WOMN 535 Roots of Feminism

Dr. Jane Olmsted

Summer 2007

Office Hours: varies, most mornings, most afternoons

Office Location: Women’s Studies Center (1532 State Street)

Phone: 270/745-5787

Required Books (please get these editions only, so we can refer to the same pages):

Miriam Schneir, Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings Vintage; Reissue (June 28, 1994)

Wendy Kolmar & Frances Barkowski, Feminist Theory: A Reader McGraw-Hill 2^nd edition

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland Pantheon (February 12, 1979) ISBN-10: 0394736656

Websites and Course Docs: See Class Schedule for details.

Recommended: Josephine Donovan, Feminist Theory, Continuum Int’l; 3rd edition

Course Requirements:

• 100% Discussion 1250 points possible, 1100 counted; 200 points/week (50 points per day, 22/25 days): 1100 points
• As a guideline, I suggest you post at least 500 words per day/3,000 per week (22 out of 25 days counted); Undergrads: same reading, same total points; let’s start with an expectation of a minimum of 400 words per day/2,500 per week
• No papers or projects
• Expect at least 2 hours/day reading and 1 hour/day writing (not including weekends)
• To get points, send weekly summaries to me, following guidelines (Course Info)

The focus of this class on the roughly 300 years of the feminist movement in the U.S., from the 1780s-1980s. We move at a very rapid pace through incredibly exciting material. You won’t have a lot of time for deep reflection, but I anticipate that your minds will be spinning! If you decide to get ahead, you may certainly start reading, but if you do, be sure to type up your original posts, so that you don’t forget the material in the intervening days/weeks. You will still need to post responses to others’ posts (this course is discussion based, not a platform for mini-position papers, so the operative word is exchange).

Reading and writing load: you’ll find the readings exciting, challenging, humorous, outrageous, mind-bending, and in some cases familiar. You’d think a “roots” course would mean reading a lot of dated material, but I think you’ll find the opposite to be true. Do not be dismayed by the amount of reading. You get three days “off,” and some days you can squeak by with paying more attention to this reading and less to that. Most days I expect you’ll find yourself pulled into the material and not wanting to do anything less. Set aside a minimum of two hours per day and don’t let anyone or anything interrupt your quiet reading time; after reading and marking the readings, give an hour to posting your original posts and responses.

If you have not taken an online course, a women’s studies course, a graduate course, a summer course, or a course from me, please read this syllabus as well as other guidelines under Course Info. And always feel free to call me if you have questions. My best advice? Don’t get behind!

Women’s Studies Program at WKU

Western Kentucky University has a strong and growing Women’s Studies Program. The online graduate certificate is in its early stages (you’re participating in the second online course). To accommodate students, the two core courses (545 and 555) will be offered online and face-to-face every other year. The Women’s Studies Program sponsors several on-campus events, including films and speakers; attending our events is a great way for both women and men to become part of a smaller community of interesting and intelligent people at the university. We offer a $1000 scholarship every year to a graduate student enrolled in the certificate program. Check out our website, at http://www.wku.edu/womensstudies

Statement from Student Disability Services: In compliance with university policy, students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids or services) for this course must contact the Office for Student Disability Services in DUC A-200 of the Student Success Center in Downing University Center. The phone number is 745-5004. Please DO NOT request accommodations directly from the professor or instructor without a letter of accommodation from the Office for Student Disability Services.

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Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men;

although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement

by examining his wives' mouths.

-—Bertrand Russell

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The Early Days of U.S. Feminism (before, even, the term existed)

July 9 Introductions (post your personal webpages by today! See Course Tools)

Kolmar: “Feminism,” 7, and hooks, 36; browse the “Lexicon,” 42+

July 10 Schneir: Grimke, 35; Engels, 189; Taylor & Mills, 162 and here:

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mill-john-stuart/1869/subjection-women/index.htm

July 11 Schneir: Wollstonecraft; Rousseau

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/wollstonecraft-mary/index.htm

http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/pedagogies/rousseau/

July 12 Schneir: Truth, 93 & 128; Stanton, 110; Anthony; 132; Davis’ Women, Race, & Class: “Suffrage,” “Club Movement,” & “Emancipation” (Course Docs)

July 13 Chopin “Silk Stockings” and Hurston’s “Sweat” (Course Docs); Film: Chopin’s The Joy That Kills (Course Docs)

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The great question that has never been answered,

and which I have not yet been able to answer,

despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul,

is “What does a woman want?”

