WOMEN’S STUDIES 240: SUFFRAGISTS, SISTAHS AND RIOT GRRRLS

AN INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN’S STUDIES

Fall 2002

            This course introduces key writings, concepts and conflicts within the women’s movement that have emerged during the past 400+ years. The readings and lectures cover a variety of voices and descriptions of “outrageous acts” on behalf of equality from historical documents, from different scholarly disciplines and from activist women. The course is organized chronologically and, since many debates among and against feminists have a lengthy past, the lectures and exams will emphasize the thematic links between past and present.

            This course satisfies the gender, race, ethnicity and non-western study General Education Tier 2 requirement. It is required for the Women’s Studies major and minor. Students are expected to be responsible and respectful participant-learners in WS240.

COURSE TEXTS:

            Women’s America, 5^th edition, eds. Kerber & De Hart (ASUA Bookstore)

            E-Reserve readings available on-line from UA Library         Password: JNT

COURSE GRADING: In-class attentiveness to lecturer and classmates, as well as constructive participation in class discussions are rewarded in WS240. Participation includes being prepared for each class. All written assignments, including exam essays, will be evaluated for critical thinking, the ability to synthesize course themes, and writing skills. Late papers = 1/2 point off for each day; do not submit papers electronically.

            Classroom participation:                    10 points*

            Letter to one in power (Sept. 9)           5 points

            Three unannounced quizzes               10 points (cannot be made up due to absence)

            Midterm examination                         20 points

            Outrageous Act report (Oct.29)          15 points

            Paper (Dec. 3)                                     20 points

            Final Examination (Dec. 17, 11-1)     20 points

                                                                      100 points

* More than 3 absences, -1 point/absence. Chronic lateness = -1/3 point/late arrival

            Extra credit question on the documentary film about 19^th -century suffrage, Not for Ourselves Alone (Midterm) and the feature film about women’s labor activism, Salt of the Earth (Final exam): 2 points each. Both are available at Main Library Media Center.

Honors students should consult with Professor Temple about additional reading and report assignment as soon as possible.

COURSE SYLLABUS

Date                Topic, The Day’s Reading, Assignment Due

Aug. 27           Introduction of course goals and activities

                        Handout: Excerpts from a letter by 17^th-century nun, Sor Juana

                        Class discussion of Outrageous Act assignment (see end of syllabus)

Aug. 29           Early “outrageous women”

                        Discussion of Sor Juana letter

                        “The First American Women” by Sara Evans, (30-39 in Kerber & De Hart)

                        Handout: Letters between Abigail Adams and John Adams

Sept. 3            A Revolution for Whom?

                        Discussion: Letters between Abigail Adams and John Adams

                        “The Republican Mother and the Woman Citizen” by Linda Kerber (112-120)

                        Post-Revolution Documents by Sarah Osborn and Rachel Wells (108-111)

Sept. 5            Letter to Someone in Power due at beginning of class

                        Women’s Voices in the 19^th-century: Private power

                        Lecture on early women’s diaries and today’s women’s voices

Sept. 10           Women’s History as Power

                        “Gender and the New Women’s History” by De Hart & Kerber (3-24)

                        FIRST-WAVE FEMINISM: WOMEN’S RIGHTS & SUFFRAGE

Sept. 12           Women Speak out on Slavery, Working Conditions, and Women’s Rights

Document: The Connection between Religious Faith, Abolition, and Women’s Rights by Sarah and Angelina Grimke (193-200)

                        Document: The Testimony of Slave Women (125-127)

                        Sojourner Truth’s Defense of the Rights of Women by Nell Irvin Painter (210-13)

                        Document: Working Conditions in Early Factories, 1845 (157-8)

Sept. 17           Written Proposal for Outrageous Act due at start of class

                        Women’s Culture: “Reading” a female tradition

                        Video and discussion: Hearts and Hands

Sept. 19           Women’s “Revolution”: 1848

                        Declaration of Sentiments, 1848 (207-8)

                        “The Meanings of Seneca Falls, 1848-1998" by Gerda Lerner (200-06)

[This would be a good time to view the long video Not for Ourselves Alone about the equal rights movement, which is available at the Library Media Center. There will be an extra credit question about the video on Midterm.]

