WMST 100 Spring '05

women’s studies 100

women, culture, politics, & society , spring 2004

Dr. Lori Askeland / HH 123 / Off.Hrs: 10-11:30 MTThF + appt

course description

“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 read texts that utilize 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 the women’s rights movement arose first out of the abolitionist movement of the 19^th century, and Women’s Studies itself emerged out of the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 70s, Women’s Studies insists as a discipline 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 your second major paper. This course is writing intensive.

texts

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

Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. 1860. New York: Dover, 1998. Abbrev: Jacobs

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

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

course assignments/assessment

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

essay 1 15% due week 4

midterm 15% March 2^nd

essay 2 15% due week 12

group research project / presentation 20% last four 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 Mature Communication. 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.

§ For extra credit, which will be applied to your quiz grade, you may attend a total of TWO on-campus events and write a brief response (1 page) that quickly summarizes the event AND --this is important!--connects what you experienced to our course in a SPECIFIC way. (If you could have written the response without being in this class, it will NOT count!)

cardinal rule: Practice Mature Communication.

I sincerely want you to communicate during difficult times. But, when you do, work to show me that you care more about learning than about grades. 1) take responsibility for any missed information before returning to class by contacting a classmate, not by asking me for a special private lecture. 2) avoid whining and 3) make no attempt to make me (or anyone/thing else, up to and including ‘acts of God,’) more responsible for your choices than you are.

always read the fine print: rules for papers, etc.

1) All papers are due at the beginning of class on the due date, unless specified otherwise. If you arrive late 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.

2) Quizzes and in-class activities that are worth points cannot be made up, regardless of excuse. Each student is allowed one dropped quiz.

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, no, you may not hand in papers on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays. In an emergency, practice mature communication, as soon as possible.

4) Please do not slide papers under my office 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 MLA style: typed in a normal font (10-12 pt Times New Roman or equivalent), with normal 1” margins on all sides. Your last name and the page number should appear on the top right hand corner of each page. (There’s a link to the homepage explaining how to do that in MSWord).

6) To receive a passing grade, all papers MUST quote from relevant texts, analyze the quotations, and use parenthetical citations and include a complete works cited list. Papers that do not have a works list 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) You cannot pass this course if any major assignment is not completed, even if it is so late that it will receive a failing grade.

9) 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 mature communication.

academic integrity @ wittenberg.edu

All work completed in this course, including all drafts, must comply to the code of academic integrity, to the best of a student’s ability. All major work must be signed, indicating support for the Wittenberg honor statement:

“I affirm that my work upholds the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity at Wittenberg,

and that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance.”

All students in this course are expected to read and understand the Code of Academic Integrity at

http://www4.wittenberg.edu/academicintegrity/CodeOfAcademicIntegrity01152003.pdf

as well as the document “Plagiarism: What It Is & How to Recognize & Avoid It” http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

which identifies and explains the various forms of plagiarism.

If at any time you have questions about your use of a particular source

or how to cite it appropriately, please ask me.

on learning disabilities and differing learning styles:

I am happy to discuss learning strategies and styles with any student in this class. Wittenberg University is, additionally,

committed to providing reasonable accommodations for eligible students with disabilities.

If you are eligible for course accommodation due to a disability, please provide me with your self-identification letter from the academic services office, 208 Recitation Hall, so that we may discuss your learning needs.

The will to change begins in the body not in the mind

My politics is in my body, accruing and expanding with every

act of resistance and each of my failures

Locked in the closet at 4 years old I beat the wall with my body

that act is in me still

—Adrienne Rich, “Afterword.”

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 12-17 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/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

¤ Also read for Weds: Minas’s “Introduction” (GB 1-8). Note, especially, her definition of “feminism.” What does “feminism” mean to you? What does “women’s studies” mean?

¤ Expect a quiz over the syllabus and the first reading.

