women’s studies 100

women, culture, politics, &  society , spring 2003

Dr. Lori Askeland ♀ Hollenbeck 123 ♂ Off.Hrs: MW 1:45-3; TTh 12-2 + appt ▲ 327-7061 ☺ laskeland@wittenberg.edu

“Women, Culture, Politics, and Society” is an introductory Women’s Studies course.  Participants in this course will bring differing levels of experience, interests, and talents, which this course will seek to recognize and value as a strength.  Together, we’ll seek to develop an understanding of the complex experiences of women from a variety of backgrounds.  We will do this, in part, because one premise of Women's Studies is that a focus on women's lives can help us to create new frameworks for exploring gender, frameworks that help us more accurately describe and understand the amazing variety of lived experiences of all people on this planet.  While we will primarily be looking at the lives and experiences of women in the United States, we will also examine the way individual lives are inevitably intertwined with global issues and questions. Thus, as a class we will think critically about the influence of historical events, race, gender, sex, sexuality, class, ability, colonialism and technology on women's lives.  In doing so, we will work with the research methods of traditional fields (history, psychology, sociology, literature), and their attendant theories, but also work to invoke the creative challenge that Women’s Studies offers to traditional, academic ways of knowing social and cultural life.  In particular, since it arose out of the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 70s, Women’s Studies insists on an intense and necessary relationship between theory and practice.  Thus, beyond the normal academic work, a midterm exam and a final project, this course will require all students to participate in some form of gender-related activism which will form part of one paper.  This course is writing intensive. 

Atwood, Margaret.  The Handmaid's Tale.  1986.  New York: Anchor, 1998. (0-385-49081-x).  Abbrev: HT

Bornstein, Kate.  My Gender Workbook:How to Become a Real Man, A Real Woman, The Real You, Or Something Else Entirely. New York: Routledge, 1997.  Abbrev: GW

Minas, Anne.  Gender Basics: Feminist Perspectives on Women and Men.  2^nd ed.   Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson, 2000. GB

 . . . & many e-res articles, websites, and handouts. 

reading responses / quizzes / in-class work               10%                 expect a quiz or brief writing (1-2 pp) over every reading

essay 1                                                                                15%             due week 4

midterm                                                                              15%             March 7th

essay 2                                                                                15%      due week 12

group research project / presentation                          20%            last few weeks of class

final exam                                                                           15%            as scheduled (see master schedule)

attendance/participation  / maturity                              10% *             always!

 *Any absence for ANY reason has the potential to interfere with learning, especially if you fail to Practice Maturity. See attached “Attendance, Pariticpation, Maturity” handout for more information.   I reserve the right to fail any student for too many absences—whether excused or unexcused.  More than 4 absences=“too many.”

FYI: That number—4—includes  excuses for university-related events, athletics, music, theatre, etc.

always read the fine print: dr. askeland’s pet peeves, rules for papers, etc.

 1)       All papers are due at the beginning of class on the due date, unless specified otherwise.  But it is better to attend class, without a paper, than to skip class to finish a paper.  Skipping class to finish a paper is a pet peeve of mine.  I may cut you a break if you attempt to contact me and if you come to class, on time.  I will not cut you a break if you skip class. 

2)       If you arrive late with the paper, or do not come to class at all on that date, hoping to turn it in after class, the paper is automatically considered one full day late—even if I find it in my mailbox after class.   The day ends whenever I happen to leave or cease to check my mailbox for the day.  Any excuse must be unforeseeable and fully documentable—including funerals.  Illnesses must be very serious indeed to avoid penalty.  Colds, for example, are just bad luck; plan ahead.  Quizzes and in-class activities that are worth points cannot be made up, regardless of excuse.  

3)       Papers lose 10% the first day they are late and 5% each day  thereafter.* (So, if you show up 20  minutes late for class and turn in a paper that should have received an 88%, it will receive a 78%.  If  I find it in my mailbox the next day, it can receive no higher than 73%.). * including each weekend date, and, no, you may not hand in papers on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays.

 4)       Please do not slide papers under my door.  They may lie crumpled behind my door for weeks, and will no doubt receive a failing grade.

 5)       All papers must be written according to a recognized academic format (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.): typed in a normal font (10-12 pt Times New Roman or equivalent), double-spaced, with normal 1” margins on all sides.  Include last name and page number on each page.  