Sept. 24           Women’s reproductive bodies: 19^th-century

                        “Abortion in America” by James Mohr (183-92)

Sept. 26           The Notion of “Separate Spheres” and Women’s Culture

                        “The Female World of Love and Ritual” by Carroll Smith-Rosenberg (168-182)

                        “Reading Little Women” by Barbara Sicherman (246-58)

Oct. 1             After the Civil War: Quests for Equality Renewed

Document: Reconstruction Amendments, 1868,1870 (241);

Document: Working for Racial Justice. Ida B. Wells, “Nobody ...believes the old thread bare lie” (267-70)

                        Document: Equal Suffrage (Nineteenth) Amendment, 1920 (340)

Oct. 3             MIDTERM EXAMINATION

                        UNRESOLVED ISSUES LEADING UP TO SECOND-WAVE FEMINISM

Oct. 8             Women’s Place in the Paid Labor Force: The Ongoing Debate

“Disorderly Women: Gender and Labor Militancy in the Appalachian South” by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall (387-400)

“‘Rosie the Riveter’: Women and War Work during World War II” by Sara Evans (442-47)

                        Video: excerpts from Rosie the Riveter

Oct. 10           No formal Class. It is highly-recommended the those intending to do group research papers meet on this date to prepare the paper proposal due Oct. 15

Oct. 15           Written Proposal due for Group Research Paper or Oral History Reports

Unresolved issues about Women’s Bodies

Document: Controlling Reproduction. Margaret Sanger, “I resolved that women should have knowledge of contraception” (355-62)

“‘Mannishness,’ Lesbianism, and Homophobia in U.S. Women’s Sports” by Susan K. Cahn (462-70)

                        Lecture on prostitution in the 19^th-century and in the 21^st century by Loran Marsan

                        SECOND-WAVE FEMINISM

Oct. 17            E-Reserve reading: “Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique” by Sheila Tobias (9 pps.)

Oct. 22            Those planning oral history reports meet in Information Commons Electronic Classroom for materials and lecture by Ruth Dickstein

                        (This would be a good time for others to form a group and watch the video                         Salt of the Earth at the Library Media Center Final exam extra-credit.)

Oct. 24            Those planning group research reports meet in Information Commons Electronic Classroom for materials and lecture by Ruth Dickstein

Oct. 29            Outrageous Act Report due at beginning of class

                        An Outrageous Act: Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party

                        Video: “Right out of History: The Dinner Party”

Oct. 31            Completion of video “Right out of History: The Dinner Party”

                        Lecture: Ways to Effectively Interview Women

Nov. 5            The Personal is Political: Agitation and Legislation

                        Documents: Making the Personal Political: Fighting Injustice (508-523)

                        Documents: Making the Personal Political: Becoming a Feminist (532-46)

Nov. 7            Women’s Reproductive Bodies: Roe v. Wade and beyond

                        Documents (547-53)

“Women Divided: Abortion and What it Means to be Female” by Faye Ginsburg (553-63)

                        THIRD-WAVE FEMINISM

Nov. 12          Voices of Women of Color

E-reserve: “From a Long Line of Vendidas: Chicanas and Feminism” by Cherie Moraga (10 pps)

Nov. 14           Sexualities and Systems of Meaning

                        E-reserve: “Compulsory Heterosexuality” by Adrienne Rich (3 pps)

                                            One is Not Born a Woman” by Monique Wittig (4 pps)

Nov. 19           Global Feminism

E-reserve: “Life on the Global Assembly Line” by Barbara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes (8 pps)

                        Video excerpts from The Global Factory

Nov. 21           Outraged Women: Riot Grrrls and other issues

                        Guest lecturer

Nov. 26           Controlling and Marketing Women’s Bodies

“Fasting Girls: The Emerging Ideal of Slenderness in American Culture” by Joan Jacobs Brumberg (363-72)

                        Video: Killing Us Softly 3

Dec. 3            All Group and Individual Reports due at beginning of class

Group and individual class reports

Dec. 5            Group and individual class reports

Dec. 10          Group and individual class reports

                        Class Overview and Final Exam Preparation

Dec. 17           11:00 AM–1:00 PM FINAL EXAMINATION

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Information about Written Assignments

Letter to Someone in Power [5 points] This first class assignment lets you “introduce” your voice on a gender topic that you’ve noticed. It lets us assess your writing and alerts us to challenges you may have in written assignments. This letter is to be in standard business format (use actual inside address) or in rare cases, informal format.