For Friday:

¤ Frye, “Oppression” (GB 10-16)

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

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, without stating your own opinion. Spend at least 1 full paragraph doing so. THEN state your own thoughts on the issue.

EXTRA CREDIT INFORMATION!

WMST students For extra credit, which will be applied to your quiz grade, you may attend a total of TWO on-campus events and write a brief response (1 page) that quickly summarizes the event AND --this is important!--connects what you experienced to our course in a SPECIFIC way. (If you could have written the response without being in this class, it will NOT count!)

Upcoming relevant events

1) THURSDAY ! WMST "tea with the feminists" Thursday 2/20 4-6 pm. Benjamin Prince House. Food, fun, and games.

2 Jan 19-23 Oppression & Gender: Definitions, Anger, and Privilege

For Monday: MLK, Jr. Day. Note: Convocation Schedule Change! NO CLASS.

Required: Attend Pastor Graetz’s talk at 11:00

¤ Required: Attend Pastor Graetz's talk at 11:00 and, in class, plan to write a brief comparative response to his talk and one of today’s readings (McIntosh, Lorde)

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

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

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

Wednesday: In-class writing, discussion of Graetz, Lorde, McIntosh. START READING JACOBS!

Friday: Continued discussion. (Keep reading Jacobs!)

Note: For Monday read all of Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Week

3 Jan 25-28 Women and American History: Harriet Jacobs and the Intersection of Race, Class and Gender in the 19^th Century, laws and culture

Monday:

¤ Read all of Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by class time!

As you read:

1) Look for connections to our readings thus far. Think especially about how race, gender, and social class play out in this book, particularly in Harriet Jacobs’/“Linda Brent’s” life. (By the way: it is NOT ~~a novel~~; it is a “slave narrative.” Novels are fictional; by contrast, this book is, essentially, Jacobs’s incredible life story, as scholars have exhaustively demonstrated.)

· How does gender, in particular, affect Jacobs’ experience of, and understanding of, slavery? Find—and mark in your text!—passages that seem important to explaining the gender-related concerns that Jacobs brings up relating to slavery.

· Beyond being a black woman, how does Jacobs’ specific racial status—as a light-skinned African American woman—seem to affect her experience both in slavery and in her life after slavery?

· Notice that Jacobs’ family is not as poor as some white families (and is better off than most black families of the time), although their legal status is uncertain. Pay attention to the family’s place in the community. How does the community view them, and where does that status seem to come from? How does this class distinction play out in Jacobs’ life—what (small) privileges does it give her and her family, and why? What does her family have to do to maintain those privileges?

2) Think about the 19^th-century (“Victorian”) period of the book: what stereotypes, if any, do you have about women’s lives and the general society as a whole during that time period? Does this book confirm them in some ways? If so, how? Does it defy them? Again, how?

3) Take notes on things you notice about the roles of both black women and white women during this period:

· What are the expectations they experience in their role as daughters? As mothers? As wives? Do these seem to be affected by race and/or socioeconomic class?

· What kind of “work” is considered “appropriate” for women of varying social groups?

· What kind of conditions do they seem to experience in their living and/or working environments?

· Are there differences in these women’s living and working environments in the South vs. the North?

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Wednesday: EXPECT A QUIZ!

Continued discussion of Jacobs: What is the legal meaning of slavery at this time?

¤ Read the following laws regarding slavery, as established in Virginia, but which were applied in most southern colonies and then states, which I’ve selected (and I have occasionally modernized the spelling, only, a little) from Tom Russell, Professor, University of Denver Law School. Please feel free to look at the originals at: http://www.law.du.edu/russell/lh/alh/docs/virginiaslaverystatutes.html

December 1662 - 14th Charles II, 2:170, Act XII. Negro women’s children to serve according to the condition of the mother. WHEREAS some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishman upon a negro woman should be slave or free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present grand assembly, that all children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother, And that if any christian shall commit fornication with a negro man or woman, he or she so offending shall pay double the fines imposed by the former act.

