24.237J, SP.413
Fall Term 1998

Prof. Sally Haslanger
Office: E39-349 (mailbox: E39-245)
Phone: 253-4458
email: shaslang@mit.edu
Office Hours: W 1-3, and by appointment, in E39-349.
Class meetings: T-Th 2:30-4, E39-329

Description:
This course will provide a survey of several feminist frameworks for thinking about sex, gender, and oppression. We will begin by considering whether there is a tenable distinction between sex and gender, what it means to say that a category is socially constructed, and how social constructions can be oppressive. We will then take up representative samples of three feminist theoretical approaches (the Humanist approach, the Gynocentric approach, and the Dominance approach), together with sample political applications of them. The latter part of the course develops a critique of attempts to provide a single systematic feminist framework, drawing on a greater recognition of women's diversity; this critique will lead us to rethink the project of feminist theory and to consider what new paths feminist theorizing might hope to take.

Prerequisites: none

Texts: A coursepack will be available. All readings are in the coursepack.

4 (of 5) short homework assignments;
3 short (5-7 page) papers (30% each);

Homeworks, class participation, improvement, (10%).

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

9/10:
Introductory class

9/15:
M. Frye, "Oppression"
I. Young, "Five Faces of Oppression"

9/17:
M. Frye, "Sexism"
C. Tavris, "Measuring Up," Ch. 1 of The Mismeasure of Woman

9/22:
Peggy McIntosh, "White Privilege and Male Privilege"
K. Crenshaw, "Beyond Racism and Misogyny: Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew"

9/24:
J. Kadi, "Catholic School Days: Sketch #1" and "Stupidity Deconstructed""
B. Ehrenreich, "What is Socialist Feminism?"

II. HUMANIST FEMINISM ("The Sameness Approach")

9/29:
J.S. Mill, The Subjection of Women, Ch. 1 and 2.

10/1:
S. de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, Introduction and selections from Ch. 1
J. Butler, "Gendering the Body"

10/6:
S. Okin, "Vulnerability by Marriage" and "Conclusion: Towards a Humanist Justice"
A. Sen, "More than 100 Million Women Are Missing"

10/8:
S. Schechter, "Social Change on Behalf of Battered Women"
K. Crenshaw, "Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color"

10/13: no class

III. GYNOCENTRIC FEMINISM ("The Difference Approach")

10/15:
I. Young, "Humanism, Gynocentrism and Feminist Politics"
FIRST PAPER DUE

10/20:
C. Gilligan, "In a Different Voice: Women's Conception of Self and Morality"

10/22:
M. M. Moody-Adams, "Gender and the Complexity of Moral Voices"
C. Tavris, "Moral Voices, Moral Choices"

10/27:
H. Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa"
A. R. Jones, "Writing the Body"

10/29:
C. Christ, "Why Women Need the Goddess"
A. Walker, "The Only Reason You Want to Go to Heaven is That You Have Been Driven Out of Your Mind (Off Your Land and Out of Your Lover's Arms)"

IV. THE DOMINANCE APPROACH

11/3:
C. MacKinnon, "Difference and Dominance"

11/5:
C. MacKinnon, "The Art of the Impossible", and "Not a Moral Issue"
J. Stoltenberg, "Confronting Pornography as a Civil Rights Issue"

11/10:
FACT brief

11/12:
M. Wittig, "The Category of Sex," and "One is Not Born a Woman"
J. Butler, "Variations on Sex and Gender"

11/17:
M. Frye, "Willful Virgin or Do You Have To Be a Lesbian To Be a Feminist?"
b. hooks, "Seduced by Violence No More"
N. McCall, "Men Just Don't Get It"

V. CRITIQUES OF UNIVERSALIZING APPROACHES

i. Postmodern Critiques
11/19:
N. Fraser and L. Nicholson, "Social Criticism without Philosophy" and
J. Scott, "Deconstructing Equality-versus-Difference"
SECOND PAPER DUE

11/24:
S. Marcus, "Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words"

ii. Multicultural Critiques
11/26:
M. Lugones and E. Spellman, "Have We Got A Theory for You?"
bell hooks, "Black Women Shaping Feminist Theory"
M. Sharif, "Global Sisterhood: Where Do We Fit In?"

12/1:
Susan Okin, "Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?" and responses.

12/3:
Yael Tamir, "Hands Off Clitoridectomy" and responses.

VI. RESPONSES AND NEW DIRECTIONS

12/5:
M. Frye, "The Possibility of Feminist Theory"
M. Frye, "White Woman Feminist"

12/8:
B. Reagon, "Coalition Politics"
M. Lugones, "Playfulness, "World"-Travelling, and Loving Perception"

12/10:
Last class
THIRD PAPER DUE