SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER
sociology 920:324
women’s and gender studies 988:324

Instructor: Asia Friedman    
Contact Information: afriedman@sociology.rutgers.edu
Office Hours: College Ave. Student Center, Mondays 1:30-2:30

Location: Frelinghuysen Hall-A1
Time: MW 5, 2:50-4:10

Course Description: This course is a preliminary investigation of “gender” as a social category. In the first half of the course we will investigate the distinction between sex and gender, criticisms of that distinction, and the implications of both for feminism. In the second half of the course we will look at selected issues in gender inequality/difference. The issues we will focus on are, broadly, the body and feminism, gendered work, and masculinity.

Grading:

The remaining 15% of your grade will be based on attendance and class participation. To get the full points for this portion of the course, you will need to complete the readings, regularly participate and ask/answer questions, and be present in class virtually every time. My attendance policy is that you can miss three classes over the course of the semester with no questions asked. However, beyond that, any absences will impact your grade (whether you have a good excuse or not). I also expect that when you are present you will be present and paying attention. This means that when I ask a question, you should try to answer it if you can. It also means that if I catch you doing work for another class, sleeping, reading the newspaper, or anything else unrelated to the class, I will make a note of it and it will be reflected in your grade.

Academic Honesty:
If I determine that you have plagiarized any part of a paper, I will immediately turn the matter over to my supervisors in the Sociology department and the dean’s office. I will not negotiate with you, so do not take the risk.

Familiarize yourself with the university’s policy here: http://teachx.rutgers.edu/integrity/.

Also see this link from the University of California Davis, which defines in very clear terms what constitutes plagiarism and how to cite and paraphrase correctly to avoid it:
http://sja.ucdavis.edu/avoid.htm.

Schedule of Topics and Readings:

W 1/19            Introductions, syllabus review, in-class exercises on the social construction of gender

PART 1          THE SEX/GENDER DISTINCTION

M 1/24            Historical roots of gender: Early articulations of the political and social questions that led to the formulation of the concept of gender
Introduction, pp. 1-15, by the editors and Sherry Ortner, “Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?” pp. 67-87 in Rosaldo, Michelle Zimbalist and Louise Lamphere (eds.). 1974. Woman, Culture and Society. Stanford: University of California Press.

W 1/26            What is gender?
Preface, pp. v-viii and “The Concept of Gender” pp. xxi-xxix in Conway, Jill K., Bourque, Susan and Scott, Joan W. (eds). 1989. Learning about Women: Gender, Politics and Power. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

M 1/31 & W 2/2        
West, Candace and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1:2, pp. 125-151.

Judith Lorber, “Night to His Day” from Paradoxes of Gender  (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995) pp. 13-37

Peter Glick and Susan T. Fiske, “Gender, Power Dynamics, and Social Interaction” pp. 365-398 in Ferree, Myra Max, Lorber, Judith and Hess, Beth B. (eds.). 1999. Revisioning Gender. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

M 2/7 & W 2/9  Challenges to the validity of the concept of gender
Lorde, Audre. 1984. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speaches. Trumansburg: The Crossing Press. “An Open Letter to Mary Daly” pp. 66-71; “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” pp. 110-113; “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” pp. 114-123

Ruth Frankenberg, “Whiteness as an unmarked social category” in The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness. Edited by Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Eric Klinenberg, Irene J. Nexica and Matt Wray (Duke University Press, 2001)

Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies” (Working Paper 189. "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming To See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies" (1988) Wellesley College Center for Research on Women)

Hill-Collins “Toward a New Vision: Race Class and Gender as Units of Analysis” from Race, Sex & Class 1(1): 25-45. Orginally published as a research paper by the Center for Research on Women at Memphis State University in 1989. (20)
***question for essay 1 distributed in class on 2/9**

M 2/14 & W 2/16          Biographical writings on gender and difference
Mary Romero, “Life as The Maid’s Daughter: An Exploration of the Everyday Boundaries of Race, Class and Gender” (in Romero, Hondagneu-Sotelo and Ortiz eds., Challenging Fronteras. (New York: Routledge Press). pp. 195-209.)

Dorothy Allison, “A Question of Class” in M. Crawford & R. Unger (Eds.). In our own words: Writings from Women's Lives (Boston: McGraw-Hill. 2nd Edition).

Lucal, Betsy. 1999. “What it Means to be a Gendered Me: Life on the Boundaries of a Dichotomous Gender System.” Gender & Society 13:6, pp. 781-797.
***essay 1 due in class on 2/16**

                       
M 2/21 & W 2/23  Science infiltrated by gender
Martin, Emily. 1991. “The Egg and The Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles.” Signs 16: 485-501.

Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Society Writes Biology / Biology Constructs Gender” pp. 61-75 in Conway, Jill K., Bourque, Susan and Scott, Joan W. (eds). 1989. Learning about Women: Gender, Politics and Power. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1988. Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order. New Haven: Yale University Press. (Chapter 2, “A Question of Method: The Sociology of the Scientific Analysis of Sex and Gender, pp. 17-45)

M 2/28            Do males and females even exist?
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. 2000. Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books, pp. 30-114

Judith Lorber, “Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology” pp. 13-22 in Zinn, Maxine Baca, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, and Messner, Michael (eds). 2000. Gender Through the Prism of Difference (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

W 3/2              Criticisms of feminist analyses of science (intersectionality revisited)
Patricia Hill Collins, “Moving Beyond Gender: Intersectionality and Scientific Knowledge” pp. 261-28 in Ferree, Myra Max, Lorber, Judith and Hess, Beth B. (eds.). 1999. Revisioning Gender. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

M 3/7              What does it all mean for feminism?
Gamson, Joshua. 1995. “Must Identity Movements Self-Destruct? A Queer Dilemma.” Social Problems 42:3, pp. 390-407.
**Question distributed for mid-term take home essay**

W 3/9              T.B.A.
**Mid-term take home essay due**

spring break 3/12-3/20

PART 2

A. The Problem of the Body for Feminism

M 3/21                        History/philosophy of the problem of the body for feminism
Ludmilla Jordanova, “Natural Facts: A Historical Perspective on Science and Sexuality” pp. 157-168 in Price, Janet and Margrit Shildrick (eds). 1999. Feminist Theory and The Body: A Reader. New York: Routledge.