September 1667 - 19th Charles II, ACT III, 2:260. An act declaring that baptism of slaves doth not exempt them from bondage. WHEREAS some doubts have risen whether children that are slaves by birth, and by the charity and piety of their owners made partakers of the blessed sacrament of baptism, should by virtue of their baptism be made free; It is enacted and declared by this grand assembly, and the authority thereof, that the conferring of baptism doth not alter the condition of the person as to his bondage or freedom; that diverse masters, freed from this doubt, may more carefully endeavour the propagation of christianity by permitting children, though slaves, or those of growth if capable to be admitted to that sacrament

September 1668 - 20th Charles II, Act VII (1668), 2:267. Negro women not exempted from tax.

WHEREAS some doubts, have arisen whether negro women set free were still to be accounted tithable according to a former act, It is declared by this grand assembly that negro women, though permitted to enjoy their freedom yet ought not in all respects to be admitted to a full fruition of the exemptions and impunities of the English, and are still liable to payment of taxes.

October 1669 - 21st Charles II, 2:270, Act I. An act about the casual killing of slaves.

WHEREAS the only law in force for the punishment of refractory servants (a) resisting their master, mistress or overseer cannot be inflicted upon negroes, nor the obstinacy of many of them by other than violent means suppressed, Be it enacted and declared by this grand assembly, if any slave resist his master (or other by his masters order correcting him) and by the extremity of the correction should chance to die, that his death shall not be accounted felony, but the master (or that other person appointed by the master to punish him) be acquit from molestation, since it cannot be presumed that prepensed malice (which alone makes murder felony) should induce any man to destroy his own estate.

October 1670 - 22nd Charles II, Act V, 1670,2:280. No Negroes nor Indians to buy christian servants.

Whereas it hath been questioned whither Indians or negroes manumitted, or otherwise free, could be capable of purchasing christian servants, It is enacted that noe negro or Indian though baptised and enjoyned their own freedom shall be capable of any such purchase of christians, but yet not debarred from buying any of their own nation.

Friday: Continued discussion of Jacobs and the beginning of the “First Wave” Women’s Rights Movement:

Read

¤ National Women’s History Project, “Legacy ’98: A Short History of the Women’s Rights Movement, 1848-1998.” http://www.legacy98.org/move-hist.html

¤ “The Declaration of Sentiments” from the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, online at: http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/seneca3.html

¤ Essay 1 will be assigned: proposal due Monday, February 2^nd. It will be a comparative paper, working with Jacobs and at least one other text from this portion of the semester. Over the weekend, re-read important materials to come up with a good insight, hypothesis, observation about these texts. What have you learned by reading them, together, here?

Week 4

January 31-February 4

Monday: Is slavery still around in the US today? Read "The Girls Next Door" first published on 1/25/04 in the New York Times Magazine about sexual slavery in the United States. Some questions to consider:

How does this experience differ from Jacobs's experience?
What difference does it make that this activity is "illegal"?
Why do you think the police make a distinction between women becoming sex-workers (illegally) but by choice and this activity? Should they?
What assumptions about women, poor women especially, might lie behind their blindness to this activity?

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Wednesday: Hypothesis for essay #1 due

What are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Waves of Feminism/Women's Rights Movements (This site refers to Great Britain, but the ideas apply to the US as well)?

READ: http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/ws/1st,_2nd,_3rd_wave.htm

A couple of good "third wave" sites, just FYI:

Third Wave Foundation: http://www.thirdwavefoundation.org/

"The 3rd WWWave": http://www.3rdwwwave.com// (These women are quite serious about working for a better world, but funny--a good combination, in my opinion.)

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FRIDAY: Writing discussion.

Read, Hooks, “Talking Back” (GB 78)

READ Indiana University's "How to Write a Thesis" page: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml

AND Read my Handout on Organization

Week 5

February 7-11 “She’s got the Look.”: Beauty and the Beast! Beauty is the Beast? The Beast is Beautiful??

