Please note that this syllabus should be regarded as only a general guide to the course. The instructor may have changed
specific course content and requirements subsequent to posting this syllabus. Last Modified: 20:46:07 08/01/2016
COMM2225/ENGL2125/HIST2502/SOCY2225:
Introduction to Feminisms (Fall 2016)
Instructor:
Dr. Andrew Owens
[email protected]
Office Hours:
St. Mary’s Hall South S480
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:00AM – 12:00PM, and by appointment
Course Overview
This course serves as an introduction to the major concepts, topics, and debates that animate the
field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. The course will begin by laying some common
groundwork and clarifying several of the major misconceptions about the field with an eye toward
exploring its rich interdisciplinary legacy. We’ll examine how modern gender identities arose, what
role science has played in structuring them, and how these identities are socioculturally produced
and reproduced everyday. We’ll approach masculinity and femininity not as unchanging categories,
but rather as variant in relation to race, class, sexuality, and nation.
Throughout the course, we’ll ask how some of the key political, cultural, and economic forces that
shape our time rely upon and alter gender roles and gendered labor. We’ll also analyze media
representations of gender and sexuality, and examine how these are perpetuated, resisted, and
subverted. Along the way, we’ll study the potential for feminist activism in arenas such as global
politics, sexual diversity, reproductive rights, and media representation. Although this course will
introduce students to a variety of political perspectives and theoretical frameworks, the fundamental
outlook is transnational, meaning that we’ll focus on connections between regions and times, rather
than treating our own context as static and self-contained.
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A Note on Course Content
This course will address some difficult issues that will challenge you to think critically beyond your
own personal experiences. As such, I ask that you consider these issues from the points of view
presented through readings and/or screenings and always maintain respect for your colleagues.
Please ask questions about things you might not understand and recognize that most of these issues
will not have easy answers.
Required Materials
Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives, ed. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2012).
Additional Readings
Additional readings noted in the course schedule are available through Canvas under “Files”.
A Note on Screenings
In order to maximize the productivity of our time together, many of the screenings for this course
will take place outside of class. All screenings are available either through Netflix’s streaming service
or via the Google Drive folder I’ll maintain for us (link provided under “Pages” on Canvas). If
access to screenings becomes problematic at any point throughout the semester, please don’t
hesitate to contact me.
Technology in the Classroom
Due largely to the fact that lecture slides will not be posted to Canvas, the use of computers during
class is acceptable with the understanding that they’re to be used responsibly and don’t become a
distraction. The use of cell phones is strictly prohibited. Please dim your laptops during all in-class
screenings. Technology can and should enhance our learning environment, thus I trust that you will
only use it conscientiously in this class. Failure to do so will result in an automatic lowering of
your attendance and participation grade. No warnings, no exceptions.
Evaluation
Attendance & Participation = 20%
Please note the “&” in this part of your assessment. Success in this course will require not
only your physical attendance, but also your active and thoughtful participation in class
discussions. Throughout the term, you’ll be allowed three absences without penalty. Each
subsequent absence will deduct 1/3 letter grade from your final mark.
Quizzes = 20% (5% each)
Mid-term Exam = 30%
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Final Exam = 30%
*The final exam for this course is not cumulative. You’ll be responsible only for material
covered after the midterm exam.
A Note on Grading
Throughout the course of the semester, I encourage you to get in touch with me regarding any
questions/concerns that you have about your grades. However, this invitation is accompanied by
three stipulations: 1) all grading inquiries must be done in person during office hours, 2) all grading
inquiries must wait at least 24 hours after the assignment is returned, and 3) all grades in this course
are non-negotiable.
Grades will be assigned on a standard A-F scale. Grades are computed according to university policy
as follows:
A=
A-=
B+=
B=
B- =
C+=
C=
C-=
D+=
D=
D- =
F=
4.0
3.66
3.33
3.0
2.66
2.33
2.0
1.66
1.33
1.0
.66
0
Statement on Academic Integrity from the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences expects all students to adhere to the accepted norms of intellectual
honesty in their academic work. Any form of cheating, plagiarism, or dishonesty or collusion in
another’s dishonesty is a fundamental violation of these norms.
CHEATING is the use or attempted use of unauthorized aids in any exam or other academic
exercise submitted for evaluation. This includes data falsification; the fabrication of data; deceitful
alteration of collected data included in a report; copying from another student’s work; unauthorized
cooperation in doing assignments or during an examination; the use of purchased essays, term
papers, or preparatory research for such papers; submission of the same written work in more than
one course without prior written approval from the instructor(s) involved; and dishonesty in
requests for either extensions or papers or make-up examinations.
PLAGIARISM is the deliberate act of taking the words, ideas, data, illustrative material, or
statements of someone else, without full and proper acknowledgment, and presenting them as one’s
own.
COLLUSION is assisting or attempting to assist another student in an act of academic dishonesty.
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As part of your scholarly development, you must learn how to work cooperatively in a community
of scholars and fruitfully utilize the work of others without violating the norms of intellectual
honesty. You have a responsibility to learn the parameters of collaboration and the proper forms for
quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing.
Faculty members who detect any form of academic dishonesty have the responsibility to take
appropriate action. The faculty member also has the responsibility to report the incident and penalty
to the Department Chairperson and the appropriate Class Dean. The report will remain in your
student file until you graduate.
If the gravity of the offense seems to warrant it or if the faculty member prefers that another
academic authority decide the matter, he or she may refer the case to a Dean. In addition, if the
student is unwilling to accept the faculty member’s decision, he or she may choose to have the
matter adjudicated either by an Associate Dean or by an Administrative Board. The section of the
College of Arts and Sciences in the Boston College Undergraduate Catalogue has further details
about this process.
