This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.
Discussions: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
A listing of topics by session is available in the calendar below.
This course focuses on a range of theories of gender in modern life. In recent years, feminist scholars in a range of disciplines have challenged previously accepted notions of political theory such as the distinctions between public and private, the definitions of politics itself, the nature of citizenship, and the roles of women in civil society.
In this course, we will examine different aspects of women's lives through the life cycle as seen from the vantage point of feminist theory. In addition, we will consider different ways of looking at power and political culture in modern societies, issues of race and class, poverty and welfare, and sexuality and morality.
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Clare, Eli. Exile and Pride. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780896086050.
Dodson, Lisa. Don't Call Us Out of Name. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780807042090.
Enloe, Cynthia. The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780520243811.
Hackett, Elizabeth, and Sally Haslanger. Theorizing Feminisms: A Reader. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780195150094.
Dunlap, Louise. Undoing the Silence: Six Tools for Social Change Writing. Oakland, CA: New Village Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780976605492.
All students will be responsible for each week's reading and will write a weekly response paper of two to three pages. Students will each co-lead one class, providing questions for discussion on that day. There will also be three papers which will be due throughout the semester: a letter to the editor, an op-ed piece for a newspaper, and a text analysis presentation. We will discuss these in class.
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Response papers, letter to the editor, and class discussion | 30% |
| 10- to 15-page research paper | 40% |
| Research paper presentation | 10% |
| Op-ed piece based on the paper | 20% |
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | Letter to the editor and response paper 1 out |
| 2 | What is feminist theory? |
Letter to the editor and response paper 1 due Response paper 2 out |
| 3 | Sex, gender, and the body |
Response paper 2 due Response paper 3 out |
| 4 | Embodied knowledge | Response paper 3 due |
| 5 | The work of family | Response paper 4 out |
| 6 | Gender and sexuality |
Response paper 4 due Research paper assignment out |
| 7 | Pornography, rape, and the politics of consent | |
| 8 | Gender and parenting | |
| 9 | The welfare state | |
| 10 | The political sphere: policy and change | |
| 11 | Militarism and gender | |
| 12 | International economics and politics | |
| 13 | Research paper presentations | Research paper due |
| 14 | Concluding thoughts and dilemmas | Op-ed piece based on research paper due |
MIT OpenCourseWare makes the materials used in the teaching of almost all of MIT's subjects available on the Web, free of charge. With more than 2,000 courses available, OCW is delivering on the promise of open sharing of knowledge.
© 2001–2012
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Your use of the MIT OpenCourseWare site and materials is subject to our Creative Commons License and other terms of use.