6)       To receive a passing grade, all papers MUST quote from relevant texts, analyze the quotations, use correct citations.  Papers that do not cite their sources fully, according to a consistent, academically-acceptable style will fail, even if the only works that are cited are texts from this class.

 7)       If I have collected and commented on drafts of the paper, keep the draft and turn it in with the final version of the paper.  

8)       FINAL ADVICE: In the long run it will be better for you to lose a few points with grace than to bother me with a continuous stream of excuses.  If given the choice between accepting the penalty for lateness or absence, even if it strikes you as unfair, or whining for a break or an exception, please choose the former tactic.   I bore of guilt trips, and remember them when I’m calculating end-of-term grades.  Practice maturity.

tentative* syllabus

*I believe in trying to make each course that I teach, even if I have taught it before, “new” and also responsive to the needs of the particular class of students I’m teaching that term, AND even to events and opportunities that may arise as the semester progresses.  Hence, although I have attempted to accurately gauge the time needed for each of the readings we will being doing, some of them I have not taught before, and we may need to spend more or less time on any particular one.  Often, I seek student input on how to proceed.  Other, unforeseen opportunities and events may also disrupt this schedule.  I will generally communicate any changes both in class and via email (and/or posted on the online syllabus).  Your attendance is vital to help make decisions about the directions we may choose to go as a class, and to keep track of changes in the syllabus.

week                                       tentative* assignment

1         Jan 13-17         Introduction to the course, each other, the syllabus and the burning question:

Is Women’s Studies Just A Continuing, One-Sided “Battle of the Sexes” Game?” 

Read for Weds class: The syllabus and all ancillary materials, including:

§         “Plagiarism: What It Is & How to Recognize & Avoid It” http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

§         Also read for Weds: Minas’s “Introduction” (GB 1-8).  Note, especially, her definition of “feminism.” I, for one, don’t really like her definition (I’ll explain why in class).  But what does “feminism” mean?  What does “women’s studies” mean?

§         Frye, “Oppression” (GB 10-16);

§                     Bornstein, “Welcome to Your Gender Workbook” (GW 1-25)

No class Fri Jan 17: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., speaking on The Bondswoman’s Narrative at Wright State.  If you happen to be interested in attending, talk to Dr. Askeland.

2         Jan 20-24        Oppression & Gender: Definitions, Anger, and Privilege

For Monday:  MLK, Jr. Day.  Note: Schedule Change!

Writing: Answer Question 2 on page 16 of GB.  Be sure to explore--in as fair a manner as possible--how Frye makes the case that opening doors for women is part of an oppressive structure and THEN state your own thoughts on the issue.

§         Bornstein, “Solving the Gender Puzzle” & the first half of “Who’s On Top” (GW 25-46, end at “The Moment of Truth”)

§         McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege” (GB 30-39)

§         Lorde, “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism” (GB 39-45)

§         US Census Bureau report on poverty rates, 2001 (http://ferret.bls.census.gov/macro/032002/pov/new01_001.htm )

For Wednesday:

§         Bornstein, the rest of “Who’s on Top” (GW 46-72)

§         Kaufman, “Men, Feminism, and Men’s Contradictory Experiences of Power (GB 23-30)

 For Friday:

§         hooks, “Talking Back” (78)

§         Mimi Nguyen, on hair & “authenticity” http://www.worsethanqueer.com/slander/hair.html

§         “Write, Comrade[s], WRITE!”:  Proposal/hypothesis due for essay #1 (1 page)  see assignment at: http://userpages.wittenberg.edu/laskeland/ws100paperassignment.htm

3          Jan 27-31         “She’s Got the Look”: Messages on the Surface

“Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.”—Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune, 1997

       For Monday:

§         Bordo, "Hunger as Ideology" from Unbearable Weight (e-res): 

TO READ BORDO ESSAY: Go to the library website's "e-res page" at: http://witt-eres.wittenberg.edu/courseindex.asp , click on my name and type in the password that I will hand out in class.  Then click on "Hunger as Ideology" (Bordo), and print--it is an 18-page pdf file, so be sure to allow some time.  Not a bad idea to do this on-campus--perhaps in the library itself--just to save yourself some time, paper.

§         “Killing Us Softly III” (video—in class)  

§         Handout on "Critical Thinking" and YOU! (printout/ read this link or use paper handout from class)

RECOMMENDED: Hegemony defined (link used in class discussion)

      For FRIDAY (note change!)

