Mike Johnson
415 Oswald Tower
865-1937, mpj@psu.edu
www.personal.psu.edu/mpj
This course is designed to be the capstone course for the WMNST major. It is organized around the assumption that the students enrolled in it are senior Women's Studies majors.
Women’s Studies and Feminism
Women’s Studies Program Mission:
·To promote the highest quality feminist scholarship
on a national and international level,
especially through stimulating interdisciplinary
and collaborative work..
·To foster students' active learning, critical
thinking skills, and engagement in constructive
social change.
·To bring feminist teaching and scholarship from
a global perspective to the campus,
community, and alumnae/i, creating opportunities
for informed dialogue about women
and gender.
My personal favorite definition of feminism:
“You're a feminist if you believe that (1) men are privileged relative to women, (2) that's not right, and (3) you're going to do something about it, even if it's only in your personal life.”Don’t be fooled into believing that men’s “privilege” is in any sense a trivial matter. We must never forget that lurking behind the other forms of male privilege that we will study is the raw fact that, all over the world, women are bought-and-sold, beaten, raped, and murdered--because they are women.
The Course Goals and General Structure
There are two core elements of the course. The first is class discussion of readings addressing some of the major current feminist issues. The topics were selected from among those suggested by Women's Studies faculty and those of you who contacted me in response to my request for topics. The second core element of the course is each individual student doing a term paper. Work on these individual papers will take place both publicly and privately, so that everyone in the course will learn something about how feminist projects are constructed in the various disciplines represented by your choices.
OUTLINE OF TOPICS
II. Women and the Body
A. Transgendered worldsIII. Women, Work, and Welfare
B. Women and pornography
C. Evolutionary psychology and the renewed biologizing of gender
D. Dilemmas of reproductive technologies
E. Gender and domestic violence
A. Women, paid work, and unpaid workIV. Student Topics
B. The impact of so-called welfare reform
V. Women and Relationships
A. Women and parentingVI. Feminism in the 21st Century (again)
B. Women as close relationship partners
GRADES
What does this have to do with grades? Grades shape behavior. Unfortunately, they also often produce anxiety and create a power imbalance between teacher and student. Thus, I have tried to develop a grading system that serves two major functions: (1) to shape your behavior in directions that will encourage thoughtful reading and maximum class participation; and (2) to give you as much control over your own grade as possible.
Readings and Class Participation. In order to encourage an integrative and thoughtful reading style, there will be no examinations in this course. Rather, a major percent of your grade will be based on your ideas about the main points made in each reading. In order to keep you reading to identify the significant arguments, evidence, etc. in the assigned readings, I will ask you to bring thoughtful discussion questions with you to class each day. Each of these question sets is worth ONE POINT. Thus, if you do all of the readings and bring the required question sets to class, you will have 28 points toward your grade. You will need 90 points total for an A, 80 for a B, 70 for a C, and 60 for a D. The 28 points therefore comprise about one third of what you need for an A.
Another 28 points will be available for class participation. You will receive ONE POINT for every day that you are active and informed and participate well enough that you contribute to other people's learning. So, if you do all of the question sets, attend all the classes and participate meaningfully in the discussions, you will have about two thirds of what you need for an A, but—you may have noted—not yet enough to pass the course. The rest of your points will come from your own exciting project.
Term Project. This is an opportunity for you to delve into a feminist issue that is of special interest to you, to work on your research and writing skills, and to share your findings with other committed feminist scholars (us). This will be a library paper plus a class presentation, structured to meet the University requirements for a W-course, i.e., a writing project organized into a series of stages in which I give you feedback on your writing.
Start the library paper by picking a feminist topic that interests you deeply and about which enough has been written by scholars that you can reasonably expect to write a 10-15 page paper about what they have said. I would like you to give me a one-page description of that topic and why you chose it on January 23. I will then meet with you and work with you as much as you need me, to help you to make your topic choice manageable within the time frame of a semester.
You will work to put together a draft bibliography on your topic early enough in the semester to give you lots of time to read the literature and write your paper before the class presentations start in mid March. On February 8, I would like you to give me (a) an annotated bibliogrpahy, (b) a two-page text description of the major themes you see in your annotated bibliography, and (c) a topic outline for the paper. I will continue to work with you individually as much as you’d like, to help you to develop your writing skills, your paper and your class presentation.
The class presentations will begin in mid March so that we will be finished with them by mid-April. Each class presentation is half of a class period. Plan to spend 15-20 minutes on your formal presentation and 15 minutes facilitating a discussion of your paper and the general topic to which it refers. Any good faith effort will get you credit for your presentation. The first draft of your paper is due the day of your presentation. The paper should be a standard 10-15 page term paper with proper citations. Use whatever format is standard for your discipline of choice. I will give you a tentative grade and thorough feedback in time for you to do the final draft, which is due by the last day of classes, April 26.