The Outrageous Act [15 points]

            Women’s rights leaders and “ordinary women” who wished to enter male-dominated areas such as medicine were often considered outrageous. To gain empathy with gender role-busting pioneers–and to test the unspoken gender expectations in our present-day culture–you are requested to perform an Outrageous Act. This task involves several steps: 1) forming a hypothesis that you wish to test. E.g., Nursing is considered a “female” field, while physicians are still thought of as male, despite the fact that at least half of medical students are now female. Thus, your hypothesis as a male might be, “If I tell my parents that I was switching majors from pre-med to nursing, they will be upset.” Your hypothesis will form the basis of your Outrageous Act proposal which is due before you perform the act and must be approved by Prof. Temple or the GAT; 2) You execute this act without telling anyone it is an act and observe the results. 3) You reflect upon the results, analyzing what happened and theorizing about gender. Your written paper should describe the above three elements in lively standard English prose. Make sure that you draw upon class readings and lectures when you analyze what happened–or didn’t happen–due to your Outrageous Act. Your act cannot re-enforce stereotypes, homophobia or bigotry; rather, it should push you to think about gender, to feel the discomfort that will result in personal learning.

Group Research Paper: [20 points]

            This should be a team (ideally 2-4 people) activity that results in an interesting class presentation and a documented research paper. There are several topic options:

            **        Studying a past pioneering woman: Victoria Woodhull, considered the first female presidential candidate; Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor; Eleanor Roosevelt, “outrageous” First Lady; Margaret Sanger, reproductive rights activist; Angela Davis, Civil Rights radical. Or you may trace “firsts” by women in a field: aviation, sports, law, business, religion.

            **        Taking an topic and following its history: sexualization of women professional athletes; controversy over women’s colleges, expectations for female beauty; prescriptions for being a good mother, backlash to feminism, sexual harassment, domestic violence, depiction of gender in video games.

            **        Follow a female candidate in this fall’s political elections. You should analyze gender factors such as how she portrays herself, how she is portrayed by her opponent, and her opinions on issues commonly associated with women such as reproductive choice, childcare, etc.

            Your oral report should be 5-7 minutes long and include contributions by all members. The paper should be 8-16 pages long (4 pps/group member) and contain at least 2 citations per group member to sources such as newspaper articles and editorials, television commentary, websites, scholarly articles and books. The report and paper should describe and analyze what has happened, as well as connect to what we are learning in class. The group must apply at least one concept directly from our class readings or lectures to your subject for full credit. Teamwork is difficult and this course is about equality. Therefore, part of your grade will be based on evaluation by both yourself and your teammates about your contributions to the final projects. The presentation is worth 5 points; the paper is worth 15 points.

Individual Reports: Oral Histories [20 points]

            The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how issues covered in this course interact with individuals. You should choose someone who is 45 years or older to interview about points in their life when : 1) they first “learned” gender; 2) “click” moment(s) in which they realized that sex roles affected their choices; 3) laws that influenced their path; 4) their reflections on feminism and equality. You must then link the individual’s experience with the larger picture by finding two outside sources that place your findings in context: e.g. what percentage of women were in law school when your interviewee decided to enroll? Use standard citation form for your outside sources. The paper must also include one concept from our class lectures or readings in your analysis or narrative for full credit. Paper length: 4 succinct pages. Oral presentation: 3 minutes.

Evaluation of Oral Presentation:                Evaluation of Research Papers:

Informative content: 1                                    Quality of research: 4

Organization:1                                                Analysis:4

Link to outside source:1                                 Paper’s Organization: 2

Link to class: 1                                               Outside sources and citations:2

Clarity and interesting presentation: 1            Link to class: 1

                                                                        Usage/clarity: 2

                                                                        Group paper score adjusted for participation