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Week 1
Wednesday, January 8 - INTRODUCTION: WHY STUDY GENDER?
[Lecture recording]
No reading due
Friday, January 10
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 2
Monday, January 13 - THE SEX / GENDER SYSTEM
[Lecture recording]
Roy Richard Grinker. 1997. "Houses in the Rainforest: Gender and Ethnicity among the Lese and Efe in Zaire." In Perspectives on Africa. R. Grinker and C. Steiner, eds. Pages: 228-245. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Wednesday, January 15 - SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
[Lecture recording]
Anne Fausto-Sterling. 2000. "Dueling Dualisms." In her, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books. Pages: 1-29.
Friday, January 17
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 3
Monday, January 20
No class in honor of the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
Wednesday, January 22 - NATURALIZING POWER
[Lecture recording]
Emily Martin. 1991. "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles." Signs 16(3): 485-501.
Friday, January 24
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 4
Monday , January 27 - INTERSECTIONS
[Lecture recording]
Kate Rushin. 1981. “The Bridge Poem.” From This Bridge Called My Back. Albany: SUNY Press. Pages: xxxiii-xxxiv.
Audre Lorde. 1984. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” From her Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Berkeley: Crossing Press. Pages: 110-113.
Cherríe Moraga. 1981. “La Güera.” From This Bridge Called My Back. Albany: SUNY Press. Pages: 22-29.
Mitsuye Yamada. 1981. “Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster: Reflections of an Asian American Woman.” From This Bridge Called My Back. Albany: SUNY Press. Pages: 30-35.
Audre Lorde. “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action.” From her Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Berkeley: Crossing Press. Pages: 40-44
Wednesday, January 29 - QUEERING THE WORLD
[Lecture recording]
Dredge Byung'chu Käng. 2014. "Idols of Development: Transnational Transgender Performance in Thai K-Pop Cover Dance." TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1(4): 559-571.
Dr. Käng-Nguyễn very generously shared some example performances from Boys Generation, which are on the lecture Canvas / Media Gallery. By comparison, here is a Girls' Generation video.
Friday, January 31
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 5
Monday, February 3 - EMBODIMENT
[Lecture recording]
Tressie McMillan Cottom. 2019. Thick: And Other Essays. New York: The New Press. Pages: 1-97.
Wednesday, February 5 - BLACK FEMINISMS
[Lecture recording]
Tressie McMillan Cottom. 2019. Thick: And Other Essays. New York: The New Press. Pages: 98-223.
Thursday, February 6
Optional Special Event: Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus
Presentation by the authors Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan with responses from Abdul El-Sayed and Kamaria B. Porter. Rackham Amphitheatre, 4-6pm.
This is a presentation about last book we read together in this course by the authors and featuring responses from two smart and thoughtful panelists. It is a fantastic opportunity to meet the authors and join in the conversation.
Friday, February 7
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 6
Monday, February 10 - SUFFRAGE
[Lecture recording]
Martha S. Jones. 2019. "The Politics of Black Womanhood, 1848–2008." In Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence, edited by Kate Clark Lemay. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pages: 29-48.
Mikki Kendall and A. D'Amico. "Suffrage and Suffering: Women Fight for Freedom." From their Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights. 10 Speed Press. Pages: 70-103.
Wednesday, February 12 - ABILITY AND ABLEISM
[Lecture recording]
Keah Brown. 2019. "Introduction," "Is This Thing On?," "Pop Culture & Me" and "The Pretty One." From her The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me. New York: Atria. Pages: 1-10, 51-89, and 127-146.
Friday, February 14
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 7
Monday, February 17 - THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
[Lecture recording]
Macario Garcia. 2019. "Preface," Chapter 1 "Locking Down Correctional Threat," and Chapter 2 "Mobility Matters: Unsettling Punishment at the Desert Echo Facility," from his Sensing Incarceration: Mobility, Animacy, Becoming Human. Pages ii-45. Please note that all references are included in the next PDF, Garcia part 2 below, so look there if you want to follow up on anything he's citing.
Wednesday, February 19 - GENDER IN A "MALE" PRISON
[Lecture recording]
Macario Garcia. 2019. "Masculine Hysteria: Dirty Work and Gendered Touch." Chapter 3 from his Sensing Incarceration: Mobility, Animacy, Becoming Human. Pages 46-77.
Today we are very lucky to have a special guest lecture from the author, Dr. Macario Garcia. As you read his work this week, please think about questions you would like to ask him. There will be plenty of time for your questions or comments.
Friday, February 21
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 8
Monday, February 24 - POP CULTURE
[Lecture recording]
Emily Nussbaum. 2019. "The Big Picture: How Buffy the Vampire Slayer Turned Me Into a TV Critic." From her I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution. New York: Random House.
Wednesday, February 26 - GAZES
[Lecture recording]
This Film Is Not Yet Rated. 2006. Director: Kirby Dick. 98 minutes. Trailer. This film can be found on the lecture canvas page under Media Gallery. The title link should take you there.
Bechdel, Alison. 1985. "The Test." From her Dykes to Watch Out For. Now collected in The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Friday, February 28
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 9
Monday, March 9 - CAPITALISM
[Lecture recording]
The Dream (podcast). Listen to Season 1 Episode 2 "Women's Work" (39 minutes) and Episode 6 "How A Dream Becomes A Nightmare" (42 minutes).
