KW in G&SS, 1

KEYWORDS IN GENDER & SEXUALITY STUDIES

When: Mondays, 14:00 – 16:00
Where: Neue Mensa (NM) 130

Instructor: Benedetta Gennaro, Ph.D.

Office: FLAT 427
Office Hours: Tuesdays 11:00 – 12:00 or by appointment

Course Description

In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will survey some key concepts in the field of gender
and sexuality studies while providing students with the necessary vocabulary to navigate
the English speaking literature. In the first part we will introduce some major theoretical
approaches to sex and gender, paying particular attention to the development of queer
theory. In the second part of the course, we will explore topics such as media
representations, violence and deviancy, and embodiment as seen through the lenses of
gender and sexuality studies.
The seminar is organized by “keywords,” which means that every week we will explain
and discuss some prominent concepts in the field. We will start by unpacking “gender”
and “sexuality” to explore how different disciplines have appropriated those terms and
how, in turn, these concepts have modified such diverse academic disciplines as
sociology, anthropology, literary studies, political science, visual studies, biology, and
history.

Participation
This course has been designed as a seminar, therefore your active participation (i.e.:
taking part in the discussion) is essential. The course and the seminar are conducted in
English and your knowledge of the language is very important; however, I am not
expecting fluent conversationalists in English but participants who are enganged with the
course materials and who are not put off by few grammar mistakes!
In order to actively participate in the class discussion, I would encourage you to write
down your thoughts as you complete the readings. These notes may be helpful as a point
of reference during our conversations.
Reading scholarly work in a language that is not your own can be very challenging; when
possible, I tried to select works that are written in a relatively easy English.
Especially when done in another language, reading and digesting a text can take some
time therefore I strongly reccomand you not to wait until the last hour to complete the
assigned readings.
Grading
Final paper - 50%
Participation - 20%
Presentation - 20%
Definitions - 10%
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Weekly Presentations
Each seminar’s participant will be asked to facilitate a class presentation and discuss a
chosen topic from the weekly assigned readings. Expect to present for about 15/20
minutes and hand out a summary of your presentation to the class (and to me). I
encourage the use of visual aids (power point/keynote) as a way to enhance your topic
and illustrate major points; please do not read off the slides you have prepared but use
them as what they are: aids to assist you, and not susbsitutes of your talk.

Definitions
Each week, seminar participants will come to class with a short (a paragraph) written
definition of the keyword of the week. These definitions will help guide the discussion,
and will provide a good weekly exercise for writing in English. Please, type your
contributions and hand them over to me at the end of each class.

Final Paper
7–10 double-spaced scholarly paper on a topic of your choice. You can expand on the
presentation you have made in class.

Course Outline *readings and topics are subject to change

Monday, October 15: Introduction to G&SS

Welcome to G&SS
Introduction
Syllabus review and discussion on readings
Documentary: The Codes of Gender (2009)

Monday, October 22: Sexualities

de Beauvoir, Simone. “The Data of Biology.” The Second Sex, 1949
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/2nd-sex/ch01.htm
-- of course, feel free to read SdB in original!
Katz, Jonathan Ned. “The Invention of Heterosexuality.” Socialist Review, 20:1, 1990, pp.
7-34.
Seidman, Steven. “Theoretical Perspectives.” Handbook of the New Sexualities Studies.
Steven Seidman, Nancy Fischer, and Chet Meeks London: Routledge, 2006, pp. 4-15.

Monday, October 29th: Gender #1

*Butler, Judith. “Subject of Sex/Gender/Desire.” Gender Trouble: Feminism and the
Subversion of Identity. New York/London: Routledge, 1990, pp. 2-34
Lorber, Judith. “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender.” Paradoxes of
Gender. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994, pp. 15-36
Kessler, Suzanne and Wendy McKenna. “The Primacy of Gender Attribution.” Gender: An
Ethnomethodological Approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985, pp. 1-20
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Monday, November 5: Gender #2

Bornstein, Kate. My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the
Real You, or Something Else Entirely. London/New York: Routledge, 1998, excerpts.

Monday, November 12: Masculinities

Connell, R. W. Masculinities. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005, pp.
45-92
Halberstam, Judith. Female Masculinity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998, pp.
1-43
Kimmel, Michael S. “Masculinity as Homophobia.” Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural
Anthology, Estelle Disch ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Pub. Co., 1997, pp. 103-109
Documentary: Tough Guise

Monday, November 19: Embodiement

Selections from Jackson, Stevi and Sue Scott. Gender: A Sociological Reader. London:
Routledge, 2002.

Monday, November 26: Transgender

Bornstein, Kate. Gender Outlaw. S.I.: Vintage Press, 1994, excerpts.
Gender Variance: A Primer
Salamon, Gayle. “Transfeminism and the Future of Gender.” Women's Studies on the
Edge. Joan W. Scott ed. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008, pp. 115-135
Wilkins, Riki. “What It Costs To Tell the Truth.” The Transgender Studies Reader, Susan
Stryker and Steven Whittle eds., New York: London, 2006, pp. 547-551
Documentary: Toilet Training (2003)

Monday, December 3: NO CLASS

Monday, December 10: Intersex

Fausto-Sterling, “Of Genders and Genitals.” Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the
Construction of Sexuality, New York: Basic Books, 2000, 45-77.
Documentary: Sex, Lies, and Gender (2009)

Monday, December 17: Queer Studies

Giffney, Noreen. “Introduction: the ‘q’ Word.” The Ashgate Research Companion to
Queer Theory, N. Giffney and M. O’Rourke eds., Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing
Limited, pp. 1-13
Warner, Michael. “The Ethics of Sexual Shame.” The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics,
and the Ethics of Queer Life. New York: Free Press, 1999, pp. 1-40
Wilchins, Riki. Queer Theory, Gender Theory. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2004, excerpts.
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Monday, January 14: Post-Feminisms

Halberstam, Judith. Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal. Boston:
Beacon Press, 2012
Moran, Caitlin. How to Be a Woman. New York: Harper Perennial, 2012

Monday, January 21: Post-Colonialism

Sahgal, Gita and Nira Yuval-Davis. “The Uses of Fundamentalism.” Feminist Postcolonial
Theory: A Reader, Lewis, Reina and Sara Mills. London/New York: Routledge, 2003, pp.
43-48
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial
Discourse.” Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader, Lewis, Reina and Sara Mills. London/
New York: Routledge, 2003, pp. 49-74

Monday, January 28: Tradition

Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa. “Unmasking Tradition.” The Sciences, March-April 1998, pp.
22-27
Kogacioglu, Dicle. “The Tradition Effect: Framing Honor Crimes in Turkey.” differences,
15:2, pp. 118-151.
Mahmood, Saba. “Feminism, Democracy, and Empire: Islam and the War on Terror.”
Women’s Studies on the Edge, Joan W. Scott ed., Durham: Duke University Press, 2008,
pp. 81-116

Monday, February 4:
TBA

Monday, February 11: Conclusions

TBA