SOC 301- B1: SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER - University of Alberta

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SOC 301- B1: SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER Winter 2020

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 – 12:20

T B 45

Instructor: Dr Shirley Anne Tate Office: 4-22 Tory

Office Hours: Thursday 2-4 pm

Email: [email protected]

TAs- Prof-Collins Ifeonu and Ivan Shmatko

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course examines gender’s complexity and dynamism. The course will use an intersectional approach to explore how gender is constructed and maintained through bodies, performativity, ideology, culture, institutions- including work, family, and the state, and structures such as inequality. It also looks at privilege and power and their implications for everyday gender politics.

By the end of the course students should have a nuanced understanding of gender (what it is, what it does, how it is done, how it is read on the body, for example.) and be familiar with approaches to analyzing intersectional gender power relations. Students should also be able to critically engage with academic texts and reflect on their own positioning in terms of gendered intersectionalities.

COURSE PREREQUISITE:

SOC 100 or consent of instructor COURSE MATERIALS:

All readings will be available on eClass OR the university’s library website.

COURSE FORMAT:

This course consists of lectures, discussion, films, and other multimedia. You should attend lectures, take notes thoroughly, and read assigned readings. Lectures will not replicate the readings but will explore, expand and question key themes and introduce new topics. It is important to complete readings, attend lectures, participate in discussions and expand reading beyond that indicated in the syllabus. PowerPoint slides are not a comprehensive outline of what is discussed in class.

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COURSE EVAUATION:

Midterm examination

30% February 13th Essay (1000 words) 30% March

12th Final Exam

40% April 20^th @2:00 pm*

(tentative)

*It is your responsibility to verify date and time of the final exam in Beartracks

EVALUATIVE COMPONENTS:

Essay: Questions on the course material will be set from which to choose 1

Midterm & Final Examinations: The content and format of the exams will be discussed with the class prior to the exam date. Example of representative exam material will be shared in class and on eClass.

CLASSROOM POLICIES/ATMOSPHERE:

This course takes an intersectional and critical approach to the examination of intersectional gender power relations. Please take this into consideration when deciding whether to continue in this class. It is possible that students may be introduced to topics and lifestyles through course material and/or the experiences of others that challenge or conflict with their own life experiences (i.e. work, personal, or family history). It is important to consider, integrate, and critique new material and alternate experiences as opposed to simply dismissing or criticizing them.

The classroom is intended as a safe and welcoming place for all. Discussion and debate are encouraged, but respect, open-mindedness, and awareness are essential. There will be zero tolerance for disrespectful, discriminatory, or offensive behaviour, including language.

GRADING:

Marks for graded course requirements are given in percentages, to which letter grades are also assigned, according to the table below. The percentage mark resulting from all graded components produces the final letter grade for the course. Marks for grades are not curved or scaled.

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Letter % Pts Descriptor

A+ 95-100 4.0

Excellent

A 90-94 4.0

A- 85-89 3.7

B+ 80-84 3.3 Good

B 75-79 3.0

B- 70-74 2.7

C+ 66-69 2.3 Satisfactory

C 62-65 2.0

C- 58-61 1.7

D+ 54-57 1.3 Poor

D 50-53 1.0 Minimal Pass

F 0-49 0.0 Fail

ATTENDANCE, ABSENCES, AND MISSED GRADE COMPONENTS:

Absence from Class

Regular attendance is essential for optional performance. If you are unable to attend class, it is your responsibility to contact a classmate to find out what was discussed and get notes. Lecture notes, detailed slides, and other class material will not be available online, nor will they be provided by your instructor.

Policy for Missed Midterm Exams:

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Should you miss a midterm examination, you must contact the instructor via email within two working days of the exam, or as soon as able to, having regard for the circumstances underlying the absence.

Excused absence for a missed exam is not automatic and, depending on the circumstances, appropriate documentation may be required. Travel plans, weddings, and vacations are not excusable absences as per University policy. Please familiarize yourself with the Attendance section of the University Calendar.

Students with an excused absence will be required to write a make-up exam or have the weight of the missed midterm exam transferred to the final exam, at the instructor’s discretion. If the student has an unexcused absence or does not write the assigned make-up exam at the prescribed time set by the instructor, a raw score of zero will be assigned for the missed exam.

Policy for Late Assignments:

Late assignments are not accepted. I encourage you to submit early and avoid procrastination.

Absence from Final Exam

A student who has missed a final exam must formally apply to their Faculty office within two working days following the scheduled date of the missed final exam (or as soon as the student is able, having regard to the circumstances underlying the absence) in order to be considered for a deferral final examination. The decision to grant a deferred final exam is NOT the instructor’s. Refer to the Absence from Final Exams information provided in the Attendance section of the University Calendar for full details.