Here's a summary of the point system I've just described:
| One point each for readings | 28 points |
| One point for each class to which you contribute | 28 points |
| Twenty points for your paper | 20 points |
| Twenty points for your class presentation | 20 points |
| Four points for the required course evaluation 4/26 | 4 points |
| TOTAL | 100 points |
Notice some of the implications of this system. (1) You can’t get an A in this course without doing something of everything. In fact, you need to do most of everything because if you leave out more than 10 points you drop to a B. (2) If you do the work and pay attention to my feedback on your writing you can have an A if you want one. (3) If you are willing to settle for a lot less than an A, you could leave some things out. (4) About half the points are designed to ensure that we will have productive discussions in class because you will have read the material and will be motivated to contribute to the discussion. (5) About half the points are related to your paper and class presentation, i.e., to your own central interests. (6) The heaviest load (regular preparation for class plus the major work on your paper) will be over for you weeks before the end of the semester.
CLASS SESSIONS AND READINGS
Pepper Schwartz, Love Between Equals is at the bookstores.
The other assigned readings are on electronic
reserve.
(*indicates assigned readings)
Discussion of courseTh, January 11: Feminism in the 21st century (25pp)
Discussion of paper topics
*Myra Marx Ferree and Beth B. Hess. (2000). Looking toward the new millennium. Pp. 195-219 in Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement Across Four Decades of Change. New York: Routledge.
E. Ann Kaplan. (1997). “Feminism, aging, and changing paradigms.” Pp. 13-29 in Devoney Looser and E. Ann Kaplan (Eds.), Generations: Academic Feminists in Dialogue. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.T, January 16: Feminism in the 21st century (42pp)Devoney Looser. (1997). “Gen X feminists? Youthism, careerism, and the Third Wave.” Pp. 31-54 in Devoney Looser and E. Ann Kaplan (Eds.), Generations: Academic Feminists in Dialogue. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
*Gloria Steinem. (1995). “Forward.” In Rebecca Walker (Ed.). (1995). To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism (pp. xiii-xxviii). New York: Anchor.Th, January 18: Transgendered worlds (40pp)*Rebecca Walker. (1995). “Being real: An introduction.” In Rebecca Walker (Ed.). (1995). To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism (pp. xxviii-xl). New York: Anchor.
Leslie Heywood and Jennifer Drake (Eds.). (1997). Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
Marcelle Karp and Debbie Stoller. (1999) The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order. New York: Penguin.
*Kate Bornstein. (1994). “The first question” and “The other questions.” Pp. 101-140 in Kate Bornstein, Gender Outlaw. New York: Routledge.T, January 23: Transgendered worlds Paper Topic Due
*Film: “The Brandon Teena Story” or "Boys Don't Cry"Th, January 25: Women and pornography (34pp)
*Catharine A. MacKinnon. (1997). “The roar on the other side of silence.” Pp. 3-24 in Catharine A. MacKinnon & Andrea Dworkin (Eds.), In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.T, January 30: Women and pornography (31pp)*Andrea Dworkin. (1997). “Suffering and speech.” Pp. 25-36 in Catharine A. MacKinnon & Andrea Dworkin (Eds.), In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
Ann Ferguson; Ilene Philipson; Irene Diamond & Lee Quinby; Carole S. Vance & Ann Barr Snitow. (1984). “Forum: The sexuality debates.” Signs, 10, 106-135.
Kathleen Barry. (1995). The Prostitution of Sexuality. New York: New York University.
*Jane Juffer. (1998). “Introduction: From the profane to the mundane.” Pp. 1-31 in Jane Juffer, At Home with Pornography: Women, Sex, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University.Th, February 1: The Renewed Biologizing of Gender (31pp)
*Richard C. Lewontin. (1977). "Biological determinism as a social weapon." Pp. 6-18 in The Ann Arbor Science for the People Editorial Collective (Eds.), Biology as a Social Weapon. Minneapolis: Burgess.
*Sociobiology Study Group. (1977). "Sociobiology: A new biological determinism." Pp. 131-151 in The Ann Arbor Science for the People Editorial Collective (Eds.), Biology as a Social Weapon. Minneapolis: Burgess.T, February 6: The Renewed Biologizing of Gender (35pp)
*Frans B. M. de Waal. (2000). “Survival of the rapist.” New York Times Book Review (April 2).Th, February 8: Dilemmas of Reproductive Technologies (32pp)*Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer. (2000). “Why do men rape.” Pp. 53-84 in Thornhill and Palmer, A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Jerry A. Coyne. (2000). The fairy tales of evolutionary psychology: Of vice and men. The New Republic, April 3, pp. ??.
*Katha Pollitt. (1990). “Fetal rights: A new assault on feminism.” The Nation, March 26, 1990, pp. 409ff.T, February 13: Dilemmas of Reproductive Technologies (20pp)*Dion Farquhar. (1996). “ARTs of discourse: Donors, dads, mothers, and others.” Pp. 13-39 in Dion Farquhar, The Other Machine: Discourse and Reproductive Technologies. New York: Routledge.
E. Ann Kaplan and Susan Squier (Eds.). (1999). Playing Dolly: Technocultural Formations, Fantasies, and Fictions of Assisted Reproduction. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers.
