Course Description

What does it mean to be a woman?  What does it mean to be a man?  Gender will be the basis of our analysis as we discuss the changing roles of women and men and the problems they face.  We will examine such issues as oppression, work, race, sexuality, beauty, violence, pornography and human rights.  We will also explore how gender, race, class, ethnicity, religion and sexuality are tied up together in our identities, our life experiences and the way we view others and ourselves.  Our analysis will span both high and low culture; so the objects of our study will include everything from oil paintings of the Renaissance to so called four-letter words. Students are expected to approach the sometimes adult subject matter in a serious academic manner. Our goal is to better understand what it means to be women or men today, how that has changed and how that will continue to change.

Required Materials

Primis Reader (available in bookstore) and other readings available in class

Grading

Your grade will be based on the following:

• Four exams will make up 80 percent of your grade.Exams will cover two units each
• Writing assignments will make up 10 percent of your grade. These will include both unannounced, in-class quizzes and other occasional writing assignments.  These will be graded with a check (satisfactory), check plus (good/excellent) or check minus (unsatisfactory).
• Class participation will make up 10 percent of your grade. This includes attendance, promptness, ability and willingness to successfully complete assignments, and constructive participation in class discussions, listserv dialogues and other in-class activities.
• Optional extra credit paper. Topics will be posted on the course's website.  Papers should be five pages, typed, double-spaced.  They can be handed in at any time during the semester until December 3.  No papers will be accepted after this date.  If you decide to write this paper, be careful about plagiarism.  (See the student handbook for the college's policy.)  Any paper that I judge to contain plagiarized material will result in a failing grade for the course among other penalties.

Course Policies:

Attendance - Your attendance affects your grade.  If a student collects 2-3 unexcused absences, the final grade will be lowered by half a letter; 4-5 unexcused absences will result in the grade being lowered by a full letter.  More than 6 absences justify failure.  Two lates will constitute one absence.

Conduct - In a college classroom, there should be no need for the mention of the word "discipline" except in an academic sense. Each student will be treated with courtesy. I expect the same respectful behavior (toward other students and myself) and appropriate classroom decorum in return. If two or more students are talking to each other during a lecture/discussion period, that may distract other class members and interrupt learning. We will proceed in PDA 201 in a fashion that is mature, fair-minded, and polite.

Class participation will be measured by my perception of your constructive participation in class activities and discussion. Be aware that this portion of your grade is completely dependent on my subjective view of your participation. I expect that students will be cordial and respectful of others at all times. If your behavior is disruptive or disrespectful you may be asked to leave class either for the class or for the semester. Please note that beepers, cell phones and any other electronic devices that make audible noise must be turned off in class. Communication with others (by voice, text or other means) via any electronic devices (including answering a call or taking it out of the room) is not allowed. Use of such devices in class is disruptive, rude and will count against class participation. You may also be asked to leave class which will count as an absence in terms of attendance and grading.

Academic Code of Conduct -Please read the Academic Code of Conduct. You can find the code in the Student Manual. Ignorance of the code or of proscribed behavior is not an excuse for violating the code of conduct. If I suspect that a student has violated the academic code of conduct, the burden of proof is on the student to prove s/he did not do it.

Plagiarism: Stealing or passing off the ideas of another person as your own is called plagiarism. If any written work is called into question you must be able to produce a bibliography of sources used. The burden of proof is on the student to prove that the sources cited are sufficient to create the entire piece of work in an ethical fashion.

Consequences for Violating the Academic Code of Conduct: The college policy empowers me to, among other things, assign a failing course grade, add a note to the student's permanent academic record and request the student's expulsion from the college. I will not hesitate to take such actions for students who plagiarize or otherwise violate the Academic Code of Conduct.

Office of Disability Services - If you are a student with a disability and you believe you will need accommodations to succeed in this class contact the Office of Disability Services at 845-574-4541.

