. 17 (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. 19 (W).   Gender, religion, culture, and identity: the veil.

• Marjane Satrapi, “The Veil,” in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (New York: Pantheon Books, 2003), 3–9.
• Sarah C. Bell, “Nubo: The Wedding Veil,” in The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, ed. Jennifer Heath (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2008), 171–73.
• Aisha Lee Fox Shaheed, “Dress Codes and Modes: How Islamic Is the Veil?” in Heath, The Veil, 290–306.

Sept. 21 (F).     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. 24 (M).    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. 26 (W).   Gender, work, and family: social policies.

• 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.

Sept. 28 (F).     Gender, work, and family: child care.

• 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. 1 (M).Women as 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. 3 (W).Health and disability.

• Freedman, “Medicine, Markets, and the Female Body,” chapter 9 in No Turning Back, 203–28.

Oct. 5 (F).Health, beauty, and size.

• Jacqueline Howard, “The History of the ‘Ideal’ Woman and Where That Has Left Us,” CNN, Mar. 9, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/health/body-image-history-of-beauty-explainer-intl/index.html
• Sander Gilman, “Judging by Appearances,” Chapter 1 of Making the Body Beautiful (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), 3–42.

[Fall Recess, Oct. 6–9]

Oct. 10 (W).     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. 12 (F).      Women and sports.

• Rankine, Citizen, II, 23–37.
• C. Ramsey Fahs, “2012 Harvard Men's Soccer Team Produced Sexually Explicit ‘Scouting Report’ on Female Recruits,” The Crimson, Oct. 25, 2016, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/10/25/harvard-mens-soccer-2012-report/

Oct. 15 (M).     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. 17 (W).     Reproduction: women’s voices.

• Allison Crews, “And So I Chose,” in Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, ed. Barbara Findlen(Emeryville, Calif.: Seal Press, 2001), 142–49.
• Katherine Stewart, “What Seeking an Abortion Was Like Before Roe v. Wade,” AlterNet, Sept. 3, 2014, https://www.alternet.org/gender/what-seeking-abortion-was-roe-v-wade

Oct. 19 (F).      Sexuality and self-determination.

• Freedman, “Sexualities, Identities, and Self-Determination,” chapter 11 in No Turning Back, 253–75.

Oct. 22 (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, ed. Eric Liu (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994), 146–63.

Oct. 24 (W).     Sex work.

• Alexandra Lutnick and Deborah Cohan, “Criminalization, Legalization or Decriminalization of Sex Work: What Female Sex Workers Say in San Francisco, USA,” Reproductive Health Matters: An International Journal on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 17 (2009): 38–46.
• Denise Brennan, “Selling Sex for Visas: Sex Tourism as a Stepping-stone to International Migration,” in Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 154–68.

Oct. 26 (F).      Film: Sut Jhally, dir., Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women (Northampton, Mass.: Media Education Foundation, 2010).

• FIRST TEST due.

Oct. 29 (M).     Gender and violence.

• Freedman, “Gender and Violence,” chapter 12 in No Turning Back, 276–302.

Oct. 31 (W).     Sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement.

• Jessica Bennett, “The ‘Click’ Moment: How the Weinstein Scandal Unleashed a Tsunami,” The New York Times, Nov. 6, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/us/sexual-harrasment-weinstein-trump.html.
• Jodi Kantor, “#MeToo Called for an Overhaul. Are Workplaces Really Changing?” The New York Times, Mar. 24, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/us/sexual-harassment-workplace-response.html.
• Jessica Bennett, “After #MeToo, the Ripple Effect,” The New York Times, Jun. 28, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/arts/what-is-next-metoo-movement.html.

Nov. 2 (F).       Rape.

• Helen Benedict, “The Scandal of Military Rape,” Ms. Magazine (Fall 2008): 40–45.
• Katie J. M. Baker, "Here's the Powerful Letter the Stanford Victim Read Aloud to Her Attacker," BuzzFeed, Jun. 3, 2016, https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/heres-the-powerful-letter-the-stanford-victim-read-to-her-ra?utm_term=.cqNmlqARe#.xrm8obq49

Nov. 5 (M).      Creativity and feminism.

• Freedman, “New Words and Images: Women’s Creativity as Feminist Practice,” chapter 13 in No Turning Back, 305–25.

Nov. 7 (W).     Creativity and work: tour of Davis Gallery.

• (Start reading Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, vii–xiv, 3–114.)

Nov. 9 (F).       NO CLASS.

Nov. 12 (M).    Women as writers.

• Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, vii–xiv, 3–114.

Nov. 14 (W).   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.

Nov. 16 (F).     Women and crafting.

• 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.

[Thanksgiving Recess, Nov. 19–23]

Nov. 26 (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.
• Melissa Harris-Perry, “A Call and Response with Melissa Harris-Perry: The Pain and the Power of ‘Lemonade,’ Elle, Apr. 26, 2016, https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a35903/lemonade-call-and-response.

Nov. 28 (W).   Women and politics.

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

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

• Greta Christina, “7 of the Less-Noted but Still Very Sexist Attacks on Hillary Clinton,” AlterNet, Aug. 19, 2016, http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/7-less-noted-still-very-sexist-attacks-hillary-clinton
• Matthew Sheffield, "Bernie Sanders: It Is Not Good Enough for Someone to Say 'I'm a Woman, Vote for Me," AlterNet, Nov. 22, 2016, http://www.alternet.org/print/election-2016/bernie-sanders-identity-politics
• Amy Chozick, “Hillary Clinton Ignited a Feminist Movement. By Losing,” The New York Times, Jan. 13, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/sunday-review/hillary-clinton-feminist-movement.html

Dec. 3 (M).      Activism and empowerment.

• Frida Kahlo and Kathe Kollwitz, “Transgressive Techniques of the Guerrilla Girls,” Getty Research Journal no. 2 (2010): 203–8.
• 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 (W).      Citizen and politics.

• Rankine, Citizen, VI, 81–135.

Dec. 7 (F).       Advocating for change.

• Erica Gilbert-Levin, “Class Feminist,” in Findlen, Listen Up, 165–72.
• Angela Y. Davis, “Justice for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Communities” and “Difficult Dialogues,” in The Meaning of Freedom and Other Difficult Dialogues (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2012).

Dec. 10 (M).    Conclusions.

Dec. 18 (Tu).   SECOND TEST due, 10:00pm.

Communications:
I am happy to meet with you outside of class during my office hours (see top of syllabus), or at another time that is convenient for you, in 208 Houghton House. The best way to reach me to set up an appointment is by e-mail, but please note that I regularly read e-mail only between 9:00am and 4:30pm. If I need to contact students, I generally will do so via HWS e-mail and Announcements on Canvas (see Websites below). You should develop the habit of checking both on a regular basis.

Attendance policy:
I consider attendance at lectures to be mandatory. That said, if you have a reasonable excuse for missing a class (including celebration of a religious holiday, athletic participation, a field trip for a different course, or illness), I expect you to notify me as soon as possible—preferably in advance—and to turn in a one- to two-page essay on the topics covered on the day of your absence, within a week of your return to class. Not doing so will directly impact your participation grade. If you are absent four times or more, you should be prepared for me to notify the Deans about your performance. I will be taking attendance regularly.

Course requirements: