SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER / SOC 423 & WS 442                    Fall Term 2001

Kathryn Ward                                              Tuesday & Thursday

Office:  3430 Faner Hall                                  12;35-1:50p.m.

        

Office Hours:

                2-4 pm Tuesday-Thursday, 3-5 pm Wednesday or by appointment

              

Phone:  453-7626 (my office) 453-2494 (Soc. Main Office, you can leave a message here) 

E-mail:  kbward@siu.edu 

 

 

Objectives:  This course is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students seeking to expand knowledge of current theory and research in Sociology of Gender.  The course will provide an updated overview of sociological research on the intersection of gender, race, class, and sexuality in contem­porary America and the global economy with particular emphasis on women and men of color.  Students will have the opportunity to develop skills in several areas: traditional scholarly research and writing skills, applied work, and personal reflection.

 

The course will use lectures, class discussions, films, and guest speakers to examine various facets of gender roles, theories to explain gender differences, implication of gender issues for socio­logical research, gender roles in specific subareas such as family and work, and change stra­tegies related to gender, race, class, and sexuality issues. Students will also take responsibility for leading discussions and being prepared for class through readings and active participation.  A number of paperback books are strongly recommended for purchase, since we will read nearly all their contents.  Others are recommended.  The course also relies on some reserve-room and/or on-line readings, all kept on two-hour reserve at the Reserve Desk, Undergraduate Library or at the sociology library.  On the fol­lowing syllabus, an asterisk (*) designates a recommended reading; all other readings are required.  You are expected to have read the assigned materials before coming to class each day; lectures and dis­cussions will presume a familiarity with assigned materials.

 

Since much of the class does depend on discussion and participation, you will be penalized for absences in excess of four class sessions during the term.  There may be slight modifications of the schedule and/or syllabus during the term, so be certain to check with a classmate if it is necessary for you to miss a class.

 

Ground Rules for the Course:

 

 1.    Acknowledge that racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia exist.

 

 2.    Acknowledge that one of the meanings of racism/sexism is that we have been systematically taught misinformation about our own group and espe­cially members of other groups.

 

 3.    We cannot be blamed for the misinformation we have learned, but we will be held responsible for repeating misinformation after we have learned other­wise.

 

 4.    Victims are not to be blamed for their oppression.

 

 5.    We will assume that people are always doing the best they can.

 

 6.    We will actively pursue information about our own groups and those of others.

 

 7.    We will share information about our groups with other members of the class and we will never demean, devalue, or in any way "put down" people for their experiences.

 

 8.    We each have an obligation to actively combat the myths and stereotypes about our own groups and other groups so that we can break down the walls, which prohibit group cooperation and group gain.

 

 9.    We want to create a safe atmosphere for open discussion.  Thus, at times, members of the class may wish to make a comment that they do not want re­peated outside the classroom.  If so, the student will pre­face his or her remarks with a request and the class will agree not to repeat the remarks.

 

**Ground rules by Lynn Weber, Women’s Studies, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. Previously at Center for Research on Women, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152

 

Grading System:  This course will use a modified contract grading system.  Part of your grade will be computed from criteria established by me.  Two-thirds of your grade will be determined by a take-home midterm exam (50 pts), a take-home final exam (50 pts), short response papers/SELF ASSESSMENT (p10) (TBA 20-30 points), and attendance and class partici­pation over materials and leading discussions. The midterm and final are weighted equally.  In each case you will have one week to complete an essay-style exam (typed, double-spaced, and 12 pt font). Your final grade will be computed by dividing your total number of points by the total possible points for the class to yield a percentage. I will assign final grades as follows: 90-100%=A; 80-89%=B; 70-79%=C; 60-69%=D; <59%=F. Thus, your grade depends on your total number of points rather than letter grades on individual assignments.

 

The remaining portion of your grade (50 pts) will be computed from your perfor­mance on an assignment to be contracted between you and me.  Students enter courses with a variety of legitimate learning goals: sharpening traditional scho­larly skills in research and writing; improving skills in applying knowledge to real-world settings; exploring personal orien­tations on issues related to the course.  This contract grading system requires that you assume a portion of the responsibility for defining those goals and designing assign­ments useful in reaching them.

 

The pages following the readings outline a number of types of assign­ments, which may be undertaken for credit as a part of this course.  They are meant to be suggestive rather than definitive; if you have ideas for other useful assignments, please discuss them with me.

 

By the end of the second week of class I would like for you to have prepared a written tentative contract of work you would like to complete.  We then will set up for early the following week brief appointments so that I can discuss your contract with you individually.  Once we agree on an assignment you will complete during the term, we will make modi­fica­tions only by mutual agree­ment.  An outline bibliography of your paper or first set of reviews/papers is due September 20.  Your project is due November 8. If your work is unacceptable, I will return it for rewriting.  All revisions must be turned in by December 7th if they are to receive credit. Otherwise, I expect you to turn in your work (papers, exams, short assignments) when due. Do not wait until December 6th to turn your work in for the first time!!!!!!

 

Also you may use a variety of resources in your assignments, in particular, your contracted work however, your work must be properly cited and referenced. If you use more than three words from a document, article, or paper, you need to use quote marks and cite the page and source. If you have a close paraphrase, you should also provide this information as well. If you use materials from a web page, you need to give me the complete citation so that I can access the web-site. However, I encourage you to use the web and search engines wisely, for example, gathering citations from reputable scholarly journals or government institutions rather than just someone’s personal web page or a series of newspaper articles from regional papers. For any bibliography and the finished project, I require more references to mostly scholarly journals and books than to popular magazines and newspapers. When you hand in your bibliography, I will let you know what references are acceptable and unacceptable.  If I find that you have used unattributed materials from any source (journal, newspaper, or other kinds of articles, personal web pages, paper mills) or have purposely miscited a web address, this will be grounds for a failing grade on your assignment and possibly the class.

 

        If you have questions, feel free to stop by my office or call me at the office (453-7626).

 

 

        Required (all paperback)

 

        Pat Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought 2nd edition (BFT)

       

        Teresa Amott and Julie Matthaei, Race, Gender, and Work 2nd edition (RGW)

 

        Margaret Andersen and Pat Hill Collins, Race, Class, and Gender 4th edition (RCG)

 

        Judith Lorber, Paradoxes of Gender (POG)

 

        Beverly Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

 

        *Recommended

 

        Gloria Anzaldua, Making Face, Making Soul/ Haciendo Caras (MFMS)

       

 

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: I strongly encourage you to get a POP Mail account (necessary for using Eudora and Netscape) or some other e-mail address because occasionally I will be directing you to look at various web sites and resources. E-mail is also a good way to contact me and/or your classmates about questions or concerns that you may have. You can apply for a POP account at any computer lab on campus; you will also need two diskettes for Eudora (e-mail) and Netscape (surfing the web) software. See me if you need help with this.

 

                                         TENATIVE READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

(Which I may change so ask a classmate if you miss class)

       

Week 1 -- Introduction and Overview of Contemporary Gender Roles.   

 

        Collins, Black Feminist Thought, chapter 1.

Andersen and Collins (eds.) “Introduction/Shifting the Center” pp. 1-21 in Race, Class and Gender (RCG)

        Amott and Matthaei, "Intro" Race, Gender & Work (RGW)

        Walker, "Definition of womanist", p. 370 (MFMS).

        Lorber, Intro, Paradoxes of Gender (POG)

        Paula Gunn Allen, “All the Good Indians” Pgs 36-39 in Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons.

 

Week 2 & 3 -- Sociological Research on Gender, Race, and Class Issues.  Personal history assignment and e-mail address (due on August 28).

 

        Gloria Yamato, "Something about the subject makes it hard to name" (RCG or MFMS)

        Peggy McIntosh, "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women's Studies," (RCG)

        Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought, chapters 2, 10.

        Robert Moore “Racist Stereotyping in the English Language.” (RCG)

Elizabeth Martinez, "Seeing More Than Black & White: “ (RCG).

        Marilyn Frye, "Oppression," (RCG) 

       

        Maxine Baca Zinn et al, “Gender through the prism of difference.” (RCG)

        Patricia Williams, “Of race and risk” (RCG)

        Cornell West, “Race matters.” (RCG)

        Peter Blood et al, "Understanding and Fighting Sexism: A Call to Men" (RCG)

       

September 6 --Video

 

        *Patricia Hill Collins,  Fighting Words

        * Ann DuCille, "The Occult of True Black Womanhood." Pp 81-119 in Skin Trade or in Signs  Vol. 13. Spring 1993 (lead article) (read before viewing video)

        *Baca Zinn, et al, "The Costs of Exclusionary Practices in Women's                     

                Studies."  in Anzaldua (MFMS), pp. 29-41.

       

        Week 3-6 -- Gender and Persons of Color

 

Video  September 13  Reaction Paper

 

        Collins, (BFT), chapters 3-5.

Amott and Matthaei, chapters 3-8, (RGW)

       

C. Mathew Snipp, “The first American: American Indians” (RCG)

Ward Churchill "Crimes against humanity" (RCG)

S Elizabeth Bird, Gendered construction of the American Indian in popular media

Journal of Communication; 49(3):61-83 1999 (proquest P);

 

Michael Dyson, "The plight of the young Black male" (RCG)

Elijah Anderson, “The police and the Black male.” (RCG)

Robin Kelly, “ Countering the conspiracy to ignore Black girls” (RCG)

 

Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The myth of the Latin woman: I just meet a girl named Maria.” (RCG)

Joan Moore and Raquel Pinderhughes, "The Latino Population" (RCG)

 

 

        Kit Yuen Quan, "The girl who wouldn't sing," pp. 212-220, (MFMS)

        Nazli Kibria, "Migration and Vietnamese Women" (RCG).

DeborahWoo, “The gap between striving and achieving: The case of Asian American women.” (RCG)

Anthony S Chen “Lives at the center of the periphery, lives at the periphery of the center”

Gender & Society; 13(5):584-607 1999;;

       

*Paula Gunn Allen  Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons.

        *Todd Boyd, Am I Black Enough for You? Chapt 1, 2, 4, 5

        *Grace Poore, “The language of identity.” Pp. 21-33 Shamita Das Gupta (ed.), Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America. 1998.

 

        Week 7 & 8 --  De/constructing Identities

 

        4 October –Video—

 

        Beverly Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria

 

Maxine S Thompson; Verna M Keith; “The blacker the berry: Gender, skin tone, self-esteem, and self-efficacy” Gender & Society; 15(3): 336-357, Jun 2001; (P)

 

 

Suzanna Danuta Walters, "From Here to Queer: Radical Feminism, PostModernism, and the Lesbian Menace) (Or Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Fag?)" Signs 21(4): 830-869. 1996. (on reserve)

       

        Lorber, Chapters 2-3, Paradoxes of Gender  (POG) 

Marilyn Frye, "Willful Virgin or Do You Have to Be  A Lesbian to Be A Feminist?" Pp. 124-137 in Marilyn Frye, Willful Virgin. 1992. (Reading room or reserve)

        Sucheng Chan, "Your Short Besides" pp. 162-168 (MFMS or RCG)

        Mary Waters, "Optional Identities: For Whites Only?” (RCG)

        Audre Lorde, “Age, race, class, and sex.” (RCG)

        Michael Messner, "Masculinities and Athletic Careers," (RCG)

        Ronald Takaki, "A Different Mirror" (RCG)

Yen Le Espiritu, “Ideological Racism and Cultural Resistance: Constructing our Own Images” (RCG)

Lilian Rubin, “Is this a White Country, or What?”

Amy Ferber, “What white supremacists taught a Jewish scholar about identity” (RCG)

        Naomi Wolf, "The Beauty Myth" (RCG)

 

            *Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors

        *Majorie Garber, "Spare Parts: The Surgical Construction of Gender." Pp. 321-338 in Henry Abelove et al (eds.), The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. 1993.

        *Thomas Almaguer, "Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior." Pp. 255-274 in Henry Abelove, et al  (eds.), The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader . 1993.

        *Britton, Dana M. and Christine L. Williams. 1995.  " 'Don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue':  Military policy and the construction of heterosexual masculinity."  Journal of Homosexuality 30:1‑ 21.

        *Serena Nanda, "Hijaras as Neither Man Nor Women" Pp. 542-552 in Henry      Abelove, et al (eds.), The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader . 1993.

        *Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters

       

                                                         M I D T E R M---Oct 11-18th

 

Week 8 & 9   Reproduction, Contraception, Abortion, Mothering, Fathering.