A Farvorite Quotation from a Former Student: "'The truth will set you free.' Well, sure, but first it knocks you down and kicks you in the butt." 

§         Bring Bordo &  magazines for analysis

"Buxom" women from earlier times:  

Lillian Russell and More Lillian Russell

Marilyn Monroe (who wore a size 12!) photographed posing as Lillian Russell

AND 

Jamie Lee Curtis with Bulging Tummy and Thighs . . .

§         WRITE!: 1-2 page, typed comparison between Bordo's argument and Kilbourne's about women in the media today.

Hegemony in Action:  Some quick facts from FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) about the way white men, the powerful political parties, and corporations dominate the news, as reported by  Jill Bussiere 20 September 2002:

Who's On the News? Study shows network news sources skew white, male & elite 

            A study of ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News in the year 2001 shows that 92 percent of all U.S. sources interviewed were white, 85 percent were male and, where party affiliation was identifiable, 75 percent were Republican. Conducted for FAIR by the media analysis firm Media Tenor, the study shows that the big three nightly news shows rely heavily on society's most powerful groups when they report the news of the day. More than one in four sources were politicians-- George W. Bush alone made up 9 percent of all sources-- versus a mere 3 percent for all non-governmental advocacy groups, the sources most likely to present an alternative view to the government's. 

            Even before the September 11 attacks, Republicans made up a full 68 percent of partisan sources (which surged to 87 percent after the attacks). These figures should dispel the myth of a liberal or pro-Democrat news bias, but don't necessarily prove a conservative or Republican slant. Rather, they reflect a strong tendency of the networks to turn to the party in power for information. Sixty-two percent of all partisan sources were administration officials; when these are set aside, the remaining partisan sources were 51 percent Republican and 48 percent Democrat, suggesting a strong advantage overall for the party that holds the White House. 

            Big business, too, was overrepresented. In a year in which the country lost 2.4 million jobs, corporate representatives appeared about 35 times more frequently than did union representatives, accounting for 7 percent of sources versus labor's 0.2 percent. 

                Women made up only 15 percent of all sources (14 percent on ABC and CBS, and 18 percent on NBC), and were rarely featured as experts. Women were particularly poorly represented in the categories of professional and political sources, which were only 9 percent female. More than half of the women who appeared on the network news in 2001 were presented as ordinary Americans (as opposed to experts of some kind), versus 14 percent of male sources. 

            Racial imbalances in sourcing were dramatic across the board. ABC, CBS and NBC each featured a lineup where 92 percent of U.S. sources were white and 7 percent were black. Other groups were even more strikingly underrepresented, with 0.6 percent of all sources being Latino, 0.6 percent Arab-American and 0.2 percent Asian-American. Out of a total of 14,632 sources, only one (on NBC) was identified as Native American. For all the hype about the "death of network news," the fact remains that approximately one quarter of television-viewing homes in America tune in ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News or NBC Nightly News on an average weeknight-- that's about two-thirds of the U.S. public that claims to follow current events regularly. It serves the country poorly when, as these findings show, broadcast news functions more as a venue for the claims and opinions of the powerful than as a democratic forum for public discussion and education. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The full study, "Power Sources," appears in the June 2002 issue of FAIR's magazine, Extra!.  To go straight to the full study, visit: http://www.fair.org/extra/0205/power_sources.html

     4          Feb 3-7   For MONDAY: On the Other Hand: Surgically-Altered and Proud!  

Draft Paper 1 Due: Monday February 3.  Individual conferences with you over your drafts all week

§         Dull and West “Accounting for Cosmetic Surgery” (GB 92-98)

§         Bornstein, “Be All That You Can Be” (GW 72-90)

§         Cindy Jackson, http://www.cindyjackson.com/  : examine “Transformation” and read article by Danny Danziger, “Best of Times, Worst of Times” at “Press Cuttings”

§         Orlan, French performance artist, http://www.orlan.net/  

In-class/additional article on Pascal Dangin, "The Man Who Makes the Pictures Perfect" from this past Sunday's NY TIMES (2/2/03) at: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/fashion/02PASC.html?pagewanted=1

And Pics of Kate Bornstein when she was a boy: http://www.tootallblondes.com/KatePages/hoowahyoo.htm

FRIDAY:           He’s Got the Look: “Tough Guise” 

Watch “Tough Guise” (video, in-class) on Friday and Monday the 10th, with discussion between and on Wed. 13th.  Please don’t be tardy—The video is long, and I want to watch as much as we can.

