Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Studies
WGSS 200:01 & 02
PHIL 280: 01 & 02
Dr. McWhorter
Spring, 2008
Click here for graded assignments.
Books available in the campus bookstore and required for this course are:
Brownmiller, In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1
Heyes, Self-Transformations: Foucault, Ethics, and Normalized
Bodies
Loughery, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay
Identities: A Twentieth Century History
Wilchins, Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer
Calendar of Readings
January 14:
Introduction to the Course.
UNIT ONE: Theories of Sex and Gender
January 16:
Beauvoir, The Second Sex, Part IV, The Formative
Years, Chapter XII, Childhood, pp. 267-88, available on electronic
reserve. Note: To get access to any electronically reserved
material, go to the UR libraries online and click on course reserves.
Search by professor's name or course.
January 18:
Butler, "Gendering the Body: Beauvoir's Philosophical
Contribution" on electronic
reserve.
January 21:
NO CLASS: Martin Luther King Day.
January 23:
Rubin, "The Traffic in Women" on electronic
reserve, 105-145.
January 25:
Irigaray, "Women on the Market" and "Commodities
Among Themselves" on electronic
reserve.
January 28:
Pharr, "Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism" on electronic reserve.
January 30:
EXAM!
February 1:
Wilchins, Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer,
1-45.
February 4:
Dr. Holland will meet with the class and show clips from
the Sundance Channel's series "Transgeneration!" The
full set of episodes from the series is on reserve in the MRC
so you can look at the rest if you like. Note: This is a series
of eight episodes totalling 300 minutes. To find out what happened
to Lucas, T.J., Gabby, and Raci after the show was aired, you
can go to the show's Sundance
Channel website. .
February 6:
Wilchins, Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer,
47-95, and "Littleton v. Prange," electronic
reserve. The American Psychiatric Association opposes reparative
or conversion
therapy for homosexuality.
February 8:
Fausto-Sterling, "The Five Sexes" and Hegarty
and Chase, "Intersex Activism, Feminism, and Psychology,"
from Morland and Willox, Queer Theory, electronic
reserve. To learn more about intersexuality, visit the websites
of the Intersex Society of North
America and Bodies
Like Ours.
February 11:
Wilchins, Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer,
97-157. You can visit the GenderPAC
website. For information on various transgender groups across
the country, visit Transgender
Forum's Community Center.
February 13:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume One: An
Introduction, 3-35.
February 15:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume One: An
Introduction, 36-49
February 18:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume One: An
Introduction, 77-102. Learn more online about attempts to
cure habitual masturbation with Kellogg's
cereals and Graham crackers.
February 20:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume One: An
Introduction, 103-131.
February 22:
NO CLASS, BUT: Students are required to attend corresponding
sessions of the WGSS student research conference in the North
Court Reception Room.
February 25:
EXAM!
February 27:
Katz, "The Invention of Heterosexuality," 7-30,
on electronic reserve.
February 29:
Class will be held in the Boatwright Computer classroom
in the library. WGSS Research Librarian Lucretia McCulley will
lead the class in several exercises in archival research.
March 1:
NO FORMAL CLASS MEETING, BUT: Students are to work in
the library on the archive assignment. Lucretia McCulley will
be available exclusively to class members during the class period
to answer questions and direct research.
March 3:
Class will be held in the Boatwright Computer classroom.
Archival Exercises due!
March 5:
"Men Talk Sex"--a 30-minute in-class film and
discussion about male heterosexuality.
March 10, 12, & 14:
NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK!
UNIT TWO: Histories of Resistance and Change
March 17:
Loughery, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and
Gay Identities, 3-16, 36-81, 93-134. Discussion: Roaring Twenties
and the impact of the Great Depression on sexuality in the US.
For much more information on the history of gay and lesbian movements
in the US and around the world, including a very useful bibliography,
go to gayhistory.com.
For musical accompaniment to this reading, students may wish to
acquire a copy of the greatest hits of The
Village People. "In the Navy" and "Y.M.C.A."
would be especially appropriate selections.
March 19:
Loughery, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and
Gay Identities, 135-182, 191-252; D'Emilio, "Dual Identity
and Lesbian Autonomy: The Beginning of Separate Organizing Among
Women," electronic
reserve. Discussion: World War II and government repression
of gays and lesbians in the 1950s. The UR Library now has full-text,
online access to the Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender History in America. You can link to it through
the UR Library Catalog or through the WGSS
Library Research Guide.
March 21:
Prior to class, students should view the video "Before
Stonewall," an 87-minute documentary available in the MRC.
Class discussion will focus on the film and its relation to the
Loughery and D'Emilio readings thus far. Students who have gotten
behind in the reading should catch up by this day.
March 24:
Loughery, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and
Gay Identities, 253-290, 303-320. Discussion: How nationwide
political change in the 1960s affected homophile movements and
helped give birth to gay and lesbian politics. During this week
students are encouraged but not required to view the 88-minute
documentary "After Stonewall," available for check out
in the MRC.
March 26:
Loughery, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and
Gay Identities, 321-418. Discussion: Gay politics, feminism,
and right-wing backlash in the 1970s.
March 28: Loughery, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities, 419-449. In addition to the reading, students should view the 88-minute documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk," available in the MRC. Students are responsible for the content of this film, which will be included on the April 9 exam. Students may also want to visit the Act-Up Oral History website and read at least one interview with a member of Act-Up before class. Other websites of interest include those of Act-Up chapters around the country, such as Act-Up New York, Act-Up Philadelphia, Act-Up Atlanta, and Act-Up San Francisco. Discussion: Assassination, hate crimes, AIDS, and the founding of ACT-UP.
March 31:
Brief lecture on the legal status of women in the US in
1960 and the beginnings of the Women's Liberation Movement. Reading:
Brownmiller, In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution, 1-101.
Check out Susan Brownmiller's
website, which includes essays and excerpts from her other
books as well as a feminist IQ test. You can read many of the
original pamphlets and documents of the early Women's Liberation
Movement at the CWLU
Herstory website.
April 2:
Brownmiller, In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution, 102-93.
Discussion: The importance of the issue of abortion in the formation
of the Women's Liberation Movement.
April 4:
Brownmiller, In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution, 194-258.
Discussion: The importance of the issue of rape in the mid-1970s.
April 7:
NO CLASS: Students are to work on the take-home exam due
April 9.
April 9:
EXAM!
April 11:
NO CLASS: University Presidential Inauguration.
April 14:
Brownmiller, In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution, 259-330.
Discussion: The emergence and development of the concept of domestic
violence; the identification of the phenomenon of sexual harassment;
the Brownmiller's claim that feminism's downfall was the campaign
against pornography. Students can view a picture of the infamous
Hustler
magazine meat grinder cover online (not that you want to or
anything).
UNIT THREE: Self-Transformation.
April 16:
Heyes, Self-Transformations, v-37; Wittgenstein,
Philosophical Investigations, section 293. Discussion:
The impossibility of private languages and consequences for authentic
selfhood.
April 18:
Heyes, Self-Transformations, 38-62. Discussion:
Feminism and sex reassignment technologies.
April 21:
Heyes, Self-Transformations, 63-88. Discussion:
Dieting as a self-transformative practice.
April 23:
Heyes, Self-Transformations, 89-110. Discussion:
Cosmetic Surgery and disciplinary normalization.
April 25:
Heyes, Self-Transformations, 111-136. Discussion:
Ethics and Somaesthetics.
Return to McWhorter's Homepage.