Gender and the Individual
Fall 1999
170 Dennison, Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m.
Professor Abigail J. Stewart
460 West Hall or 3265 East Hall
764-9537 or 764-8034
Wednesdays, 1:30-3:30 p.m. 460 West Hall
GSIs:
Zaje Harrell
3272 East Hall
647-3951
Tuesdays, 2-5 p.m.
Sheryl Pimlott
226 West Hall
647-4279
Thursdays, 9-11 a.m.
This course will examine how gender shapes and is shaped by individuals. We will draw on psychological theories, feminist theories, the empirical research literature and case studies of women. In the first section of the course we will consider a variety of ways in which gender is constructed socially; in the second section we will examine particular domains in which gender is experienced and performed (mental health and well-being, relationships, violence and work and achievement). In the final section we will examine sources of gender in biology, lifespan development, and socialization to gender and other roles.
Prerequisites for this course are EITHER PS111 Introduction to Psychology OR WS240 Introduction to Women’s Studies.
Readings for the course are contained in two texts available at Shaman Drum (313 S. State St.):
Unger, R. & Crawford, M. (1996). Women and gender: A feminist psychology.
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Romero, M. & Stewart, A.J. (Eds.) (1999). Women’s untold stories: Breaking silence, talking back, voicing complexity. NY: Routledge.
and a coursepack available at Kelly’s Copies on the second floor of Ulrich’s.
Note: Most reading listed here is required. When it is only recommended this is indicated by "REC." For some classes, some ALTERNATIVE required readings are suggested; in this case choose ONE of the readings indicated.
9/14/99 Introduction to Gender and the Individual
9/21/99 Social Meanings of Gender
Unger & Crawford, Chapter 1: Introduction to a Feminist Psychology of Women
Unger & Crawford, Chapter 4: Images of Women
9/28/99 Status and Power: Gender and Differences Among Women
Unger & Crawford, Chapter 2: Approaches to Understanding Girls and Women
Unger & Crawford, Chapter 5: Doing Gender: Sex, Status, and Power
McGann (Chapter 7) in Romero & Stewart: Skirting the normal gender divide:
A tomboy life story.
10/5/99 Social Identities and Political Participation
Sampson, E. E. (1993). Identity politics: Challenges to psychology's understanding. American Psychologist, 48(12), 1219-1230.
King, D. (1988). Multiple jeopardy, multiple consciousness. Signs, 14, 42-72.
ALTERNATIVES:
Xiong & Tatum (Chapter 14) in Romero & Stewart: "In my heart I will always be
Hmong": One Hmong American woman’s pioneering journey toward
activism OR
Schulz, Knoki & Knoki-Wilson (Chapter 11) in Romero & Stewart: "How would
you write about that?": Identity, language, and knowledge in the narratives of two Navajo women
10/12/99 Social Justice and Affirmative Action
Clayton, S. & Crosby, F. (1992). Affirmative action. In Justice, gender, and affirmative action (pp. 9-41). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Tougas & Veilleux (1989). Who likes affirmative action: Attitudinal processes among men and women. In F. A. Blanchard & F. J. Crosby (Eds.).
Affirmative action in perspective (pp. 111-124). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Stewart (Chapter 12) in Romero & Stewart: "I’ve got to try to make a difference": A white woman in the civil rights movement.
10/19/99 Mental Health and Well-being
Note: The first part of class on October 16 will be an exam on Part I.
Marecek, J. (1997). Disappearances, silences, and anxious rhetoric. In M. M. Gergen & S. N. Davis (Eds.). In Toward a new psychology of gender: A reader (pp. 543-552). New York: Routledge.
Rothblum, E. (1997, July). Paradigms and issues in lesbian women’s health
research. Presented at Conference on Methods and Measures: Emerging Strategies for Women’s Health Research, Ann Arbor, MI.