2/10 Monday

1) Go to http//www.jacksonkatz.com/ Click on "Publications" and read two articles from the websiteof the writer of the "Tough Guise" video, Jackson Katz--former star football player and the first man at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to earn a minor in women's studies. (Cool combo, I think)

"8 reasons Eminem's Popularity is a Disaster for Women" (2002)  and--scroll down to--"The National Conversation In the Wake of Littleton is Missing the Mark." (Boston Globe, 1999).  [Both articles, again, are located at http//www.jacksonkatz.com/ 

NEW!  Helpful Writing Hints

2/12  Wednesday

R. Novick "Love's Bond" (GB 176-184) R. Strickwerda & Larry May, "Male Friendship & Intimacy" (GB 184-192)

 2/14 Friday

W. Ewing, "The Civic Advocacy of Violence (GB 203-208) b. hooks, "Violence in Intimate Relationships" (GB 208-213),  B. Richie, V. Kanuha. "Battered Women of Color in Public Health Care Systems Racism, Sexism, and Violence" (GB 213-20)

MONDAY 17th: Final draft of essay 1 Due!  Helpful Writing Hints

2/17 Read: Bornstein "F--- your Gender" (91-108): Sex & Sexuality section: Nozick (begins on GB 272), Rochlin (GB 276)Read: Baker (GB 277), Steedman (GB 281),

2/19  Mohr (GB 285), Frye (GB 293) and ERES: "On Not Being a Victim" Mary Gaitskill.  To get the Gaitskill Go to http://witt-eres.wittenberg.edu/courseindex.asp, choose "Lori Askeland" then choose the course, and use the password I gave you earlier this term to access the article.  (Email me if you've forgotten it.)

2/21  No class / Women's Studies Retreat.

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2/24 Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, Sections I-X (3-189)

2/26 HT Sections XI-end: include the "Historical Notes" Section

Helpful Resource:

§      Paul Brian, “Study Guide to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1986).” http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/handmaid.html

2/28: Read for class the "Notes on the Text" and the "Interview with Margaret Atwood" at:

§      Random House (publisher) “Reading Group Companion to The Handmaid’s Tale” http://www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/handmaidstale_bgc.html#topics

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3/3  Monday: WRITE: Find, bring to class 3/3: an example from a recent news source (newspaper, article, magazine, online news service, etc.) of any current events--say within the past year or two--that resemble the activities described in The Handmaid's Tale.  Write up a 2-page response to your article that summarizes the event and explain how it connects to in The Handmaid's Tale.

3/5  Read "The War Against Women"--NYTimes Editorial, 1/16/03

The War Against Women

(NYT) 1078 words
Late Edition - Final , Section 4 , Page 14 , Column 1

LEAD PARAGRAPH - Running for the White House in the fall of 2000, George W. Bush did not talk about ending the right to abortion. To avoid scaring off moderate voters, he promoted a larger ''reverence for life'' agenda that also included adoption and tougher drunken driving laws. Voters were encouraged to believe that while Mr. Bush was anti-choice, he was not out to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Yet two years into the Bush presidency, it is apparent that reversing or otherwise eviscerating the Supreme Court's momentous 1973 ruling that recognized a woman's fundamental right to make her own childbearing decisions is indeed Mr. Bush's mission. The lengthening string of anti-choice executive orders, regulations, legal briefs, legislative maneuvers and key appointments emanating from his administration suggests that undermining the reproductive freedom essential to women's health, privacy and equality is a major preoccupation of his administration -- second only, perhaps, to the war on terrorism.

The label, "war on women" seems to come from this report by Planned Parenthood of America, which you can link to, here, if you wish for more information: 

http//www.plannedparenthood.org/about/pr/030121_war_intro.html

To read the full report, click on the "Related Links" "Planned Parenthood Report- George W. Bush's War on Women A Pernicious Web"

The question being, of course does the stance of the Bush administration constitute a step in the direction of The Handmaid's Tale, or is this just "the sky is falling!" rhetoric?

