POLS 196A: SEX AND POLITICS

POLS 196A: SEX AND POLITICS
Spring 2011, MWF 8:30-9:20, Lafayette L100
Professor: Ellen Andersen
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 656-4054
Office: Old Mill 525
Office Hours: W 2:00—3:30pm; F 10:30am-noon …and by appointment
Course Description and Goals
Same-sex marriage. Abortion. The morning after pill. Sex education. Many of today's most divisive
political battlegrounds concern sex and sexuality. While particular issues come and go, sex and sexuality
have always been the subjects of cultural and legal policing. This course uses an interdisciplinary
approach to explore the evolution of sexual politics within the United States. Among the questions we
will consider are the following: How has sex and sexuality been regulated in American history, and by
whom? Why, when, and how do particular aspects of sex and sexuality become the subjects of
contention? How are issues of sex and sexuality affected by gender, race, and class? And to what extent
are battles over sex and sexuality today similar to or different from earlier battles? By the end of this
course, you should be able to:
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demonstrate substantial knowledge and understanding of the ways in which culture, law and
politics interact to regulate sex and sexuality;
recognize and articulate the ways that current battles over sex and sexuality are part of a moving
stream of attempts to contain and channel sex;
demonstrate substantial knowledge and understanding of why the subjects of sex and sexuality
can provoke such profound cultural fear and anxiety; and
demonstrate substantial knowledge and understanding of how cultural changes can create new
avenues for sexual expression and can also inspire new battles to channel sex and sexuality into
'appropriate' venues.
Important Note
It is crucial that you understand that this is a course about the political, cultural, and legal struggles in
American surrounding sex. Inevitably, that means we will be talking about sex in this class. A lot.
Moreover, our conversations may well implicate the deep-seated and passionate beliefs we all hold about
sex, sexuality, religion, and morality. Disagreement is a good thing in a classroom. Conformity is boring.
But the only way this class will work is if we treat each other with respect and recognize that we are
treading on delicate ground here. That doesn't mean that you can't express your disagreement with another
person's position. It does mean that you must recognize that other people hold their positions as sincerely
as you hold yours, and you must respond politely and avoid engaging in personal attacks.
One other thing: the reading materials in this class deal with sex and sexuality. Some of them deal much
more bluntly with the subject than others. You may be offended by some of the arguments made and/or
the language used. That said, I'm assigning them for a reason: I think they have important insights to offer
about the subject at hand.
If you don‘t think you can handle the subject matter, please reconsider taking this course!
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 2
Required Texts
D'Emilio, John and Estelle Freedman. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in the United States. 2nd
ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Print.
Various articles, available on Blackboard
Grading Elements
I.
Exams. There will be two exams covering materials from the readings, lectures, and discussions
(exam dates are listed in the daily schedule.) Exams will have a mix of multiple-choice, shortanswer, and longer-answer questions. The midterm is worth 20% of your grade and the final is
worth 25%.
II.
Research Project. This project has three parts. We will discuss each of them further in class.
Proposal. You will pick one topic to explore from a list of suggested areas for research.
You will then develop a proposal that explains what question you intend to answer, why the
question is interesting and significant, and how you intend to go about answering it. The
proposal must also include a preliminary list of at least four (4) scholarly sources, not
counting class readings. You must summarize each source in a sentence or two. The proposal
is worth 10% of your grade and is due in class on February 18th.
Annotated Bibliography. You will annotate three (3) scholarly sources that you intend to
use in your paper, excluding class readings. The annotated bibliography is worth 10% of
your grade and is due in class on March 25th.
Research Paper. You will research and write a research paper based on your proposal. The
final product must be at least eight (8) full pages long, excluding the bibliography and title
page. It must contain at least six (6) appropriate sources in addition to class readings. The
paper is worth 20% of your grade and is due in class on April 15th.
III.
Quizzes. I will occasionally give quizzes at the beginning of class that cover the readings due
that day. These quizzes will not be announced in advance. These quizzes will cover central
elements of the readings and will make up 15% of your course grade.
General Policies and Guidelines (aka: the fine print)
Make-up exams and late assignments: I will not give make-up exams for any reason other than an
excused absence, but I am happy to schedule exams early if appropriate. The research proposal and
research paper will be penalized by one full grade for every day that they are late, with the clock starting
immediately.