Tangri & Browne (Chapter 8) in Romero & Stewart: Climbing out of the pit:
From the Black middle class to homeless and (almost) back again
REC: Unger & Crawford, chapter 15: Mental Health and Well-being
10/26/99 Relationships
Unger & Crawford, chapter 9: Sex, Love, and Romance
Unger & Crawford, chapter 10: Commitments: Women and Long-Term Relationships
ALTERNATIVES:
Malley (Chapter 4) in Romero & Stewart: Life on the homefront: Housewives’
Experience of World War II
OR
Hurtado (Chapter 6) in Romero & Stewart: Cross-border existence: One woman’s
Migration story
11/2/99 Violence
Fine, M. & Weis, L. (1998). Crime stories: A critical look through race, ethnicity, and gender. Qualitative Studies in Education, 3, 435-459.
Dietz, T. L. (1998). An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive
behavior. Sex Roles, 38(5/6), 425-442.
Nagata (Chapter 5) in Romero & Stewart: Expanding the internment narrative:
Multiple layers of Japanese American women’s experience
REC: Unger & Crawford, chapter 14: Violence
11/9/99 Work and Achievement
Unger & Crawford, chapter 12: Work and Achievement
ALTERNATIVES:
Neumann (Chapter 15) in Romero & Stewart: Inventing a labor of love:
Scholarship as a woman’s work
OR
Soldatenko (Chapter 16) in Romero & Stewart: Berta’s story: Journey from
Sweatshop to showroom
11/16/99 Biological bases of gender
Note: The first part of class will be an exam on Section II on November 16.
Unger & Crawford, chapter 3: The Meanings of Difference: Sex, Gender, and Cognitive Abilities
Unger & Crawford, chapter 6: Biological Aspects of Sex and Gender
11/23/99 Childhood and Adolescence
Note: First papers absolutely must be turned in on November 23. They will be accepted anytime earlier, but not later.
Sections will NOT meet this week; Happy Thanksgiving!
Unger & Crawford, chapter 7: Becoming Gendered: Childhood
Unger & Crawford, chapter 8: Becoming a Woman: Puberty and Adolescence
11/30/99 Motherhood
Note: Take home essay questions will be distributed in class on November 30.
Unger & Crawford, chapter 11: Mothering
ALTERNATIVES:
Ceballo (Chapter 1) in Romero & Stewart: "The only Black woman walking the
Face of the earth who cannot have a baby: Two women’s stories
OR
Alicea & Friedman (Chapter 10) of Romero & Stewart: Millie’s story: Motherhood, heroin and methadone.
OR
Lewin, E. (1994). Negotiating lesbian motherhood: The dialectics of resistance and accommodation. In E. N. Glenn, G. Chang & L. R. Forcey (Eds.) Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency (pp.333-353). New York, NY: Routledge.
12/7/99 Midlife and Beyond
Note: Take-home essays will be due in class on December 7.
Unger & Crawford, chapter 13: Midlife and Beyond
Ostrove (Chapter 13) in Romero & Stewart: A continuing commitment to social
change: Portraits of activism throughout adulthood
Requirements
- Regular attendance at both lecture and section is assumed. In addition, it is expected that students will read assigned material in advance of the lecture, and will participate in discussion as appropriate. Section grades, which will include grades for some in-section writing assignments, will incorporate attention to attendance and participation (25% of total grade)
Sections meet as follows:
002 Thursday, 7-8 pm B247 EH
003 Wednesday, 3-4 pm 513 Denn
004 Friday, 10-11 am 245 Denn
005 Thursday, 4-5 pm 1084 EH
006 Wednesday, 10-11 am B247 EH
007 Friday, 11-12 am 205 Denn
- Two exams, at the end of each major section of the course (15% of final grade for each; 30% total): October 19; November 16, in class.
- Short writing assignments (take-home essays): 15%
- Attend an on-campus event addressing issues of "Gender and the Individual" selected from the attached list. Write 3-4 double-spaced pages (less than 1000 words) first describing the event briefly, and then outlining how issues addressed in the course were either directly raised, or are relevant. This may be turned in at any time, but absolutely must be turned in by November 23.
- Take-home essay questions will be distributed in class on November 30. Responses to these will be due December 7, in class
- Writing assignments will not be accepted after the due dates.
