Gender and Society

Section 1, Tu 10-11:50, Thur 10-10:50
ARH 131, Grinnell College, Fall 2004

Professor: Karla Erickson
Email: ericksok@grinnell.edu
Phone: (641) 269-3330
Office: 111 Carnegie, office hours posted outside my office weekly

Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.

---- Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary General

But let me tell you, this gender thing is history. You're looking at a guy who sat down with Margaret Thatcher across the table and talked about serious issues.

----George Bush, Sr.

Stories have beginnings, middles, and endings. Ideas do not. Stories can be told and understood in terms of who did what and what happened to whom, what happened next, and what happened after that. Ideas do not exist in time and space that way, yet it is only through our apprehension of certain ideas that historical reality makes any sense at all. We interpret all the data of our senses--including characters, actions, consequences, even our so-called selves--according to ideas, concepts, or mental structures, some of which we understand, some of which we just believe. Sexual identity is an idea. Sexual identity--the belief that there is maleness and femaleness and that one is either male or female--is among the most fundamental ideas with which we interpret our experience. Not only do we "know" and "believe in" the idea of sexual identity, but the idea of sexual identity largely determines how and what we know. With the idea of sexual identity in our head, we see things and feel things and learn things in terms of it. ... The idea of sexual identity, in fact, has a claim on us that our actual experience does not; for if our experience "contradicts" it, we will bend our experience so that it will make sense in terms of the idea. ... Gravity just is; we don't have to make it be. Not so the idea of sexual identity. Sexual identity is a political idea. Its force derives entirely from the human effort required to sustain it...--John Stoltenberg. Refusing to Be a Man: Essays on Sex and Justice.

Course Description

The year is 2004. Has this “gender thing” become a thing of the past, as George Bush, Sr. declared? If we live in a post-feminist era (and is it a post-feminist era?) then does that mean that the task of achieving gender equity is accomplished? Or, are we, as Peggy Orenstein suggests, caught in the midst of a half-changed world? In this course we will consider gender in the U.S. today. Our study will connect us to questions that reach into the past, as we consider the durability of divisions between the sexes, and across and within cultures, as we consider the fluidity of gender over time and place. We will also look closely at gender as structure, as a source of power, influence and resource distribution. We will consider how schools, offices, and families function as gendered institutions that reproduce gender, and at times, challenge contemporary gender roles, norms and stereotypes.

As a sociological object of study, gender is rich with ambiguity, and slippery in its complexity. In short, it makes for an exciting intellectual journey. At the same time, gender is a lived experience. We don’t just study gender, we live it. We will wrestle with this knowing/doing gender divide, particularly through class activities, and field exercises. We’ll learn a lot along the way, emerging with some answers and likely even more excellent questions because gender rarely stands still so you can examine it! I hope it will be a stimulating semester. Welcome to the course.

Objectives

It is my hope that together we will:

1. Become familiar with a range of theories of gender.
2. Strengthen our ability to recognize, challenge, celebrate and critique gendered performances, roles, and experiences.
3. Develop a nuanced understanding of how gender varies across  communities, families, institutions and cultures.
4. Hone our insight into how gender influences the distribution of opportunities and resources, and informs identity, group and individual behavior.
5. Refine our ability to appreciate how aspects of identity including race, nation, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, even region crosscut perceptions and performances of gender.

Books & Supplies

Attendance and Deadlines

This course requires a high level of student interaction, participation and involvement. I expect you to come to class on time, prepared and ready to discuss. Each class meeting you are expected to have read all the assigned readings and have worked in your journal beforehand, in order to come to class prepared to actively discuss the materials. The course starts promptly at 10:ooam; I take attendance at the start of class, so be on time. Everyone gets one “oops” as I call it, one day off from the course while still getting full credit for attendance. More than three unexcused absences will lower your final grade for the course. When you do need to miss class, it is your responsibility to get notes and an update from a classmate and to contact me regarding your absence. Your written work needs to be in on time. I rarely allow late work to be handed in, and only if you contact me in advance of the deadline.

Contacting Me

I expect to stay in contact with students throughout the term. Please come by during my office hours to discuss course content, your thoughts or concerns about assignments, or to get extra assistance. My office hours are posted weekly outside my door (Carnegie 111). If you cannot attend my office hours, talk to me about scheduling an appointment at a different time or scheduling an email or phone discussion. I am online daily, so email is the fastest way to get in touch with me.

Course Policies

*If you have a physical or learning disability that requires you to make some adaptations to this course, please contact me to discuss arrangements. All conversations will be confidential. For help with disability services, contact Joyce Stern (3702). The Student Affairs Office offers a wealth of resources for all students. Stop in during business hours in the basement of the forum, or during drop-in hours, Friday 1:30-4:30.