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

–Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune, 1997

Monday: Essay 1 Drafts due for Workshop.

Wednesday: Film, Kilbourne, Killing Us Softly III. Wendell, “The Flight from the Rejected Body” (GB 54), Wolf, “Hunger” (GB 85), and Read Susan Bordo, "The Empire of Images and our World of Bodies" from the Chronicle of Higher Ed (12/19/03), available on e-res.

STUDY GUIDE--excellent!--for Killing Us Softly 3

http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaGenderAndDiversity/KillingUsSoftly3/studyguide/html#SYNOPSISOVERVIEW

or click here

Friday: Bring magazines to class for analysis—ads and articles.

Essay 1 Final Due

Week 6

February 14-18

Monday: Make the Beast “Beautiful”? Surgical Approaches . . .

¤ Diana Dull and Candace West, “Accounting for Cosmetic Surgery: The Accomplishment of Gender” (GB 98)

Surgically Altered and Proud (for different reasons...):

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

Further Reading:

1) "US Dept of Education Weakens Title IX Compliance Standards for College Athletics." (March 23, 2005) http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=8964

2) The US Department of Education, Title IX, text (2002):

http://www.ed.gov/policy/rights/reg/ocr/edlite-34cfr106.html

and US Dept of Education links on Sex Discrimination:

http://www.ed.gov/policy/rights/guid/ocr/sex.html

4/10 Group 1: Title IX

4/11 Paper #2 FINALS DUE Conclude discussion of Title IX readings, etc.

4/13 Group 2: "Sex for Sale"

SYNOPSIS:
“Sex for Sale” covers two areas of interest to the women's movement:
prostitution and pornography, both of which use sex as their medium to
sell. The debate of whether these institutions oppress or satisfy women
continues to divide feminists. Conservative-wing feminists argue that
prostitution/pornography should be banned, for it is in these arenas that
sex highlights the subordination and inequality of women. Others such as
the liberal feminists or pro-sex defenders claim that censoring or
outlawing certain sexual practices may lead to further infringements on women's
reproductive and sexual rights. The selected readings explore these issues
further, seeking to answer the question as to why America is drawn to the
sex market in the first place. Oppression or just a harmless fantasy?...you
decide.

READINGS:
(4/13) (Wed) D'aaran, “I'm a Hooker: Every Women's Profession” (GB 364),
Ericsson, “Charges Against Prostitution: An Attempt at a Philosophical
Assessment” (GB 367)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. In a sense, how are all women hookers according to D'aaran?
2. What are the effects of media portrayal of prostitution such as that in
Pretty Woman on today's women?
3. What is Ericsson's argument about selling sex versus selling food and
other goods?
4. Since 75% of prostitute customers are married males, what does this say
about the general institution of marriage and the way society teaches women to view
sex?
5. Should society accept the presence of prostitution? and if so, what pros
and cons would come into play?

FURTHER READINGS:
http://www.feministissues.com/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-sex-markets/
http://www.capital.demon.co.uk/LA/pamphlets/modeporn.htm

4/15 No class: Dr. Askeland is attending a conference in Washington D.C.

4/18 Group 2: (4/18) (Mon) Mackinnon, “Francis Biddle's Sister: Pornography, Civil
Rights, and Speech” (GB 373), Steinberg, “The Roots of Pornography” (GB
384), Draeger “Law and the Feminist Debate about Pornography and Censorship
on the Internet” online at http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dabrent/380/webproj/ChelseaD.html

6. What constitutes a sex object according to Mackinnon? Steinberg?
7. Contrast how Mackinnon views pornography as a sexual reality versus how
Steinberg views pornography as a result of sexual scarcity.
8. Does pornography negatively affect how men and women see themselves in
relation to their body image and/or sexual performance?
9. The media places a lot of emphasis on sex, but yet a majority of women
are taught to repress their sexual urges…can pornography appease these two
desires?
10.   Do women who willingly participate in the porn business do so out of
sexual expression or are they unconsciously giving in to the demands of
patriarchy?
11.   Why is it possible for women to be attracted to dominance or the
fantasy of “being taken” in a relationship?
12.   Why does Steinberg state at the end of his essay, “We need more?” and
what other benefits are to be gained from the pornography industry?
13.   In your opinion, are prostitution and pornography invisible devices
for patriarchy to divide and discourage the women's movement?