 

Video: Reaction paper

 

        Lorber, Chapters 6,7

        Bonnie Thornton Dill, "Our Mothers' Grief: Racial Ethnic Women and the Maintenance of Families," (RCG)

        Collins, Chapt. 6 (BFT)

        Eleanor Stoller and Rose Gibson, “The Diversity of American Families.” (RCG)

Lynet Uttal, “Racial Safety and Cultural Maintenance: The Child Care Concerns of Employed Mothers of Color.” (RCG)

Sofia Villenas “Latina mothers and small-town racisms: Creating narratives of dignity and moral education in North Carolina” Anthropology and Education Quarterly; 32(1):3, 2001;(P)

Charlotte J Patterson “Family relationships of lesbians and gay men”

Journal of Marriage and the Family; 62(4):1052-1069 2000 (P)

Arlie Russell Hochschild, “The nanny chain”

The American Prospect;  11(4):32-36, Jan 3, 2000;(P)

 

 

*Manisha Roy “Mothers and Daughters in Indian-American Families: A Failed Communication” Pp  97-110 in Shamita Das Gupta (ed.), Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in        America. 1998.

        *Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body (Pgs TBA)

               

Week 10  -- Gender, Family, and Work Roles—

 

        Lorber, Chapters 8, 9

       

        Elizabeth Higginbotham and Lynn Weber, "Moving up with kin and community: upward social mobility for Black and White women" (RCG)

        Katherine Newman, "Working Poor, Working Hard" (RCG)

        Chuck Collins, "Aid to Dependent Corporations: Exposing Federal Handouts to the Wealthy" (RCG)

        Conley, “Wealth matters.” (RCG)

        Jennings and Kushnick, “Poverty as Race, Power, and Wealth.” (RCG)

        Valerie Polakow, “The shredded net: the end of welfare as we knew it.” (RCG)

        Amott and Matthaei, chapts. 9-11

        John P Bartkowski;“One step forward, one step back: "Progressive traditionalism" and the negotiation of domestic labor in evangelical families”Gender Issues; 17(4):37, 1999;

 

Christine B N Chin “Walls of silence and late twentieth century representations of the foreign female domestic worker: The case of Filipina and Indonesian female servants in Malaysia”

The International Migration Review; 31(2):353-385 1997;;

 

Christine G T Ho “Carribbean transnationalism as a gendered process”

Latin American Perspectives; 26(5)-34-54 1999;

 

Rhacel Salazar Parrenas; “Transgressing the nation-state: The partial citizenship and "imagined (global) community" of migrant Filipina domestic workers” Signs;  2001; (P)

       

 

 

        Kathryn Ward, "Reconceptualizing World-System Theory to Include Women."

                In Paula England (ed.) Theory on Gender/Feminism on Theory.  1993. (Soc reading room or on reserve)

* Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein, Making Ends Meet

*Sonia Shah, “Three Hot Meals and  a Full Day at Work: South Asian Women’s Labor in the United States.” Pp. 206-222 in Shamita Das Gupta (ed.), Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America. 1998.

*John D'Emilio, "Capitalism and Gay Identity." Pp. 467-478 in Henry Abelove, et al (eds.), The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader . 1993.

*Hartmann, Heidi.  1976.  "Capitalism, patriarchy, and job segregation by sex."  Signs 1:137‑69.

*Ward, Hossfeld, Carney & O'Kelly, Pyle, and Wolf chapters in Ward, Women Workers and Global Restructuring.

*Robin Jarrett, "Living Poor: Family Life Among Single Parent, African-American Women." Social Problems  41(1): 30-49. 1994

*Reskin, Barbara.  1988.  "Bringing the men back in."  Gender & Society 2:58‑81.

*Judith Rollins, Between Women

 

Week 11 -- Intimate Relationships, Cross-sex and Same sex.

& 12 Halloween Break-- 27 Oct-4 Nov  (no class 30 Oct y 1 Nov.)

 

            Video

 

            Final draft of Paper/Project Due 8 Nov

 

        Lorber, Chapters 4, 5

        Collins, (BFT), chapter 8, 9.

 

Kristin L Anderson; Debra Umberson “Gendering violence: Masculinity and power in men's accounts of domestic violence”Gender & Society; 15(3):358-380 2001 (P)

Russell P Dobash;R Emerson Dobash;Kate Cavanagh;Ruth Lewis;“Separate and intersecting realities: A comparison of men's and women's accounts of violence against women” Violence against Women;  4(4):382-414,-1998; (P)

Margaret Abraham “Sexual abuse in South Asian immigrant marriages”

Violence against Women; 5(6): 591-618 1999 (P)

 

Nancy Berns “Degendering the problem and gendering the blame: Political discourse on women and violence” Gender & Society; 15(2): 262-281 2001; (P)