Chapter 1, “Bodies of Feminist Knowledge” pp. 1-18 in Brook, Barbara. 1999. Feminist Perspectives on the Body. London and New York: Longman.

W 3/23            Two examples of contemporary feminist theories of the body
Moira Gatens, “Power, Bodies and Difference” pp. 237-234 in Price, Janet and Margrit Shildrick (eds). 1999. Feminist Theory and The Body: A Reader. New York: Routledge.

Connell, R.W. “Making Gendered People: Bodies, Identities, Sexualities” pp. 449-471 in Ferree, Myra Max, Lorber, Judith and Hess, Beth B. (eds.). 1999. Revisioning Gender. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

M 3/28            (continued)

B. The Body as a Central Feminist Issue

W 3/30            Gendered violence
Jack C. Straton, “The Myth of the ‘Battered Husband Syndrome’” pp. 126-128 in Zinn, Maxine Baca, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, and Messner, Michael (eds). 2000. Gender Through the Prism of Difference (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Beth Richie and Valli Kanuha, “Battered Women of Color in Public Health Care Systems: Racism, Sexism, and Violence” pp. 129-136 in Zinn, Maxine Baca, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, and Messner, Michael (eds). 2000. Gender Through the Prism of Difference (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Tim Beneke, “Men on Rape” pp. 312-317 in Kimmel, Michael S. and Michael A. Messner (eds). 1989. Men’s Lives (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Jack M. “Confessions of a Date Rapist” pp. 318-321 in Kimmel, Michael S. and Michael A. Messner (eds). 1989. Men’s Lives (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

M 4/4  & W 4/6          Gendered norms of appearance

Homework Assignment due 4/6: Spend one hour at a drug store with a “gendered lens” on and describe what you see. What percentage (approximately) of products are male vs. female vs. unsexed? Are there products that you perceive as for one sex that do not explicitly state so? If yes, how do you know? What differences do you notice between products meant for males and those meant for females? Reflect on the differences you find and what they indicate about our cultural understandings of male and female bodies. Provide concrete examples and details. Make connections to the readings where applicable. (3-5 pages, making explicit connections to at least two of the following three readings)

Bordo, Susan. 1993. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 45-69

Mary K. Bentley, “The Body of Evidence: Dangerous Intersections between Development and Culture in the Lives of Adolescent Girls” pp. 209-223 in Mazzarella, Sharon R. and Norma Odom Pecora. 1999. Growing Up Girls: Popular Culture and the Construction of Identity. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Barry Glassner, “Men and Muscles” pp. 252-261 in Kimmel, Michael S. and Michael A. Messner (eds). 1989. Men’s Lives (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

M 4/11                        Menstruation and menopause
Debra Merskin “What Every Girl Should Know: An Analysis of Feminine Hygiene Advertising” pp. 113-132 in Mazzarella, Sharon R. and Norma Odom Pecora. 1999. Growing Up Girls: Popular Culture and the Construction of Identity. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Ann Fausto-Sterling, “Menopause: The Storm Before the Calm” pp. 169-178 in Price, Janet and Margrit Shildrick (eds). 1999. Feminist Theory and The Body: A Reader. New York: Routledge.

W 4/13            Plastic surgery
Gimlin, Debra L. 2002. Body Work: Beauty and Self-Image in American Culture. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. (Introduction, pp  1-15; Chapter 3 “Cosmetic Surgery: Paying for Your Beauty” pp. 73-109)

Kathy Davis, “‘My Body is My Art’: Cosmetic Surgery as Feminist Utopia?” pp. 454-465 in Price, Janet and Margrit Shildrick (eds). 1999. Feminist Theory and The Body: A Reader. New York: Routledge.
*** Distribute topics for final essay ***

C. Gender Inequalities In Work

M 4/18                       
Hochschild, Arlie. 1989. The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. (Viking), pp. 1-74.

W 4/20
Rosemary Pringle, “Male Secretaries” pp. 357-370 in Zinn, Maxine Baca, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, and Messner, Michael (eds). 2000. Gender Through the Prism of Difference (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Christine L. Williams, “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the ‘Female’ Professions” pp. 193-205 in Kimmel, Michael S. and Michael A. Messner (eds). 1989. Men’s Lives (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

M 4/25                        T.B.A.

D. Gender Studies is Men’s Studies, too

W 4/27                       
Bell Hooks, “Men: Comrades in Struggle” pp. 520-528 in Kimmel, Michael S. and Michael A. Messner (eds). 1989. Men’s Lives (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Michael Messner, “Gender Displays and Men’s Power: The “New Man” and the Mexican Immigrant Man” pp. 63-74 Zinn, Maxine Baca, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, and Messner, Michael (eds). 2000. Gender Through the Prism of Difference (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Clyde Franklin, “Ain’t I a Man?” (from Majors and Gordon, eds The American Black Male: His Present Status and His Future (Burnham Inc Pub.: 1994))

M 5/2              Final essay due in class. Choose from a list of topics distributed on 4/13