3/7   Midterm exam:  Midterm Study Guide

Spring Break

3/17 Part IX--Solinger reading, E-res: Go to the library website's "e-res page" at: http://witt-eres.wittenberg.edu/courseindex.asp , click on my name and type in the password that I have handed out in class.  Then click on the two Solinger pieces, which are as follows: 

Excerpts from 

1)  "Introduction: Female and Fertile in the Fifties" from Wake Up Little Susie (1994).  7 pp. and 

2) All of chapter 1, "Choice is a Moving Target" plus the final pages of the final chapter, "Motherhood As a       Class Privilege in America" from Beggars and Choosers (2002)--this is a long piece, 25 pdf pages, so allow some time to print.\

US Foreign Aid expenditures: less than .1% of Gross Domestic Product, lowest in developed worlds (below Portugal, Greece and Luxumbourg!), lowest in the US for decades, even according to Ivo Daalder and James N. Lindsay, analysts from the conservative Brookings Institute:

"The 0.1 percent of its gross domestic product that the United States devotes to foreign aid is not only well below the 0.24 percent average for all Western countries; it is in fact at the bottom of the list, behind such countries as Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal.

America's commitment to foreign aid is feeble even by our own historical standards. The Marshall Plan consumed as much as 3.2 percent of our gross domestic product, and we made that commitment to rebuild Europe even as we were increasing our defense spending to counter the Soviet threat. When Ronald Reagan came to office, we devoted twice as much of our gross domestic product to foreign aid as we do today"--"To Fight Terror, Increase Foreign Aid" Newsday, February 15, 2002.

TUESDAY 3/18: Special Guest Speaker: Rickie Solinger, 7 pm Ness Auditorium. 
                                "Nine Ways of Looking at a Poor Woman"

 

3/19  Guest Speaker: Rickie Solinger (?)

3/21 (Fri) Continued discussion of Solinger.

Week 10

Economic Class and Gendered Work in the U.S. and around the world.

3/24 (Mon) Lips, "Women & Power in the Workplace" (GB 110), Sokoloff, "The Half-Empty Glass" (GB 119), Minas, "Target Hiring" (GB 133)

3/26 (Wed) Comas-Diaz "Tokenism and Stereotyping" (GB 137); Paul, "The Comparable Worth Debate" (GB 143); Chang, "Undocumented Latinas" (GB 166)

3/28 (Fri) Klein, No Logo "The Discarded Factory": either click here, get from email attachment, or follow this link: http//www.focusweb.org/publications/Bulletins/Fop/2001/FOP18.htm.  

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Week 11

3/31 Klein, continued.

Groups for last 4 weeks of class you choose the topic! I will put you in groups this week to choose topics and readings for the last four weeks of class. Options are almost limitless, but include

1) Sexual harassment (see GB Part VII)--see also e-res selection, "Higher Yearning";

2) Bonds, esp. Marriage (GB Part V);

3) Sex for sale (GB Part VIII)--could be divided into two groups prostitution and pornography;

4) Fertility control (GB Part IX);

5) Reproduction Hi-Tech/Low Tech (GB Part X);

6) Raising Children (GB Part XI);

7) Age/Ageism (GB Part XII)

8) Athletics/Gender discrimination/Title IX (I can help you find readings, could have a Title IX tour of the HPER center with Linda Arena--sky's the limit);

April 4 Draft of Essay 2 Due. Same assignment as essay 1

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Week 12 

Group presentations/readings/discussions begin.

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Group 1 and I have collaboratively selected the following readings for next week in Women's Studies. Although the internet article by Fathalla is not due until Wed, please try to print it out this weekend, in case there are any difficulties with the link, so I can help you with your efforts

4/7 (Monday) In Gender Basics Aquinas, "The Purpose of Sex" (GB 392); Radcliffe-Richards, "Society and the Fertile Woman" (GB 395)

4/9 (Wednesday) Mahmoud Fathalla, "Fertility Control Technology A Woman-Centered Approach to Research" http//www.hsph.harvard.edu/rt21/procreative/FATHALLA.html )

4/11 (Friday) Continued discussion of M, W readings. (video on contraception, 1965)

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Week 13

4/14 (Monday): SPEAKER, Jill McCool, Planned Parenthood

4/16 (WED): Essay #2 DUE

Read, in Gender Basics the following 3 articles on Prostitution:

    d'Aaran, "I'm a Hooker" (GB 364)

    Ericsson, "Charges Against Prostitution" (GB 367)

    Pateman, "Defending Prostitution" (GB 371)

And then examine the following websites, looking for 1) what individual or group is the sponsor of this website?  2) what's that group's/individual's goal or purpose in creating this website?  3) How credible is this source, on this topic?  4) What kinds of sources would be credible--is it possible that any source on this topic could be problematic?  If so, why? 5) Do these websites, collectively, provide any new insight on the issue in addition to those raised by the GB articles?

www.xs4all.nl/~ae4811/bordello/bordello.html

http://prostitutionresearch.com

www.pimpz.org/prostitution

www.escapeprostitution.com

4/18 Good Friday, no class 

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Week 14

4/21 (Monday) Group 3, which will be leading a discussion of rape/sexual harrassment on this coming FRIDAY, invited Tyra Jackson from Project Woman to speak to us today on the topic of rape and domestic violence. She'll be talking to us, today.