 

       

Marilyn Frye, "Lesbian 'Sex'. Pp.109-119 in Marilyn Frye, Willful Virgin. 1992. (Soc reading room or reserve)

Schwartz and Rutter, “The gender of sexuality.” (RCG)

        Jordan "A new politics of sexuality" (RCG)

        Bruce Kokopelli and George Lakey, "More Power than We Want: Masculine Sexuality and Violence" (RCG)

        Jason Schultz, "Getting Off on Feminism" (RCG)

        Dana Takagi, "Maiden Voyage, Excursion into Sexuality and Identity Politics in Asian        America" (RCG)

       

*Wendy Chapkis, Live Sex Acts

*Joshua Gamson, Freaks Talk Back

*Satya Krinshnan et al, “Lifting the Veil of Secrecy: Domestic Violence Against South Asian Women in the United States.” Pp. 145-162 in Shamita Das Gupta (ed.), Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America. 1998.

*Sunita Sunder Mukhi, “‘Underneath my Blouse Beats my Indian Heart.’ Sexuality, Nationalism, and Indianwomanhood in the the United States.” Pp. 186-206 in Shamita Das Gupta (ed.), Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America. 1998.

                *Amber Ault, "Ambiguous Identity in an Unambiguous Sex/Gender Structure: The Case of Bisexual Women." TSQ 37(3): 449-465. 1996.

        *Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold:           The History of a Lesbian Community. 

                *Lillian Faderman, What Lesbians Have Done

        *Makeda Silvera, Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Color Anthology

        *Rich, "Compulsory Hetereosexuality and Lesbian Experience," in Signs,

                1978.  Also in Jaggar and     Rothen­berg, Feminist    Frameworks.

        *Rich, "Notes on honor and lying."  From Lies, Secreta and Silences.

        *Paula Gunn Allen, "Hwame, koshkalaka, and the rest:  Lesbians in

                American Indian cultures" in The Sacred Hoop.

               

Week 13 -- The Feminist Movement; Toward Change.

& 14

 

Video—Nov 15

 

Collins, chapt. 7 (BFT)

Lorber, chapt 11

 

Davis, “The Harm that has no name: Street harassment, embodiment, and African American women.” (RCG)

Zia, “Where race and gender meet: Racism, hate crimes, and pornography.”(RCG)

Gail Dines; “King Kong and the white woman: Hustler Magazine and the demonization of black masculinity” Violence against Women;  4(3):291-307. 1998;

Dolores Delgade Bernal, “Grassroots leadership reconceptualized: Chicana oral histories and the 1968 East Los Angeles school blowouts.” Frontiers 19(2): 113-142 (available on Proquest)

 

*Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Ann Snitow (eds.) The Feminist Memoir Project 1998

*Valerie Jenness and Kendal Broad, "Antiviolence Activism and the (Invisibility) of Gender in Gay/Lesbian and Women's Movements." Gender & Society 8(3): 402-423. 1994.

*Douglas Pryor, Preface, Chapter 1, 9 in Unspeakable Acts: Why Men Sexually Abuse Children 1996 (Soc reading room or reserve)

*Belinda Robnett, How Long, How Long?

                *Paula Gunn Allen, "Who is your mother:  Red roots of white feminism" in

                The Sacred Hoop.

       

       

Week 15-16 --  Transformation/Theory (Thanksgiving—no classes 22 Nov)

 

All revisions due by 7 December (not first drafts!!!!)

 

        Collins, (BFT), chapter 11.

        H. Patricia Hynes, "Intro; Harlem: Flowers Feed the Soul; Why So Many Women? Epilogue." Pp.vii-xvii, 1-38; 149-162. in A Patch of Eden: America's Inner City Gardens. 1996 (Soc reading room or on reserve)

        Kraus, “Women of color on the front line.” (RCG)

        Audre Lorde, "The master's tools will never dismantle the

           master's house" in Sister Outsider. (Soc reading room or on reserve)

 

        *Bettina Aptheker, Tapestries of Life, Chaps. 4 & 6.

        *Audre Lorde, "I am your sister," pp. 321-325, (MFMS)

        *Carolyn Heilbrun, Chap. 7, Writing A Woman's Life.

        *Sonia Johnson, Going Out of Our Minds.

               

FINAL Tues, Dec 11 7:50-9:50pm.!!!!!