- Final exam (30% of final grade): December 15, 7:30-9:30 pm, rooms TBA.
Choose any one of these events to attend and write about for the first short writing assignment.
The First Institute for Sexual Science (Exhibit)
September 8-30, 1999, Art Lounge, Michigan Union
The following events will accompany the exhibit:
The Choice, A Dramatic Reading, audience discussion to follow
The Michigan University Club, Michigan Union
Thursday, September 16, 7:30 p.m.
Anders als die Anderen (Different from the Others, 1919) (film)
Pendleton Room, Michigan Union Thursday, September 23, 4:00 p.m.
Enacting Sexual Bodies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Founding of "Sexual
Science"(symposium)
Anderson Room, Michigan Union
Friday, September 24, 3-6 p.m.
Reception to follow in Art Lounge
Participants: David Halperin, English; Scott Spector, German and History; Dennis Sugrue, Psychiatry, UM Med School and Gender Services Program, UM Health Services; Sandra Seekins, History of Art; Kristin McGuire, History
An Interview with Liz Lerman, Dance Exchange
Wednesday, September 29, 1999, 10-12 p.m.
Argus II Studio, 400 S. 4th Street (at the corner of 4th Street and William)
Registration required at IRWG—764-9537
Interview host: Gay DeLanghe, UM Dance Department
Co-sponsored by Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University Musical Society, Arts of Citizenship and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan
Celebrity Moms vs. Welfare Mothers: Competition Over Perfect Motherhood in the Mass Media
Monday, October 4, 1999, 7-9 p.m. Room 182, Dennison
Susan Douglas, Professor, Communication Studies, University of Michigan
Vivian Shaw Lecture, Co-sponsored by Women’s Studies and Institute for Research on Women and Gender
Economic Equality in Marriage: More Independence for Women, Less for Men
Friday, October 8, 1999, 12:00-2:00 p.m., LSA, Executive Conference Room, (2nd Floor)
Annemette Sorensen, Sociology, Director, Murray Research Center, Radcliffe
Co-Sponsored by Sociology, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and Women’s Studies
What is Gender?
Monday, October 11, 1999, 3-5 p.m. Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union
Karin Martin, Sociology, Women’s Studies
Anne Herrmann, English, Women’s Studies
Jennifer Robertson, Anthropology, Women’s Studies
Panel Chaired by Abby Stewart, Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies, Director, Institute for Research on Women and Gender
Sponsored by Michigan Initiative for Women’s Health at Institute for Research on Women and Gender and Women’s Studies
Playing at Class
Monday, October 18, 12 noon, Rackham East Conference Room
Karen Sanchez-Eppler, American Studies and English, Amherst College
Sponsored by Women’s Studies Joint PhD Students, Women’s Studies, Psychology and English
Cultural Perceptions of Women: Weight, Beauty, Appearances
Barbara Fredrickson, UM Psychology and Women’s Studies;
Jonathan Robinson, Michigan State University
October 22, 12-2 p.m.
Pendleton Room, Michigan Union
Sponsored by Family Care Resources Center and Center for the Education of Women
From Metaphor to Metastases: Breast Cancer as Science/Social Metaphor
Friday, November 12, 2-4 p.m., 4448 East Hall
Vivvian Adair, Women’s Studies, Hamilton College
& Laura Gray Malloy, Dean of Academic Affairs, Hartwick College
Sponsored by Women’s Studies Joint PhD Students, Women’s Studies, Psychology and English
New Women Faculty Talk About Their Research: Women in the Sciences
Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni, Geological Sciences; Joanna Mirecki-Millunchick, Material Science, Engineering; Helen A. Pass, Surgery, Medical School
Wednesday, November 10, 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Women's Studies Lounge, 234 West Hall
Cosponsored by Women’s Studies, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Center for the Education of Women
The Molecular Basis of Gender: How Steroid Hormones Work
Thursday, November 18, 12 noon
Diane Robins, UM Department of Human Genetics
Sponsored by Michigan Initiative for Women’s Health at Institute for Research on Women and Gender