4/23 (Wednesday) We will view an HBO documentary selected by Group 2, and our discussion of Prostitution will continue. Think about connections between the issues we've looked at so far.

FRIDAY 4/25 READ from GENDER BASICS "Men on Rape" (324); "I Never Called it Rape," (330), "Pulling Train" (336) and "The Rape of Mr. Smith" (341). Group 3 will lead the discussion.

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Week 15

This week’s discussion: Marriage: One Man/One Woman Only?  Why?  Is that the definition of patriarchy?  Or a necessary basis for our culture?

Monday: view/discuss QUEER AS FOLK episode

Wednesday: discuss GENDER BASICS READINGS, PFLAG data, & article from U.S. News:

Weston, "Is 'Straight' to 'Gay' as 'Family' is to 'No Family'" (GB)

Sullivan, "Virtually Normal" (GB)

  2 Online resources:

PFLAG, "What is Marriage Anyway" http://www.pflag.org/education/marriage.html

I will also put on e-res the following (short!) article from US News and World Report

"Kids with Gay Parents" by Joseph Shapiro & Gregory Stephen.  US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 9/16/96, Vol. 121, issue 11. 

(remember our e-res password (ask me if you've forgotten!); go to: http://witt-eres.wittenberg.edu/courseindex.asp)

Additionally: 

Please read U.S. Senator Rick Santorum's [R-Pennsylvania] discussion of his opposition to gay sexual actions, as presented by "The Ohio Roundtable" and "The Ohio Freedom Forum," two conservative public-policy groups founded in 1980 and dedicated to "restoring traditional Judeo-Christian principles to public policy."

Transcript of Sen. Santorum's comments on homosexuality in an AP interview, 4/22/03.

By The Associated Press

(AP, April 22) -- An unedited section of the Associated Press interview, taped April 7, with Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. Words that couldn't be heard clearly on the tape are marked (unintelligible).

AP: If you're saying that liberalism is taking power away from the families, how is conservatism giving more power to the families?

SANTORUM: Putting more money in their pocketbook is one. The more money you take away from families is the less power that family has. And that's a basic power. The average American family in the 1950s paid (unintelligible) percent in federal taxes. An average American family now pays about 25 percent.

The argument is, yes, we need to help other people. But one of the things we tried to do with welfare, and we're trying to do with other programs is, we're setting levels of expectation and responsibility, which the left never wanted to do. They don't want to judge. They say, Oh, you can't judge people. They should be able to do what they want to do. Well, not if you're taking my money and giving it to them. But it's this whole idea of moral equivalency. (unintelligible) My feeling is, well, if it's my money, I have a right to judge.

AP: Speaking of liberalism, there was a story in The Washington Post about six months ago, they'd pulled something off the Web, some article that you wrote blaming, according to The Washington Post, blaming in part the Catholic Church scandal on liberalism. Can you explain that?

SANTORUM: You have the problem within the church. Again, it goes back to this moral relativism, which is very accepting of a variety of different lifestyles. And if you make the case that if you can do whatever you want to do, as long as it's in the privacy of your own home, this "right to privacy," then why be surprised that people are doing things that are deviant within their own home? If you say, there is no deviant as long as it's private, as long as it's consensual, then don't be surprised what you get. You're going to get a lot of things that you're sending signals that as long as you do it privately and consensually, we don't really care what you do. And that leads to a culture that is not one that is nurturing and necessarily healthy. I would make the argument in areas where you have that as an accepted lifestyle, don't be surprised that you get more of it.

AP: The right to privacy lifestyle?

SANTORUM: The right to privacy lifestyle.

AP: What's the alternative?

SANTORUM: In this case, what we're talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men. We're not talking about priests with 3-year-olds, or 5-year-olds. We're talking about a basic homosexual relationship. Which, again, according to the worldview sense is a perfectly fine relationship as long as it's consensual between people. If you view the world that way, and you say that's fine, you would assume that you would see more of it.