Sarah Franklin (Ed.). (1997). Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Embodied Conception. New York: Routledge.
*Joan Mahoney. (1995). “Adoption as a feminist alternative to reproductive technology.” Pp. 35-54 in Joan C. Callahan (Ed.), Reproductive Ethics and the Law: Feminist Perspectives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Th, February 15: Gender and Domestic Violence (21pp)Lee Silver. (1997). “A glimpse of things to come.” In Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World. New York : Avon Books.
Gena Corea. (1990). “The new reproductive technologies.” In Dorchen Leidholdt and Janice Raymond, The Sexual Liberals and the Attack on Feminism.
Tom L. Beauchamp and LeRoy Walters. (1999). Contemporary Issues in Bioethics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
*Michael P. Johnson. (In press). “Conflict and control: Images of symmetry and asymmetry in domestic violence.” In Alan Booth and Ann C. Crouter (Eds.), Couples in Conflict. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001.T, February 20: Gender and Domestic Violence (25pp)
*Catherine Kirkwood. (1993). “Obstacles to securing independence.” Pp. 89-113 in Catherine Kirkwood, Leaving Abusive Partners: From the Scars of Survival to the Wisdom for Change. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Th, February 22: Women and Work (19pp)
*Myra Marx Ferree. (1990). "Beyond separate spheres: Feminism and family research." Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 866-884.T, February 27: Women and Work (20pp)Scott Coltrane. (1996). “The future.” Pp. 199-235 in Scott Coltrane, Family Man: Fatherhood, Housework, and Gender Equity. New York: Oxford University Press.
*Joan Acker. (1990). “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations.” Gender and Society, 4, 139-158.Th, March 1: Women in Poverty (20pp)
*Kathryn Edin & Laura Lein. (1997). Two tables on survival strategies and “The choice between welfare and work.” Pp. 150-151 and 218-235 in Edin & Lein, Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage.T, March 13: The Impact of So-Called Welfare Reform (19pp)
*Gordon, Linda. (1994). "Welfare reform: A history lesson." Dissent,41 (Summer), 323-328.*Gwendolyn Mink. (1998). Feminists, welfare reform, and welfare justice. Social Justice, 25 (1), 146-157.
*Katha Pollitt. (2000). “The politics of personal responsibility.” The Nation, 271 (1, August 21/28), 12.
Christopher Jencks and Joseph Swingle. (2000). "Without a Net: Whom the New Welfare Law Helps and Hurts," The American Prospect,11 (4).
Randy Albelda. (1999). What welfare reform has wrought. Dollars & Sense. n221. Jan 1999. pp. 15-17.
Gwendolyn Mink. (1998). The lady and the tramp II: Feminist welfare politics, poor single mothers, and the challenge of welfare justice. Feminist Studies, 24 (1), 55-64.
Ruth Sidel. (1998). “Epilogue: Abandoning the poor.” In Ruth Sidel, Keeping women and children last: America's war on the poor. NY: Penguin.
http://www.clasp.org/pubs/TANF/tanffederal.htm
T, March 20: Class Presentations
Th, March 22: Class Presentations
T, March 27: Class Presentations
Th, March 29: Class Presentations
T, April 3: Class Presentations
Th, April 5: Class Presentations
T, April 10: Women and Parenting (33pp)
*Jessie Bernard. (1972). “Mother is a role, women are human beings.” Pp. 7-16 in Jessie Bernard, The Future of Motherhood.Th, April 12: Women and Parenting: Lesbian Mothers (29pp)*Patricia Hill Collins, "Black women and motherhood." Pp. 115-137 in Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. London: Harper Collins, 1990.
Adrienne Rich. (1986). “Ten years later: A new introduction.” Pp. ix-xxxv in Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. New York: W. W. Norton.
*Charlotte J. Patterson & Raymond W. Chan. (1999). “Families headed by lesbian and gay parents.” Pp. 191-219 in Michael E. Lamb (Ed), Parenting and Child Development in "Nontraditional" Families. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.T, April 17: Women as Close Relationship PartnersSusan E. Dalton & Denise D. Bielby. (2000). “That's our kind of constellation: Lesbian mothers negotiate institutionalized understandings of gender within the family.” Gender & Society,14, 36-61.
Charlotte J. Patterson & Richard E. Redding. (1996). “Lesbian and gay families with children: Implications of social science research for policy.” Journal of Social Issues, 52 (3), Fall 1996, 29-50.
*Pepper Schwartz, Love Between Equals. (pages to be assigned)Th, April 19: Women as Close Relationship Partners
*Pepper Schwartz, Love Between Equals. (pages to be assigned)T, April 24: Feminism in the 21st Century (54pp)
*Michelle Jensen. (2000). “Riding the third wave.” The Nation, December 11, 2000, pp. 24ff.Th, April 26: Course Evaluation Attendance Mandatory, Final Draft of Paper Due*Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards. (2000). “What is activism?” Pp. 267-314 in Baumgardner and Richards, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.