—Sigmund Freud

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The Early 1900s

July 16 Film: Iron Jawed Angels (available at video stores or WS or through Netflix)

July 17 Kolmar: Turrell, 114; Mother Jones, 124; Eastman, 130

Schneir: Goldman, 308

July 18 Schneir: Sanger, 325; Woolf, 344; Kolmar: Horney, 154; Mead, 157

July 19 Herland (online: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/GilHerl.html)

July 20 Herland/Reading Day

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Everything about woman is a riddle, and everything about woman

has a single solution: that is, pregnancy.

—Friedrich Nietzsche

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1940s-1970s

July 23 Kolmar: de Beauvoir’s Introduction, 175; deBeauvoir “Biology” (online)

July 24 deBeauvoir (Course Docs): “Myths” and “Conclusion”; interviews (below)

Optional: Josephine Donovan’s very helpful discussion of deBeauvoir & Daly in her chapter on Feminism and Existentialism (Course Docs)

July 25 Solanas, www.womynkind.org/scum.htm; Film: I Shot Andy Warhol (Course Docs)

July 26 Friedan (Course Docs): “Metamorphosis”; “Problem … No Name”; “Sexual Sell”

July 27 Friedan (Course Docs): “Sex Seekers”; “New Life Plan”

Second Sex: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/2nd-sex/index.htm

1963 interview: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/1963/interview.htm

1975 interview: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/1976/interview.htm

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The only alliance I would make with the Women’s Liberation Movement is in bed.

—Abbie Hoffman

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1960s-1970s

July 30 Kolmar: Millett, 218; Firestone, 224; Weathers, 222

Firestone: http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/firestone-shulamith/dialectic-sex.htm

Kate Millett: http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/millett-kate/sexual-politics.htm

July 31 Kolmar: Wittig, 343; Rich, 347; Frye’s “Oppression,” “On Being White,” & “To Be Seen” (Course Docs)

Aug 1 Kolmar: Ortner, 243; Rubin, 273

Aug 2 Kolmar: Koedt, 227; Steinem, “Phyllis Freud” (Course Docs)

Aug 3 Kolmar: Cixous, 256; Iragaray, 317; Pagels, 305

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Don't wait for the good woman. She doesn't exist.

—Charles Bukowski

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1970s-1980s

Aug 6 Lorde, “Uses of Anger,” “Uses of the Erotic,” “The Master’s Tools” from Sister Outsider (Course Docs); Film: A Place of Rage

Aug 7 Rich, “Intro,” “Domestification of Women,” “Hands of Iron . . . ,” and “Violence: The Heart of Maternal Darkness,” from Of Woman Born (Course Docs)

Aug 8 Daly, excerpts from Beyond God the Father; GynEcology; Pure Lust (Course Docs)

Aug 9 Dworkin, excerpts from Woman Hating, Pornography, and “Politics of Intelligence” (Course Docs)

Aug 10 Kolmar: Collins, 504; Davis, 509; Anzaldua, 420

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Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.

~Timothy Leary

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Feminist Writers Archive

http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/feminists.htm

Note: My apologies for giving these sexist men so much space on the syllabus (except for Timothy Leary’s famous quotation). Given the work of the feminists who appear here, they don’t stand a chance. It’s also not entirely fair to put the burden for sexist positions entirely on men—read Ann Coulter or Phyllis Schlafly or a number of others for bodacious sexist comments.

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“Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based

on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature.” -- Phyllis Schlafly

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