Absences: If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find another student in the class to loan you
notes and tell you what happened in class.
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 3
Academic dishonesty: You are responsible for adhering to the university's guidelines on academic
misconduct. You can access the official university policy at:
http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmppg/ppg/student/acadintegrity.pdf All the policies therein apply in this class.
The policies that apply most directly to our course may be summarized as don't cheat and don't
plagiarize—or to express it more positively, do your own work and acknowledge the relationship of your
own work to others‘ work. Penalties for academic dishonesty will almost certainly include failing a
particular exam or assignment and may well include failing the entire class.
Students with disabilities: I will make every attempt to accommodate students with disabilities. Please
see the official university policy in the Cat‘s Tale Student Handbook,
http://www.uvm.edu/~dosa/handbook/?Page=Disability.html. Please give me the relevant paperwork
from the ACCESS office as soon as possible, and no later than the end of the third full week of classes so
that we can make any logistical arrangements needed. If your accommodation needs change during the
semester, please notify me as soon as possible.
Email Communications: I will be communicating with you via email over the course of the semester
and will use the university‘s email list to send out this information. It is your responsibility to monitor
your university e-mail account regularly.
Classroom protocol: The Department of Political Science requires that this classroom protocol,
defining minimum standards of conduct, be included in all syllabi of political science classes.
1. Students are expected to attend and be prepared for ALL regularly scheduled classes.
2. Students are expected to arrive on time and stay in class until the class period ends. If a student
knows in advance that s/he will need to leave early, s/he should notify the instructor before the
class period begins.
3. Students are expected to treat faculty and fellow students with respect. For example, students
must not disrupt class by leaving and reentering during class, must not distract class by making
noise, and must be attentive to comments being made by the instructors and by peers.
Penalties for failing to observe this classroom protocol may range from being asked to leave class to
having their semester attendance and participation grade significantly lowered.
Computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. You are welcome to use computers in class
for note-taking purposes only. All other electronic device (cell phones, iPods, etc.) must be either turned
off or to vibrate and stowed away during class time. Students who are unable to observe this requirement
will be asked to leave class.
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 4
TENTATIVE DAILY SCHEDULE *
Date
Topic
Jan. 19
Introduction
Jan. 21
Defining Sex
Steele, Tracey. ―‘Doing It‘: The Social Construction of S-E-X.‖ Sex, Self, and Society:
The Social Content of Sexuality. Ed. Tracey L. Steele. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pres,
2005. 13-21. Print.
Carpenter, Laura M. ―The Ambiguity of ‗Having Sex‘: The Subjective Experience of
Virginity Loss in the United States.‖ The Journal of Sex Research 38.2 (2001) : 127-39.
Web.
Jan. 24-26
Constructing Sexuality
Rubin, Gayle. ―Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality.‖
Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality. Ed. Carole S. Vance. Boston:
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984. 267-319. Print.
Jan. 28
Sex and Procreation in the 17th and 18th Centuries
D‘Emilio and Freedman, chs. 1-3
Jan. 31
Sex, Marriage, and Reproduction in the 19th Century
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 4
UVM Library Resources: Researching the Politics of Sexuality
Feb. 2
Feb. 4
guest speaker: Daisy Benson, WGST library liaison
Victorian Sexual Ideology
Cott, Nancy F. ―Passionlessness: An Interpretation of Victorian Sexual Ideology, 17901850.‖ Signs 4.2 (1978) : 219-236. Web.
Feb. 7
The Changing Status of Abortion in the 19th Century
Luker, Kristin. ―Medicine and Morality in the Nineteenth Century.‖ Abortion and the
Politics of Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 11-39. Print.
Roosevelt, Theodore. ―On Motherhood.‖
Feb. 9
Controlling Masturbation
Darby, Robert. "The Masturbation Taboo and the Rise of Routine Male Circumcision: A
Review of the Historiography." Journal of Social History 36.3 (2003): 737-57.
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 5
Date
Topic
Feb. 11
Race, Sex, and Social Control in the 19th Century, part 1
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 5
Feb. 14
Race, Sex, and Social Control in the 19th Century, part 2
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 9 (pp. 215-21)
Hodes, Martha. ―The Sexualization of Reconstruction Politics: White Women and Black
Men in the South after the Civil War.‖ Journal of the History of Sexuality, Special Issue:
Afrcan American Culture and Sexuality 3.3 (1993) : 402-17. Web.