FURTHER READINGS:
http://www.feministissues.com/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-sex-markets/
http://www.capital.demon.co.uk/LA/pamphlets/modeporn.htm

4/20: Conclude discussion of "Sex for Sale" readings, etc.

Read:

Emi Koyana's "Support Prostitutes' Rights Now!" http://eminism.org/readings/supporthookers.html
The above "Further Reading" Link, "Feminist Issues in Prostitution," by Sarah Bromberg at: http://www.feministissues.com/ This article was originally presented at a conference and has been published in an anthology entitled Prostitution: On Whores, Hustlers, and Johns by Prometheus Books. Read the entire article, and explore at least some of the links that define the various kinds of feminism--i.e., Marxist feminism, liberal feminism, existential feminism, etc. (More info about the book is available at: http://www.hutch.demon.co.uk/prom/prostitu.htm).

Although I'm not sure I agree with the tone of her piece, Bromberg recognizes that there are at least 9 broad reasons women might find themselves working as prostitutes:

"There is not just one, but at least nine, categories of description that prostitute women appear to fall into."7 First, there are women who inadvertently fall into poverty and turn to prostitution but have the emotional fiber [is this a loaded term? Where does "emotional fiber" come from] to withstand the hardships of the profession until they can find something else to do. Second, there are women born poor into families with a long history of poverty and a lack of education. Third, a woman may be abducted against her will for no reasons of defect in her character and be forced into prostitution. Fourth, a woman might voluntarily enter the profession because of defects in her moral character [????] that allow her to fall into association with violent and exploitative social predators, who, like her, do not wish to follow the rules of any legal or moral system. She associates with people in an intimate way, well beyond the protection of the police or the assistance of social agencies that can effectively assist her in fighting off abuse. She underestimates her intelligence and skills and ends up being pimped or trafficked as a prostitute. As illustrated in a subsequent chapter, there is a relationship between working within the social value system(s) and abuse. Thus, it can be said there is potentially a cost for deviating too far from social values."8 This is where Kathleen Barry’s statement that “most women would leave if they could”"9 is most relevant to the issue of prostitution. Fifth, a woman may have been “distanced”"10 and demoralized by a fiercely competitive childhood in which she was unable to compete successfully for sufficient attention from parents, teachers, or employers for her to find acceptance and develop direction. Many prostitutes who have their rational faculties intact are able to resist the intimidations of pimps and avoid a considerable amount of abuse. Sixth, low intelligence and physical and mental problems may lead a woman to find a viable way to be part of a productive society through prostitution. Some of these women might be so unpredictable or incorrigible that they would not make “good women” for pimps. They would be difficult people to get close enough to for exploitation by a pimp trying to establish a relationship by way of feigned intimacy. Some, on the other hand, are perhaps easily guided by the more intelligent pimp. Such women might feel protected by a pimp in spite of low-level abuse which might be considered acceptable by the standards of their experience.

