Introduction to Gender Studies

 

Professor Susan E. Gallagher

Political Science Dept.

UMASS Lowell

Susan_Gallagher@uml.edu

This course provides a general introduction to the wide array of historical, social, economic, and philosophical topics usually included within the boundaries of gender studies. We will explore the role of gender in the making of political knowledge, the struggle for women's suffrage, the rise and decline of the women's liberation movement, post-feminist views of social relations, various approaches to sexual identity, the political economy of sexual inequality, and the tension between public and private in present-day American politics and society.   

Lesson One: Gendered Perspectives

Required Readings:

• Simone de Beauvoir, excerpt from The Second Sex  (click on 'Other Thinkers,' then scroll through theorists until you come to Simone de Beauvoir)

• Background on Simone de Beauvoir

• Timeline of the Struggle for Women's Rights in the U.S.

• A Brief History of the Women's Rights Movement 

• A Summary of the Women's Suffrage Movement

• Bradwell v. Illinois (1873) Upheld exclusion of women from legal practice (print)

• Rent Movie: 12 Angry Men

Questions for Lesson One:

1. When we talk about equality in American society, what do we usually mean?

2. Why would the term "gender" be more useful than the term "sex" in describing the different roles and rights assigned to men and women in the history of American society? 

3. When Simone de Beauvoir used the phrase, "Woman as other," what did she mean?

4. Why was Myra Bradwell forbidden from practicing law?

5. Describe some of the assumptions made about class, gender, and ethnicity in Twelve Angry Men.

• The History of the Suffrage Movement by Marjorie Spruill Wheeler

• The Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls Convention (1848) 

• Woman Suffrage and the Temperance Movement

• The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) (print)

• Historical Summary of Women's Participation in the Paid Work Force (print)

• The Social, Economic, and Military Roles of Women During & After World War Two

Second-Wave Feminism:

A Struggle for Personal Liberation

 

Required Readings:

• Timeline of the Women's Rights Movement 

• Excerpt from Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963)

• Equal Pay Act (1963)

• Nat'l Organization for Women (NOW), Statement of Purpose (1966) (print) (link repaired-8/9/01)

• Gloria Steinem, "Women's Liberation Aims to Free Men Too," The Washington Post, June 7, 1970 (print)

• An Overview of Birth Control and Abortion Law in the United States

• Roe v. Wade (1973) Permitted abortion on the basis of the right to privacy (print)

• Frontiero v. Richardson - Abstract (1973) Held that sex-based statutes violate due process clause

  

Required Readings

• History of Privacy

• Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren, "The Right to Privacy," Harvard Law Review, Volume IV, No. 5, December 1890.

• The Hill/Thomas Case

• Bill Clinton, Testimony Before the Starr Grand Jury (9/17/98)

• Hustler Magazine v. Jerry Falwell (1988)

• After Monica, What Next?

• Wendy Kaminer, "I Spy, " The American Prospect (August 14, 2000)

• Anita Allen, "Lying to Protect Privacy"

• Juliet Williams, "The Personal is Political: Thinking Through the Clinton/Lewinsky/Starr Affair

Questions for Reading and Discussion

1. Why have men historically tended to defend privacy rights while women generally have not?

2. Describe the balance of power between Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill.

3. If Anita Hill's testimony had been shown to be absolutely true, would the outcome of the Senate hearings have been different?

4. Describe Bill Clinton's views on sexual privacy.

5. What evidence did Bill Clinton cite to show that he had never encouraged anyone to lie about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky?

6. Describe Bill Clinton's characterizations of Monica Lewinsky in his Starr Grand Jury testimony.

7. If everyone adopted Bill Clinton's conception of sexuality, what would happen to sexual harassment law?

8. Describe the parallels between Bill Clinton's views on rights to privacy and the perspective adopted by Brandeis and Warren in 1890.

9. If you were a '70's feminist, how would you respond to Bill Clinton's testimony?

10. Describe the balance of power between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

11. Would you mind if your boss were carrying on a relationship such as that between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky? 

12. Why do you think that Bill Clinton's popularity increased during the revelations concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky?

13. Do you perceive a new sense of intimacy in the tone of American journalism?

14. Specify ways in which pop psychology has invaded American politics and law.