Feb. 16
The Shifting Meaning of Marriage
Cott, Nancy. ―Giving Character To Our Whole Civil Polity: Marriage and the Public
Order in the Late Nineteenth Century.‖ US History as Women's History: New Feminist
Essays. Ed. Linda Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar. Chapel Hill:
The University of North Carolina Press, 1995. 107-21. Print.
Feb. 17
Special: Talk by Gail Collins, 5pm UVM Chapel
Gail Collins is a NY Times columnist and author of the recent book, When Everything
Changed, the Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present.
Feb. 18
Feb. 21
Feb. 23
Research Proposals Due – no new reading
President’s Day – No Class
Prostitution and the Social Hygiene Movement
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 6 (pp.130-138); ch. 7 (stop at p.156); ch. 9 (pp. 202-215)
Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. "Beauty, the Beast, and the Militant Woman: A Case Study in
Sex Roles and Social Stress in Jacksonian America." American Quarterly 23.4 (1971) :
562-584. Web.
Feb. 25
The Social Hygiene Movement and Sex Education
Lord, Alexandra. ―Models of Masculinity: Sex Education, the United States Public
Health Service, and the YMCA.‖ Journal of the History of Medicine 58 (2003) : 123-52.
Web.
Feb. 28
The Invention of the Homosexual
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 6 (pp. 121-30); ch. 10 (pp. 222-29)
Eskridge, William. ―From the Sodomite to the Homosexual, 1881-1935. Dishonorable
Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861-2003. Boston: Harvard University Press,
2008. 39-72. Print.
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 6
Date
Mar. 2
Topic
The Invention of the Sexual Psychopath
Freedman, Estelle. ―‘Uncontrolled Desires‘: The Response to the Sexual Psychopath,
1920-1960.‖ The Journal of American History 74 (June 1987) : 83-106.
Mar. 4
Midterm
Mar. 7-11
Spring Break
Mar. 14
Race, Birth Control, and Sterilization
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 11 (to p. 255)
Roberts, Dorothy. ―The Dark Side of Birth Control.‖ Killing the Black Body: Race,
Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. 56-103.
Print.
Mar. 16
The Fall of Interracial Marriage Bans
Pascoe, Peggy. ―Miscegenation Law, Court Cases, and Ideologies of ‗Race‘ in
Twentieth-Century America.‖ The Journal of American History 83.1 (1996) : 44-69.
Web.
Mar. 18
The Campaign Against Obscenity
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 12 (to p. 288)
Friedman, Andrea. ―Sadists and Sissies: Anti-pornography Campaigns in Cold War
America.‖ Gender & History 15.2 (2003) : 201-27. Web.
Mar. 21
The Cold War – The Homosexual Menace
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 12 (pp. 288-295)
Rep. Miller‘s statement on homosexuals in government
D‘Emilio, John. ―The Homosexual Menace: The Politics of Sexuality in Cold War
America.‖ Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University. NY:
Routledge, 1989. 57-73. Print.
Mar. 23
The Sexual Revolution
D‘Emilio and Freedman, ch. 13
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 7
Date
Topic
Mar. 25
The Re-emergence of Abortion as a Political Subject/ Annotated Bib. due
Luker, Kristin. ―Abortion Reform: The Professionals‘ Dilemma.‖ Abortion and the
Politics of Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. 66-91. Print.
Mar. 28
Reproductive Rights after Roe v. Wade
Readings TBA
Mar. 30
Rape
Rose, Vicki McNickle. ―Rape as a Social Problem: A Byproduct of the Feminist
Movement.‖ Social Problems 25.1 (1977) : 75-89. Web.
Beneke, Tim. ―Men on Rape.‖ Sex, Self, and Society: The Social Content of Sexuality.
Ed. Tracey L. Steele. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pres, 2005. 257-63. Print.
Apr. 1
Other Forms of Sexual Assault
Readings TBA
Apr. 4
Pornography
re-read Rubin, ―Thinking Sex‖ –section on pornography
MacKinnon, Catharine. ―Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech.‖ Sex, Self, and
Society: The Social Content of Sexuality. Ed. Tracey L. Steele. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth Pres, 2005. 333-40. Print.