Date of Deferred Final Exam: Students approved for a deferred final exam will write on May 2, 2020 at 9.00 am in BUS 1 10

Deferral of term work is a privilege and not a right; there is no guarantee that a deferral will be granted.

Misrepresentation of Facts to gain a deferral is a serious breach of the Code of Student Behaviour.

STUDENT RESOURCES:

The best all-purpose website for student services is: https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students.

Accessibility Resources (1-80 SUB)

The University of Alberta is committed to creating work and learning communities that inspire and enable all people to reach their full potential. Accessibility Resources promotes an accessible, inclusive, and universally designed environment. For general information or to register for services visit the Accessibility Resources webpage.

LEARNING AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

The Faculty of Arts is committed to ensuring that all students, faculty and staff are able to work and study in an environment that is safe and free from discrimination and harassment. It does not tolerate behaviour that undermines that environment.

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The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.

REQUIRED NOTES:

Academic Integrity

“The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty.

Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at https://www.ualberta.ca/governance/) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.”

All students should consult the Academic Integrity website. If you have any questions, ask your Audio or Video Recording

“Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the Instructor or as a part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or Instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).”

Course Outline Policy

"Policy about course outlines can be found in Course Requirements, Evaluation Procedures and Grading of the University Calendar."

Class set text: Lisa Wade and Myra Marx Ferree (eds) (2019) Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions. New York/London: Norton

Melissa Gillis and Andrew Jacobs (2020) (2^nd Edition) Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press will also be listed in further readings.

LECTURE SCHEDULE:

January 7& 9 – Introduction: Learning, Doing, and Becoming (a) Gender(ed):

Required reading

West, C. and Zimmerman, D.H. (1987) Doing gender. Gender & Society, 1(2), 125-151.

Martin, K.A. (1998) Becoming a gendered body: Practices of preschools. American Sociological Review 63:4, 494-511.

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Further reading

Kessler, S.J. (1990) The medical construction of gender: Case management of intersexed infants. Signs 16(1): 3-26.

Strong, J. (2003) The language of bodybuilding. Paragraph, 26 (1/2) Men’s Bodies, March/July: 163-174

January 14 & 16 – Definitions Required reading

Chapter 2 in set text.

Risman, B.J., Meyers, K and Sin, R. (2018) Gender Reckonings: New Social Theory and Research. NYU Press.

Chapter- Limitations of the Neoliberal Turn in Gender Theory: (Re)Turning to Gender as a Social Structure, pp.277-296

Further reading

Ridgeway, C.L. (2009) Framed before we know it: How gender shapes social relations. Gender & Society 23(2), p:145-160.

Lorber, J. (1996) Beyond the binaries: Depolarizing the categories of sex, sexuality, and gender.

Sociological Inquiry 66(2), 143-159.

Chapter 1 in Gillis and Jacobs

January 21 & 23 – Intersectionality Required reading

Crenshaw, K. (2011) Demarginalizing the Intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of anti- discrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and anti-racist Politics. In Helma Maria Teresa, Herrera Vivar, and Linda Supik (Eds.) Framing Intersectionality: Debates on a Multi-faceted Concept In Gender Studies, 35-50. London/New York: Routledge.

Further reading

Monture, P.A. (2007) Racing and erasing: Law and gender in white-settler societies. In Heir And Bolaria (Eds.) Race and Racism, 197-216. Broadview Press.

Phoenix, A. and Pattynama (2006) Editorial: Intersectionality. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 13 (3): 187-192

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Chapter 6 in Gillis and Jacobs

January 28 & 30 –Bodies 1- Beyond the Binary: Gender Non-Conformity Required reading

Moore, L.J. and Currah, P. (2015). Legally sexed: Birth certificates and transgender citizens. In Rachel E.

Dubrofsky, Shoshana Amielle Magnet (Eds.) Feminist Surveillance Studies, 58-76. Duke University Press.

Further reading

Elliot, P. (2004). Who gets to be a woman? Feminist politics and the question of trans-inclusion. Atlantis 29(1), 13-20.

Lucal, B. (1999) What it means to be gendered me: Life on the boundaries of a dichotomous gender system. Gender & Society 13(6), 781-797

Miller, L.R. and Grollman, E. (2015) The social costs of gender non-conformity for transgender adults:

Implications for discrimination and health. Sociological Forum, 30 (3), September: 809-831

Rubin, D. A. (2017) Intersex Matters: Biomedical Embodiment, Gender Regulation, and Transnational Activism. State University of New York Press. Chapter- Introduction: Intersex matters.