AP: Well, what would you do?

SANTORUM: What would I do with what?

AP: I mean, how would you remedy? What's the alternative?

SANTORUM: First off, I don't believe _

AP: I mean, should we outlaw homosexuality?

SANTORUM: I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts. As I would with acts of other, what I would consider to be, acts outside of traditional heterosexual relationships. And that includes a variety of different acts, not just homosexual. I have nothing, absolutely nothing against anyone who's homosexual. If that's their orientation, then I accept that. And I have no problem with someone who has other orientations. The question is, do you act upon those orientations? So it's not the person, it's the person's actions. And you have to separate the person from their actions.

AP: OK, without being too gory or graphic, so if somebody is homosexual, you would argue that they should not have sex?

SANTORUM: We have laws in states, like the one at the Supreme Court right now, that has sodomy laws and they were there for a purpose. Because, again, I would argue, they undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family. And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution, this right that was created, it was created in Griswold [Griswold vs. Connecticut, July 1965, was the case where the Supreme Court ruled against state laws that made contraception illegal, even to married people, thus legalizing the use of birth control and paved the way for the nearly unanimous acceptance of contraception that now exists in this country.] and abortion. And now we're just extending it out. And the further you extend it out, the more you _ this freedom actually intervenes and affects the family. You say, well, it's my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that's antithetical to strong healthy families. Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, where it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.

Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that's what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality _

AP: I'm sorry, I didn't think I was going to talk about "man on dog" with a United States senator, it's sort of freaking me out.

SANTORUM: And that's sort of where we are in today's world, unfortunately. The idea is that the state doesn't have rights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because there are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire. And we're seeing it in our society.

AP: Sorry, I just never expected to talk about that when I came over here to interview you. Would a President Santorum eliminate a right to privacy _ you don't agree with it?

SANTORUM: I've been very clear about that. The right to privacy is a right that was created in a law that set forth a (ban on) rights to limit individual passions. And I don't agree with that. So I would make the argument that with President, or Senator or Congressman or whoever Santorum, I would put it back to where it is, the democratic process. If New York doesn't want sodomy laws, if the people of New York want abortion, fine. I mean, I wouldn't agree with it, but that's their right. But I don't agree with the Supreme Court coming in.

This was copied from: http://www.ohioroundtable.org/library/articles/life/santorum.html

[Primarily, the Ohio Roundtable/Freedom Forum are part of a linked network of conservative, evangelical Christian political action committees who have worked against increases in gambling and lottery availability, against increased taxes for public education, against the mandate for increased equality in public school funding as demanded by the Ohio Supreme court, and for "school-choice" and school vouchers, but they are working also to criminalize abortion and, clearly, are against gay rights.]  

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Finally: the pornography unit:  What is pornography?  Does it inherently objectify women?

Some questions to think about:   

• Is our culture "pornographic" in its use of women's bodies to sell everything from toothpaste to car parts?  

• Is one person's "erotica" another person's "porn"?  

• Do such pornographic images really hurt people, or is that a conspiracy-theory of prudish types--you know, feminists on the left and religious people on the right, people who really just think sex is evil?  

• Or is there more to their concerns--does pornography, for example, lead to the objectification of human beings, violence (especially against women, and even the sexual abuse of women and children), and pull people away from important intimate relations with one another?

5/2 Friday:  

We're concluding the semester with a pornography unit, asking questions like what is pornography? (How do we know if a picture or text that is about sexual topics is pornographic, or scientific, or "erotic" or sacred or what?) Is pornography fundamentally anti-woman? Or can it be pro-woman?

Read for FRIDAY

From Gender Basics

MacKinnon, "Francis Biddle's Sister" (GB 373)

Cowan, "Pornography Conflict Among Feminists" (GB 377)

Steinberg, "The Roots of Pornography" (GB 384)

Also visit these websites

"Girls Gone Wild"--is so-called "reality porn" more troubling than other kinds of pornography?

"What is pornography?"

"Ohio Anti-Porn Law Put on Hold"

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Week 16

5/5 Monday:  View video, "A Drug Called Pornography"

5/7 Wednesday: Evaluations, concluding discussion, review for final exam, etc.

FINAL EXAM: Tues May 13, 3:30-6:30!

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(c) Lori Askeland, Wittenberg University 2003; last update 05/09/2003 11:08 AM