Apr. 6
Prostitution
Weitzer, Ronald. ―The Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and
Institutionalization of a Moral Crusade.‖ Politics & Society 35.3 (2007) : 447-75. Web.
Hodge, David R. ―Sexual Trafficking in the United States: A Domestic Problem with
Transnational Dimensions.‖
Apr. 8
Sex and the Social Construction of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Schneider, Beth E. and Valerie Jenness. ―Social Control, Civil Liberties, and Women‘s
Sexuality.‖ Sex, Self, and Society: The Social Content of Sexuality. Ed. Tracey L. Steele.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pres, 2005. 388-401. Print.
Padgug, Robert A. ―Gay Villain, Gay Hero: Homosexuality and the Social Construction
of AIDS.‖ Sex, Self, and Society: The Social Content of Sexuality. Ed. Tracey L. Steele.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pres, 2005. 409-22. Print.
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 8
Date
Topic
Apr. 11
The Shifting Politics of Homosexuality, pt. 1
D‘Emilio, John. ―Cycles of Change, Questions of Strategy: The Gay and Lesbian
Movement after Fifty Years.‖ The Politics of Gay Rights. Ed. Craig A. Rimmerman,
Kenneth D. Wald, and Clyde Wilcox. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2000. 3153. Print.
Apr. 13
The Shifting Politics of Homosexuality, pt. 2
Fetner, Tina. ―Culture Wars: Battles for the Hearts and Minds of America.‖ How the
Religious Rights Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2008. 101-18. Print.
Apr. 15
Same-Sex Marriage / Research Paper Due
Grossman, Joanna L. ―Civil Rites: The Gay Marriage Controversy in Historical
Perspective.‖ Law, Society and History: Essays on Themes in the Legal History and
Legal Sociology of Lawrence M. Friedman. Ed. Robert Gordon. Cambridge University
Press, 2010.
Apr. 18
Interracial Relationships in the Modern Era
Childs, Erica C. "Looking Behind the Stereotypes of the ‗Angry Black Woman‘: An
Exploration of Black Women's Responses to Interracial Relationships." Gender and
Society 19.4 (2005): 544-61. Web.
Apr. 20
Sex Education, part 1
Luker, Kristin. ―The Politics of Sex‖ and ―Sex Education in America.‖ When Sex Goes
to School: Warring Views on Sex—and Sex Education—Since the Sixties. New York:
W.W. Norton, 2006. 205-59. Print.
Apr. 22
Sex Education, part 2
Pascoe, CJ. ―Becoming Mr. Cougar: Institutionalizing Heterosexuality and Masculinity
at River High.‖ in Dude, You’re a Fag. Berkeley: University of California, 2007. 25-51.
Print.
Apr. 25
Adult-Child Sex
Levine, Judith. ―Manhunt.‖ Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from
Sex. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002. 20-44. Print.
Sex and Politics Syllabus, p. 9
Date
Topic
Apr. 27
Teen Pregnancy and Statutory Rape
Luker, Kristin. ―Dubious Conceptions: The Controversy over Teen Pregnancy.‖ Sex,
Self, and Society: The Social Content of Sexuality. Ed. Tracey L. Steele. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth Pres, 2005. 268-78. Print.
Cocca, Carolyn E. ―From Welfare Queen‖ to ―Exploited Teen‖: Welfare Dependency,
Statutory Rape, and Moral Panic.‖ National Women’s Studies Association Journal 14.2
(2002) : 56-79. Web.
Apr. 29
The Politics of Fetal Harm, pt. 1
Roberts, Dorothy. ―Making Reproduction a Crime.‖ Killing the Black Body: Race,
Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. 150-201.
Print.
May 2
The Politics of Fetal Harm, pt. 2
Daniels, Cynthia R. ―Between Fathers and Fetuses: The Social Construction of Male
Reproduction and the Politics of Fetal Harm.‖ Signs Spring 1997 : 579-618. Web.
May 4
Last Day of Class
May 12
Final Exam, 10:30am-1:15pm, in our classroom
* I reserve the right to change assigned readings and due-dates whenever I feel such changes will be useful to the
class.