Wednesday, March 11 - RELIGION
[Lecture recording]
Lila Abu-Lughod. 2008. "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others." American Anthropologist 104(3): 783-790.
Friday, March 13
No weekly writing due this week
Week 10
Monday, March 16 - OUR PLANS MOVING FORWARD
No reading due.
Please watch this recording from Prof. Alexy about how we will restructure the course.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Wednesday, March 18 - FACT CHECKING
No reading due.
Please watch this recording from Meredith Kahn, the wonderful Women's Studies Librarian.
For your index card question, which she doesn't mention, please share your reactions to her presentation. Do you think it will help your project at all?
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Friday, March 20
Please complete this short survey helping us understand your needs as we transition online.
Week 11
Monday, March 23 - INTIMACY
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
Seeking Asian Female. 2013. Director: Debbie Lum. 82 minutes. Click the title to be taken to the film.
Chigusa Yamaura. 2017. "Making Ordinary, If Not Ideal, Intimate Relationships: Japanese-Chinese Transnational Matchmaking." In Intimate Japan: Ethnographies of Closeness and Conflict, edited by Allison Alexy and Emma E. Cook. Pages: 197-214.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Wednesday, March 25 - SELLING DESIRE
[Please find the lecture recording here. Unfortunately, the capturing mechanism froze a bit and the recording only includes the slides, not my face. This is extra annoying because I talk briefly about something you can see in the background of the video. I'm sorry for the technological snafu. As we all expected, Canvas seems to be freaking out a bit, which seems totally fair and reasonable given the circumstances.]
The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief. 2006. Director: Jake Clennell. 76 minutes. Click the title to be taken to the Canvas / Media Gallery, where you should see the film.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Complete the Reading Quiz before your section starts. Your GSI will share a link.
Friday, March 27
The final version of your paper is due at 5pm
Week 12
Monday, March 30 - MASCULINITY
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: ix-70.
Click on the title to be taken to a free e-version of the book. You will have to log to read it.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Wednesday, April 1 - NEOLIBERALISM
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: 71-174.
Click on the title to be taken to a free e-version of the book. You will have to log to read it.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Complete the Reading Quiz before your section starts. Your GSI will share a link.
Friday, April 3
Weekly writing due at 5pm
Week 13
Monday, April 6 - HORMONES
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
No homework due.
Optional film - Man Made. 2018. Director: T Cooper. 93 minutes. Trailer.
This is a recent film and unfortunately we had problems getting the rights to stream it for you all so it is not required for class. If you would like to watch it, you can rent it for $1 on amazon. Please note that the film, which is a documentary, includes representations of homophobia and transphobia, as well as one person going through top surgery. If you would like to watch it but have any questions about possible triggers in the film, please email Prof. Alexy.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Wednesday, April 8 - TRAUMA
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. New York: Norton. Pages: ix-85 which run from the very start of the book to the end of chapter 3.
Click on the title to be taken to bookshelf.vitalsource.com where you can create an account using your UM email address and get a free copy of the e-book.
Trigger warning: This entire book deals explicitly with sexual assault and rape. Please read the alternative readings below if these are not topics you can engage at this moment. All readers should be aware that Chapter 1 "Sexual Assaults" contains back-to-back narratives of rape and assault. If you can read the book but need to skip that chapter, that is also fine.
Alternative reading - Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Paula England, and Alison C.K. Fogarty. 2012. "Accounting for Women’s Orgasm and Sexual Enjoyment in College Hookups and Relationships." American Sociological Review 77(3): 435-462.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Complete the Reading Quiz before your section starts. Your GSI will share a link.
Friday, April 10
No writing due this week.
Week 14
Monday, April 13 - POWER AND CONTROL
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. New York: Norton. Pages: 86-198; Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Click on the title to be taken to bookshelf.vitalsource.com where you can create an account using your UM email address and get a free copy of the e-book.
Alternative reading - John Song Pae Cho. 2009. “The Wedding Banquet Revisited: "Contract Marriages" between Korean Gays and Lesbians.” Anthropological Quarterly 82(2): 401-422.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Wednesday, April 15 - BREAKUPS, EXITS, AND ENDINGS
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. New York: Norton. Pages: 199-274; Chapters 8 and 9, and the Conclusions.
Click on the title to be taken to bookshelf.vitalsource.com where you can create an account using your UM email address and get a free copy of the e-book.
Alternative reading - Allison Alexy. 2019. “What Can Be Said? Communicating Intimacy in Millennial Japan.” In Intimate Japan: Ethnographies of Closeness and Conflict, edited by Allison Alexy and Emma E. Cook.
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Complete the Reading Quiz before your section starts. Your GSI will share a link.
Friday, April 17
Rough draft of your final project due at 5pm
Week 15
Sunday, April 19
Please complete this short survey by 5pm.
Monday, April 20 - FINAL THOUGHTS AND FUTURE QUESTIONS
No reading due
[Please find the lecture recording here.]
Feel free to check out the survey responses with all personal answers and names removed. You can see the "Opening Survey" (from January) and the "Closing Survey" (from April).
Feel free to join Prof. Alexy in BlueJeans during our regular lecture time (2 to 2:50pm EDT), if you'd like to ask questions, talk anything over, or just chat.
Sections do not meet this week.
Final Projects are due at 5pm on Wednesday, April 29, uploaded to Canvas.