Sanabria, E. and Kramer, R. (2013) Sexing hormones and materializing gender in Brazil. Clio. Women, Gender, History, 37, When Medicine Meets Gender: 80-98

C.R. Snorton (2017) Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity. Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press. Chapter- Introduction

Chapter 7 Gillis and Jacobs

February 4 & 6 –Performativity Required reading

Butler, J. (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. London/New York: Routledge.

Chapter 1- Bodies that matter Further reading

Edgar, E. (2011) ‘Xtravaganza!’: Drag representation and articulation in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’. Studies in Popular Culture, 34 (1), Fall: 133-146

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Johnson, E. P. (2018) Black. Queer. Southern. Women: An Oral History. University of North Carolina Press.

Chapter- Walk like a man, talk like a woman: Gender non-conformity.

Pyke, K.D. and Johnson, D.L. (2003) Asian American women and racialized femininities: ‘Doing’ gender across cultural worlds. Gender and Society, 17 (1) February: 33-53

Schep, D. (2012) The limits of performativity: A critique of hegemony in gender theory. Hypatia, 27 (4):

864-880.

Tate, S.A. (2005) Black Skins, Black Masks: Hybridity, Dialogism, Performativity. London/ New York:

Routledge. Chapter 5- Beyond hybridity: bodily Schema and ‘the Third Space’

February 11- Inequality: Masculinities and midterm exam prep Required reading

Ricciardelli R., Clow K. A., & White P. (2010) Investigating hegemonic masculinity: Portrayals of masculinity in men's lifestyle magazines. Sex Roles, 63(1-2): 64-78.

Further reading

Budgeon, S. (2014) The dynamics of gender hegemony: Femininities, masculinities and social change.

Sociology, 48(2) 317– 334

Berggen, K. (2014) Hip Hop feminism in Sweden: Intersectionality, feminist Critique and female masculinity. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 21 (3): 233-250

Halberstam, J. (1998) Female Masculinity. Duke University Press. Chapter 1- An introduction to female masculinity

February 13 – Midterm exam

Reading week February 18-21 NO CLASS

February 25 & 27 Inequality: Femininities Required reading

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Deliovsky, K. (2008) Normative white femininity: Race, gender and the politics of beauty. Atlantis, 33 (1):

49-59

Further reading

Dahl, U. and Sundén, J. (2018) Guest Editors’ Introduction: Femininity in European Journal of Women’s Studies. European Journal of Women’s Studies. Critical Femininity Studies. Also, the Roundtable in this issue.

Dahl, U. (2012) Turning like a femme: Figuring Critical Femininity Studies. NORA: Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 20 (1): 57-64

Durham, A. (2011) ‘Check on It’: Beyoncé, Southern booty and Black femininities in music video. Feminist Media Studies, 12 (1):35-49

Finley, N. J. (2010) Skating femininity: Gender maneuvering in Women’s Roller Derby. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 39(4), 359–387.

Schippers, M. (2007) Recovering the feminine other: Masculinity, femininity and gender hegemony.

Theory and Society, 36 (1), February: 85-102

March 3 & 5– Sexualities & Sexual Identities Required reading

Driskill, Q. (2010) Double-weaving Two-Spirit critiques: Building alliances between Native and Queer Studies. GLQ, 16 (1-2): 69-92

Further reading

Cohen, C. (1997) Punks, bulldaggers, and welfare queens: The radical potential of queer politics? GLQ, 3 (4): 437-465

Lenon, S. (2011) ‘Why is our love an issue?’: Same-sex marriage and the racial politics of the ordinary.

Social Identities 17(2), 351-372.

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Herrera, A.P. (2018) The lesbian hashtag: Identity, community, and the technological imperative to name the sexual self. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 22:3, 313-328.

Chapters 4 and 5 Gillis and Jacobs

March 12 – Essay due

March 10 & 12 – Bodies 2- Embodying the intersectional gender order.

Required reading Chapter 8 in set text

Ervelles, N. (2011) Disability and Difference in Global Contexts: Enabling a Transformative Body Politic.

Palgrave Macmillan. Chapter-- Introduction: Bodies that do not matter Further reading

Bobel, C and Kwan, S (eds) (2019) Body battlegrounds: Transgressions, tensions and transformations.

Vanderbilt University Press. Chapter -Thompson, C. ‘My Ten-Year Dreadlock Journey: Why I Love the Kink in My Hair Today.