 

Self Assessment Student:  I think I have earned an __ in this class. Please provide a one page rationale of your assessment. Re-read the goals and course requirements and include such items as the grades on your essays/exams, improvement in writing, your capacity for integration and reflection on the material presented, your participation in class discussions, your success at reading material in advance of each class session, your preparation/participation in groups, and any other information that you think is relevant. Do NOT include how much time you spent outside of class reading and/or writing.

                                                                                 


SUGGESTED ASSIGNMENTS

 

1.  Major research paper.  You may write a library or original-research paper (15-20 pp.; references beyond assigned readings in class).  Any data col­lection method is acceptable (content analysis, survey, inten­sive interview, etc.) but must be well applied and appropriate to the topic.  Papers must be typed.  Please clear topics with me ahead of time.  Examples of possible topics: minority women in professional roles; shared job arrangements (Graduate students are encour­aged to select this option and to aim toward producing a paper submittable to a professional meet­ing.)

 

2.  Short paper.  You may write four (4) more limited, tightly focused papers on a topic covered in class or related to gender.  Short papers can either be written entirely from materials assigned for reading in class, or supple­mented by a few additional readings.  They may be com­ments on commentaries on readings assigned, syntheses of two or more pieces; comments on current events linking them to issues discussed in class; newspaper "editorial" type pieces commenting on policy issues and the like.  These should run 4-8 pp. with topics cleared with me in advance.  They should be typed and have references beyond the class materials.

 

3.  Book Reviews.  You may read three to four books (beyond assigned materials, although recommended readings are okay) and write a critical book review relating content to perspectives developed in class.  You also may do a sociological analysis of a literary work.  By that I mean analyze a literary work according to what it tells you about society and social relationships among key characters, rather than for its literary qualities.  I will give lists of several suggested titles, or you can clear alternatives with me.  Look at Contemporary Sociology for examples of the form of the review. Each review must contain (a) concise book summary (b) your reactions to book (c) how the book relates to the class content and discussions.

 

4.  Film Critiques.  You may view four films (commercially distributed, student film series, Learning Resource list, etc.) or a television program or series related to the content of the course, then writes a critical review.  You may not do this for films to be shown as a part of this course, however.  Critiques and commentaries should run 4-8 typed pages. Each review must contain (a) concise movie summary (b) your reactions to movie (c) how the movie relates to the class content and discussions.

 

5. An inclusive teaching packet designed for use by high school educators. This is a program sponsored by the Women's Studies program. Guidelines available on request.  You can include short articles, pictures, outlines, and or exercises.

 

6.  Your own creative idea: a performance, photos, poems. A written narrative with references must accompany this project.

Soc423/WS442 Sociology of Gender

 

                                                     Personal Herstory/History Assignment

 

Please provide your pop mail address on the top of your paper with your name. The purpose of this assignment is to get you to start thinking about your life and how you have become a female or male with all the biological, psychological, sociological etc conceptu­alizations of gender and race/ethnicity.  There are no right or wrong answers.  You will turn in your typed answers in class on Tuesday, August 28.  Answer the ques­tions on additional sheets of paper.  Also please use correct spelling and grammar. 

 

1. When were you first aware that there was such a thing as differences in gender, race, class, and sexuality?  How old were you?  How did you tell?  Was this in a rural or urban setting?

 

2. How many brothers and sisters do you have?  Did you notice your parents treating you any differently as you grew up? Preschool age, grade school age, high school, and college, adult (real world)?

 

3.  What types of messages did you receive about gender and race roles from your schooling?  Differences in sports, classes, guidance counselors etc?

 

4.  What kinds of messages did you get about your proper gender, race, and sexuality roles as you entered adolescence and puberty?  Did your friends change?

 

5.  How do you see yourself as different from white ethnic women (men)?  How do you see yourself as the same as white ethnic women (men)?

 

6.  What types of messages have you received about gender, race, class, and sexuality from the media, for example, TV, movies, commercials?

 

7.  What have been the accomplishments of the women's and civil rights movement in the last fifteen years? The benefits? The costs? The ambivalences?

 

8.  Is it possible for women (men) to combine having a family and a career? In other words, have it all? (Why aren't men asked this question???)  How have your thoughts/actions on this matter shaped your career and fertility decisions?

 

9.  How do you deal with family or friends who make obviously sexist and racist remarks? How do you deal with men (women) who make ob­viously sexually and racially harassing remarks? On the street? Classroom?­ Workplace?