Philosophy & Gender Assignments

Calendar: Subject to change according to class discussion and interests—Please stay informed of any revisions. I am very concerned about taking student interests into consideration and in adapting to the pacing of the class. We will discuss the second half of the course together in order to modify it according to your own academic and personal interests

Date	Reading Assignment Due	Take Note
January 23	Course Overview and Introductions
January 28	Reason and Gender: Lorber, "Beyond the Binaries: Depolarizing the Categories of Sex, Sexuality and Gender and Francis article (See weblinks)
January 30	Reason and Gender: Nancy Tuana
February 4	You make me feel like a Natural Woman: Holmstrom, "Do Women Have a Distinct Nature?" and Christian Women's Declaration (see weblinks)
February 6	Privilege: McIntosh, "White Privilege and Male Privilege." This is a difficult article that raises serious questions about the structure of society. McIntosh is NOT claiming that whites/males are to blame for discrimination. She is trying to look at how she feels she has been given benefits in society that she didn’t earn by extra work or merit.
February 11	Marriage: Mendus, "Marital Faithfulness and Staples, "Black Men/Black women: Changing Roles and Relationships
February 13	Marriage: Weston, "Is "Straight" to "Gay" as "Family" Is to "No Family?" and Graham, "Commitment and the Value of Marriage"
February 18	Continue marriage articles, No new reading
February 20	*Seminar on Writing Philosophy Papers: Read 41-51 in Writing to Learn* by this date.**
February 25	Parenting and Family Life: Gilligan "Images of Relationship" Gilligan has been very influential in psychology, philosophy, and the general population. She is responding to psychological studies done on boys and girls that she thinks lads to the mistaken idea that boys are more ethically sophisticated than girls.
February 27	Gilligan continued	Papers Due
March 4	Parenting and Family Life: Blankenhorn, "The Unnecessary Father" and Anderson "Is Equality Tearing Families Apart?
March 6	"Men and Feminism: Kaufman, "Men, Feminism and Men’s Contradictory Experiences of Power."
March 11	Issues of Embodiment: Dinnerstein and Weitz, "Jane Fonda, Barbara Bush, and Other Aging Bodies"
March 13	Okin, *Is Multiculturalism Bad For Women?* (Book available in Rowan Bookstore)
March 18	Spring Break	We will discuss which topics we will cover after the break by this date if not sooner! We will discuss group projects by this date.
March 20	Spring Break
March 25	Okin, "Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?": Read Okin p.7; Pollitt p.27; Kymlika p.31	Please have this read for today
March 27	In Okin: Read Honig, al-Hibri and An-Na'im
April 1	In Okin: Read Parekh, Sassen, Bhabha
April 3	In Okin: Read Reply from Okin (part Three, p.115)
April 8	Eating Disorders: Witt: "What (N)ever Happened to Aunt Jemima" and Wolf: "Hunger"	On Reserve at Library
April 10	Body Image: Sandry Bartky	On Reserve
April 15	Feminism and Art: Linda Nochlin, "Why Are there no Great Women Artists?" One of the most widely read articles about issues concerning women as artists
April 17	Pornography and Censorship: Ronald Dworkin, "Do We Have a Right to Pornography?" and Rae Langton, "Pornography, Speech Acts, and Silence"	On Reserve
April 22	Censorship Continued: Political Correctness and Anti-Feminist Backlash: Marilyn Friedman, "Speech Codes and Feminism	On Reserve
April 24	Preparation for Group Projects	No new reading: Meet with your groups to discuss presentations
April 29	Begin Group Projects: See requirements handed out in class and posted on web-page(Click here)	No new reading:
May 1	Group Projects	No new reading:
May 6	Group Projects	No new reading:
May 13	Final Papers due	Hand in papers to Philosophy and Religion Dept., Third Floor, Bunce, My mailbox
I hope this course will be productive, enjoyable and fun! I look forward to hearing your views and sharing my love of philosophy with you throughout the semester!