Gentile, P. and Nicholas, J (2013) Contesting Bodies and Nation in Canadian History. University of Toronto Press. Chapter 3- Poulter, G. Embodying nation: Indigenous sports in Montreal 1860-1885: 69-96 Naples, N. Mauldin, L and Dillaway, H. (2019) From the Guest Editors: Gender, Disability and Intersectionality. Gender and Society, 33 (1), February: 5-18

Puar, J. (2017) The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability. Duke University Press. Chapter 2 Bodies with New Organs: Becoming Trans, Becoming Disabled

Tate, S.A. (2015) Black Women’s Bodies and the Nation- Race, Gender and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan.

Chapter on Muscle.

Van Amsterdam, N. (2013) Big fat inequalities, Thin privilege: An intersectional perspective on ‘Body Size’.

European Journal of Women’s Studies, 20 (2): 155-169

March 17 &19 -Gendered Institutions: Family Required reading

Chapter 11 in set text

Malacrida, C. (2009) Performing motherhood in a disablist world: Dilemmas of motherhood, femininity and disability. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. 2(1), 99-117.

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Further reading

Benzanzon, K. (2006) Motherhood as a class act: The many ways in which “Intensive Mothering” is entangled with social class. In Social Reproduction: Feminist Political Economy Challenges Neo- Liberalism

Katz, J., Gravelin, C.R. & O’Brien, C. (2018). Neoliberal beliefs and perceptions of unintended adolescent pregnancy after consensual or forced Sex. Sex Roles 78, 810-821.

Demantas, I. and Myers, K. (2015) “Step up and be a man in a different manner”: Unemployed men reframing masculinity. The Sociological Quarterly 56, 640-664.

March 24 & 26– Gendered Institutions: Work Required reading

Smith, M. (et al) (2017 The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity in Canadian Universities. UBC Press.

Chapter 11- A dirty dozen: Unconscious race and gender bias in the academy Further reading

Broadbridge, A. and Fielden, S. (2018) Research Handbook of Diversity and Careers. Edward Elgar.

Chapter-Tate and Arshad Mather

Bracker, S. (2014) The unbearable lightness of gender and diversity. DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies:41-50

Gabriel, D. and Tate, S.A. (eds) (2017) Inside the Ivory Tower: Narratives of Women of Colour Surviving and Thriving in British Academia. Trentham Books. Chapter- D. Gabriel

Leidner, R. (1991). Serving hamburgers and selling insurance: Gender, work, and identity in interactive service jobs. Gender and Society, 5(2), 154-177

Wingfield, A.H. (2009). Racializing the glass escalator: Reconsidering men’s experience with women’s work. Gender & Society 23(1), 5-26.

McInturff, K. & Lambert, B. (2016). Making women count: The unequal economics of women’s work.

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

March 31 & April 2 - Gender based Violence.

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Required reading

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019) Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of The National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Further reading

Barker, K. (2008) Gender, sovereignty, rights: Native women’s activism against social inequality and violence in Canada. American Quarterly, 60 (2), June: 259-266

Franzway, S. et al (2019) Sexual Politics of Gendered Violence and Women’s Citizenship. Bristol University Press/Policy Press. Chapter- Campaigns for women’s freedom from violence. pp. 147-170

Gotell, Lise (2008) Rethinking affirmative consent in Canadian sexual assault Law: Neoliberal sexual subjects and risky women, Akron Law Review: 41(4)

Sobieraj, S. (2018) Bitch, slut, skank, cunt: Patterned resistance to women’s visibility in digital publics, Information, Communication & Society, 21:11, 1700-1714

Browne, R. (2018). What a British serial killer case says about Bruce McArthur and the police.

https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/3ky8y9/what-a-british-case-says-about-alleged-serialkiller- bruce-mcarthur-and-police

Field, A. (2007). Counter-hegemonic citizenship: LGBT communities and the politics of hate crimes in Canada. Citizenship Studies. 11(3) 247-262.

Manada de Manresa- ‘Spanish anger as five men acquitted of gang-raping teenager’ BBC News 1/11/2019 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50257922

April 7 – Activism & Resistance. Exam preparation Required reading

Bromley, V. and Ahmad, A. (2006). Wa(i)ving solidarity: Feminist activists confronting backlash.

Canadian Woman Studies. 35, 3(4), 61-71.

Further reading

bell hooks. (2000) “Visionary feminism” in Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. South End Press.

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Chapter 11 Gillis and Jacobs pp.356-364

Lorde, A. 1981. The uses of anger. Women’s Studies Quarterly 25(1/2), 278-285.

Marsden, L. (2012) Canadian Women and the Struggle for Equality. Oxford University Press.

Salamon, G. (2010) Assuming a Body: Transgender and Rhetorics of Materiality. Columbia University Press. Chapter- Transfeminism and the future of gender

April 20- Exam 2.00 pm