Assignments - Please note that the readings should be done by the date indicated below. The reading schedule is subject to change. Readings marked with a (P) are in the Primis Reader.

Course Outline

UNIT 1: GENDER AND OPPRESSION

• Sept 3 - Introduction
• Sep 8 - How to Read for Class
  • "X: A Fabulous Child's Story"
  • "Becoming Members of Society"
  • Optional: The Five Sexes
• Sept 10
  • "New Visions of Masculinity"
  • "Being a Boy"
• Sept 15
  • "Sizing Up the Sexes"
  • "Sex, Lies and Conversation"
• Note: Sept. 22 is the last day to drop without a grade and the last day to apply for Dec. graduation.
• Sept 22 - "A Civic Duty to Annoy"
• Sept 24 - Review for Exam #1: Gender and Oppression
• Sept 29 - No Class (no classes after 4PM - Rosh Hashanah)
• Oct 1 - No Day or Evening Classes (Rosh Hashanah)
• Oct 6 - Exam #1
• Oct 8 - No Class (no classes after 4PM -Yom Kippur)

UNIT 2: HOMOSEXUALITY AND BEAUTY

• Oct 13 - Note: Class is in session today, Columbus Day.
  • "God Is Not a Homophobe"
  • "Does DNA Make Some Men Gay?"
  • "Link to Lesbianism Found"
  • Basic Definitions (Read definitions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexual & queer)
  • Optional: Gay at Birth
  • Optional for Columbus day: Columbus and Western Civilization by Howard Zinn http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/columbus_western.html (pardon their typos, it's a good piece anyway)
• Oct 15 -
  • "Men Loving Men"
  • "Viri: Real Men" Excerpt from Roman Homosexuality
• Oct 20 -
  • For Better or For Worse"
  • "What Marriage Means"
• Oct 22 - "Lesbian and Bisexual Women" (P)
• Oct 27 -
  • "Ways of Seeing"
  • "The Centerfold Syndrome"
• Oct 29 -
  • "Women, Weight and Body Image" (P)
  •  "The Bully in the Mirror"
• Note: Oct 31  is the last day to withdraw from a course without a failing grade and the last day to file pass/fail or audit form in Records Office.
• Nov 3 - Review for Exam #2
• Nov 5 - Exam #2

UNIT 3: RACE AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS

• Nov 10 -
  • "A Black Feminist Statement: The Combahee River Collective," (P)
  • Davis, Angela Y., Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights(P)
  • ptional: Lorde, Audre, Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference (P)
  • optional: hooks, bell, Dreaming Ourselves Dark and Deep: Black Beauty (P)
• Nov 12 -
  • Just Walk on By
  • Castaneda, Donna, Gender Issues among Latinas (P)
  • Wagner, Sally Roesch, Is Equality Indigenous?(P)
• Nov 17 -
  • Asian Childhoods Sacrificed to Prosperity's Lust
  • First, Second and Third World
  • Life on the Global Assembly Line by Barbara Ehrenreich and Fuentes (P)
  • Reminder: Extra Credit papers are due on Dec 8
• Nov 19 -
  • Bananas Bases and Patriarchy by Cynthia Enloe (P)
  • Optional: Lott, Bernice, Global Connections: The Significance of Women's Poverty (P)
  • Bunch, Charlotte, Women's Rights as Human Rights (P)
• Nov 24 - Review for Test #3

UNIT 4: WORK AND VIOLENCE

• Nov 26 - Test #3
• Nov 27 - 30 - Thanksgiving Break
• Dec 1 -
  • "The Politics of Housework" (P)
  • "Women and Work" (P)
  • "1997 Value of Housework"
• Dec 3 -
  • "Up in Michigan"
  • Extra Credit Papers due today
• Dec 8 -
  • "Perspectives on Acquaintance Rape
  • "NY State Rape Law
• Dec 10 - Feminisms
• Dec 15 - Review for Exam #4
• Dec 17 - Exam #4