Seventh, some women perhaps find that they take to prostitution naturally like “fish take to water.”"11 This category may include prostitutes whose mothers or relatives were prostitutes through several generations. Such women often know what they are doing and are confident that they can handle most of the dangers. Knowing how to derive value and meaning from what they do, they overcome hardship, obstacles, and abuse. Eighth, in the smallest category, that of attractive women who are very smart. These women recognize an opportunity to make an extraordinarily high income as prostitutes. They place themselves out of danger with wealthy, influential, and intelligent men who can afford a premium price for sexual service. Finally, ninth, some people are irrepressible personalities who seek the challenge of the most dangerous of undertakings. This category, includes artists, poets, writers, and political activists of many descriptions who are of adventurous spirit, testing the limits of their society. These are intelligent"12 members of the high culture of prostitution that promotes the profession on a higher spiritual and intellectual plane than other categories. They, with their many supporters in mainstream society, often see prostitution in a different light than that of oppression, abuse, and despair. They are on the cutting edge of change for prostitutes and are its main moralizing force gradually evoking openness in the hearts and minds of ordinary people." (From Bromberg)

Read carefully the "Feminist Position(s) on Prostitution" handout, handed out in class, but also available here: http://www.feministissues.com/chart.pdf .
PREPARE TO DISCUSS: How does Emi Koyana's argument fit with the "feminist positions" as explained by Bromberg, if at all (it's possible to say she occupies more than one category)? Where do the other readings in this unit fall in relation to the "grid" laid out on the handout? Where do some of the other writers we read this term fit? Do some writers not really "fit" the chart's neat categories?

Further reading: Emi Koyana's argument with WMST-L, a an academic listserv (email discussion list) for Women's Studies professors): http://eminism.org/interchange/2002/20020410-wmstl.html

4/22: Group 3: "Rape and Sexual Harassment"

READ: "Pulling Train," (GB 336) and "The Lecherous Professor" (GB 343).

We'll be viewing a movie clip and discussing the issues raised by the articles, as well as statistics on sexual
harrassment and rape.

4/25: Group 3 FOR MONDAY: "The Rape of Mr. Smith" (GB 341)

A "mock trial" is planned.

4/27: FOR WEDNESDAY: I'll lead discussion. Read, Nehring, "Higher Yearning" on ERES

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: ask100 . Then click on Nehring "Higher Yearning" and
print--be sure to allow some time for printing. Not a bad idea to do this
on-campus--perhaps in the library itself--just to save yourself some time,
paper.

IF YOU ARE HAVING COMPUTER PROBLEMS THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR NOT READING
THIS ARTICLE. HAVE A FRIEND OR CLASSMATE PRINT YOU A COPY, OR SEEK
ASSISTANCE FROM A LIBRARIAN OR THE COMPUTER CENTER.

Expect a quiz on Wednesday over all the readings from Group 3

4/29 Group 4: "Bonds: Marriage, etc."

There are many different types of “bonds” between people. We are going to focus on marital bonds and familial bonds. Different backgrounds promote different views and ideas of marriage, our focus stems from the Western view of marital bonds and marriage. The gender roles derived from marriage typically reflect a certain view of marriage, whether it is an eternal commitment or a unification of two persons into one, these viewpoints can define a women’s role in marriage. Probing further into marital bonds the role of women in a family must be discussed as well. Familial bonds have been changing from the nuclear family to non conventional ones. It is important to question if marriage and family is seen as “ideal” what role in this “ideal” are women seen as having and how this impacts women today. The feminist movement has altered many of these marital and familial roles and challenged many of the antiquated, conventional views that people are holding on to. The readings and the in-class discussion will dive further into these ideas and try to help define some of the bonds and roles that women are put into today.

READINGS:

(4/29) Graham, “Commitment and the Value of Marriage” (GB 226)

Sullivan, “Virtually Normal” (GB 254)

5/2 Group 4

(5/2) Weston, “Is ‘Straight’ to ‘Gay’ as ‘Family’ Is to ‘No Family’?” (GB 248)

5/4 Conclude discussion of "Bonds"--re-read GRAHAM (GB 226) and Review for Final exam

5/7 (Saturday) 8-11. The final will have the same structure as the midterm, and it should take about an hour. I therefore propose that we begin the exam at 9 AM, rather than 8 AM. I will arrive at 8 am for any person who desires to take the full three hours or just wants to get started early if you notify me.