Academic integrity is a very important matter. If you have any questions in any of your courses
about what is allowed or not allowed, please discuss the matter immediately with the instructor.
Statement for Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a documented disability seeking reasonable accommodations in this course,
please contact Kathy Duggan, (617) 552-8093, at the Connors Family Learning Center regarding
learning disabilities, or Paulette Durrett, (617) 552-3470, in the Disability Services Office regarding
all other types of disabilities.
A Final Reality ✓
Throughout the course of any college term, things come up. Whether student or faculty, we’re all
typically stretched for time and it happens to everyone. The best way to combat these unforeseen
circumstances while getting the most out of your experience in this course is to be honest and
communicative with me early and often. I will always answer e-mails within 24 hours.
Course Schedule
Readings and screenings are to be completed prior to the class session for which they are assigned,
unless otherwise noted. Course readings, screenings, and topics are subject to change depending
upon course flow and student interest.
UNIT #1: Surveying the Field
Week 1
August 29:
Course Introduction
August 31:
Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, “Untangling the ‘F’-word” (WL)
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Week 2
September 5:
NO CLASS – LABOR DAY
September 7:
“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls ” (WL)
Wollstonecraft, Excerpt from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Week 3
September 12:
de Beauvoir, excerpt from The Second Sex
Hartsock, “The Feminist Standpoint: Toward a Specifically Feminist
Historical Materialism”
Nicholson, “Feminism in ‘Waves’: Useful Metaphor or Not?”
September 14:
Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” (WL)
Thompson, “Multiracial Feminism” (WL)
**QUIZ #1**
UNIT #2: Contextualizing Ideologies of Sex & Gender
Week 4
September 19:
Garland-Thomson, “Feminist Theory, the Body, and the Disabled
Figure” (WL)
Laqueur, “Destiny is Anatomy”
September 21:
Fausto-Sterling, “The Five Sexes, Revisited”
Haraway, “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism
and the Privilege of Partial Perspective”
Week 5
September 26:
In-class Screening: Paris is Burning (1990, dir. Jennie Livingston, 71 min)
September 28:
Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination”
Fischer, “Think Gender is Performance? You Have Judith Butler to Thank
for That”
Lorber, “The Social Construction of Gender” (WL)
Week 6
October 3:
Screening: Tangerine (2015, dir. Sean Baker, 88 min)
Stryker, “An Introduction to Transgender Terms and Concepts”
**QUIZ #2**
October 5:
**MIDTERM EXAM**
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UNIT #3: Gendering/Sexing Race, Ethnicity, and Reproduction
Week 7
October 10:
NO CLASS – COLUMBUS DAY
October 12:
Screening: Lemonade (2016, 66 min)
Hill Collins, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and
the Politics of Empowerment” (WL)
Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?”
Week 8
October 17:
hooks, “Living to Love” (WL)
Riley, “The Black Beauty Myth” (WL)
October 19:
Mohanty, “Genealogies of Community, Home, and Nation” (WL)
Subramanian, “The Brown Girl’s Guide to Labels” (WL)
Week 9
October 24:
Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, “Reproductive Justice:
Vision, Analysis, and Action for a Stronger Movement” (WL)
Reis, “Young Women’s Eggs: Elite and Ordinary” (WL)
October 25:
**Required Event: Gail Dines (Place & Time TBA)**
October 26:
Koerth-Baker, Ginty, and Joyce, “Freedom to Choose? Three Essays on
Abortion Rights”
**QUIZ #3**
UNIT #4: Feminist Media Studies
Week 10
October 31:
Screening: Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 109 min)
Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” and “A Spectator Who Left
Identity Behind”
November 2:
Screening: Hush (2016, dir. Mike Flanagan, 81 min)
Williams, “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess”
November 3:
**Required Event: Rosemarie Garland-Thompson
(Place & Time TBA)**
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Week 11
November 7:
Screening: Magic Mike XXL (2015, dir. Gregory Jacobs, 115 min)
Gentry, “Women, stop apologizing for loving Magic Mike XXL:
Our visual pleasure matters as much as any man’s”
Kaplan, “Is the Gaze Male?”
Warner and Bullock, “‘Any God Worth Believing in Sends You Dudes in
Thongs When in Need’: Exploring Women’s Pleasure in Magic Mike
XXL”
November 9:
Screening: Carol (2015, dir. Todd Haynes, 118 min)
Somerson, “On the Complications of Negotiating Dyke Femininity” (WL)
White, “Sketchy Lesbians: Carol as History and Fantasy”
Week 12
November 14:
In-class Screening: Julia, “I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas”
Acham, “Respect Yourself! Black Women and Power in Julia and Good Times”
November 16:
In-class Screening: The Writers’ Room, “Scandal”
Warner, “ABC’s Scandal and Black Women’s Fandom”
**QUIZ #4**
Week 13
NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING BREAK
UNIT #5: (Post)Feminism?
Week 14
November 28:
Screening: Miss Representation (2011, dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom &
Kimberlee Acquaro, 85 min)
Halley, “Taking a Break from Feminism”
McRobbie, “In Exchange for Feminism”
November 30:
Screening: Hot Girls Wanted (2015, dir. Jill Bauer & Ronna Gradus, 84 min)
Levy, “Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture” (WL)
Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic” (WL)
Week 15
December 5:
Halberstam, “Gaga Feminism for Beginners”
December 7:
Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists
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