Assignments

Participation

This course will be student driven. This means that discussion and leadership by students is built into the course. I consider myself a guide for the course, whose job it is to provide you with the tools to learn. But I expect each of you to make your own way, and to work earnestly to develop your own thinking/philosophy/approach to gender. I expect you to come to class with your readings done, with prepared responses and ideas, ready to discuss with your classmates, and actively engage with the ideas and challenges posed by the study of gender. In addition to your group presentation, I expect students to interact, ask questions, share insights, and push each other’s thinking throughout the term. The participation grade is determined by your level of involvement both in terms of frequency and quality of your contributions. Participation is ten percent of your grade, meaning that your participation can potentially raise or lower your final grade by one letter grade. If you have any concerns about this portion of the grade, please speak to me early in the term. (10%)

Journal

This course requires a significant amount of reading, writing and discussion. Your journal is not graded. The purpose of the journal is to help you prepare to participate in class discussion, to allow you to articulate in your own words significant concepts and ideas raised in the readings, and facilitate connections between the readings and your own life experiences. Your journal will potentially be your greatest tool for developing and advancing your understanding of gender. As you prepare for each class session, I hope you will  generate key points you want to discuss and a minimum of two excellent questions. I will ask each of you to contribute 2-4 discussion questions for one of our discussions. We will sign up during the first week. You will need to read the assignment, and get the questions to me by 4pm the previous day (email or in person). The questions you contribute will factor into your participation grade for the term, although consistent, thoughtful contributions to class discussions are the most essential element of the participation component.

Gender Assignments

In this course, we will not simply read other scholar’s ideas, theories and observations about gender, we will also produce our own insights about how gender is performed, produced, structured and what it means to be a gendered being at the start of the 21^st century. Throughout the term, we will be putting learning into practice through field exercises that invite you to activate your sociological imagination and challenge your own assumptions by participating in outside “gender assignments.” Gender assignments may include participant observation, small experiments, interviews, or media analysis. Our activities will be grounds for discussion and interpretation, and will prepare you for your final project. At times, I will ask you to hand in an informal written response to your gender assignments.  (10%)

Panel Presentation

Along with several of your classmates, you will be responsible for leading one class discussion. We will discuss the panel presentation assignment and sign up for dates to present early in the semester. Your group will need to read the assigned readings in advance and meet at least once outside of class to prepare your presentation. You may opt to assign additional readings or activities to your classmates prior to your presentation date. Panel presentations may include setting up a guided debate, skits, films, music, web resources, media analysis, current events, social policy review .  .  . in short, any activity that you think will help teach the topic of the day. The panel presentation grade will be based on your planning and preparation as demonstrated during the class period you lead, peer evaluation of the presentation, and the group memo that you hand in to me on the date of your presentation. (10%)

Critical Essays

Each of you will be asked to write 3 out of 4 of the assigned critical essays. Everyone will write the first essay. Next, you will choose two of the following three essays that focus on one of the monographs we will read: Time Bind, Gender Trials or Flux. All of the critical essays will ask you to integrate course concepts in an analytical paper that critiques and extends the argument of each scholar. 3-4 pgs each. Deadlines: 1^st essay: Sept 21, Choose 2 of the following: Oct 12, Nov 9, or Nov 23. (10% each X 3 = 30%)

Research Paper

Each of you will conclude the course with an in-depth study of a topic of your own choosing. The final paper is due on the last day of class. We will work through the stages of design, study and write-up throughout the term. The final project is yours to design. For example, your research paper may be based on original research that you conduct on campus or in town, analyze previous findings, propose new legislation, or might even take a creative form like a video, play or performance piece. The only requirement is that the final project address an aspect of gender that you find interesting, demonstrate your knowledge of course concepts, and present evidence of in-depth individual research in a coherent and compelling manner. We will talk at length about this final paper later in the term. Final Paper: 8-10pgs due on Dec 9^th. Final Presentations Dec 2 and Dec 7. (20%)

Exams

Two exams based on weekly readings and discussion, are scheduled throughout the term. We will decide as a group if the tests will be administered during class or as take-home exams. Thurs, Oct 14 and Tues, Dec 14 at 2pm. (10% each)

Special Contributions

Susan Bordo, author of Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstruction of Being and Knowing,  Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body and The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private will be a visiting scholar at Grinnell this semester. This is a special honor and opportunity. I will keep you updated on opportunities to learn from her extensive expertise. Dr. Bordo is just one of the visiting scholars in the Feminist Scholarship Today program held at Grinnell this Fall. If you are aware of other opportunities, or food for thought that might enrich our study of gender, please let me know or make an announcement in class.

Grading

Grading Distribution

A Note on Reading

While reading, you should be seeking to answer the following questions:

1. What is the author’s main point or argument?
2. Building Block 1: What theories does the author build on or critique to demonstrate his/her point?
3. Building Block 2: What key pieces of evidence are presented in support of the author’s argument?
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the particular argument?
5. What questions does their argument raise for you?
6. How does this article or chapter relate to previous discussions, readings or experiences?

A Note on Writing

While what you write is essential, how you present your ideas in writing is also extremely important. Informal writing, in class writing and critical essays will provide you with an opportunity to exercise and strengthen your writing skills. You will have the opportunity to re-write up to two of the critical essays. All re-writes are due on or before December 2. I will average the grades of the original and re-written papers. I recommend that you take advantage of the Writing Lab for assistance with your assignments. If you do go to the Writing Lab, acknowledge the assistance of your tutor in your paper.

Course Schedule

This schedule is tentative and subject to change. Supplemental readings are indicated by (supp) and will be provided to you in class.

Final Exam Time: Tuesday Dec 14 at 2pm.

Enjoy your winter break.

SEE YOU IN 2005.