Synopses & Reviews
This introductory women's studies reader offers a wide range of classic, conceptual, and experiential writings--over 105 selections in all. Chapter introductions provide background information on each chapter's topic, including explanations of key concepts and ideas and references to the subsequent reading selections. The anthology also offers numerous pedagogical features designed to engage students in active learning.
About the Author
Susan M. Shaw is Director of the Women Studies Program at Oregon State University. She received her Ph.D. from Southern Seminary in 1987 and taught Religious Studies for eight years before joining the Women Studies faculty at OSU in 1996. She has won numerous teaching awards, including the University Continuing Education Association’s 2002 Meritorious Course Award for her web-based version of OSU’s introductory women’s studies course. She is the author of Storytelling in Religious Education.ation.Janet Lee is Professor of Women Studies at Oregon State University. She received her Ph.D. from Washington State University in 1985 and served as Director of OSU’s Women Studies Program from 1991-2002. She recently received the OSU College of Liberal Arts Excellence Award that recognizes distinguished teaching, scholarship, and service. She is the author of Blood Stories: Menarche and the Politics of the Female Body in U.S. Society (with Jennifer Sasser-Coen) and Comrades and Partners: The Shared Lives of Grace Hutchins and Anna Rochester.
Table of Contents
* Indicates a New ReadingCHAPTER 1. WOMEN’S STUDIES: PERSPECTIVES AND PRACTICES What Is Women’s Studies?How Did Women’s Women’s Studies Come About?Box: Historical Moment: The First Women's Studies DepartmentBox: The World's Women 2000: EducationBox: Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years and Over by Sex: March 2000Activist Profile: Susan B. AnthonyWhat Were the Origins of Women's Rights Activism in the United States?Learning Activity: The National Women’s Hall of FameWhat Is the Status of Women’s Studies on College Campuses Today?What Does Women’s Studies Have to Do with Feminism?Box: Thank a FeministIdeas of Activism: Two-Minute ActivistWhat Are the Myths Associated with Feminism?Learning Activity: The Dinner PartyBox: Yes, I AmBox: US Suffrage Movement TimelineBox: Title IX at 30: Report Card on Gender Equality1. Adrienne Rich, Claiming an Education 2. *Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, A Day without Feminism3. *Rosalyn Boxander and Linda Gordon, Dear Sisters4. *bell hooks, Feminist Politics: Where We Stand5. JeeYeun Lee, Beyond Bean Counting 6. Allan G. Johnson, Shame, Guilt, and Responsibility 7. Deborah L. Rhode, Denials of InequalityCHAPTER 2. SYSTEMS OF PRIVILEGE AND INEQUALITY IN WOMEN’S LIVESDifference, Hierarchy, and Systems of OppressionLearning Activity: Unpack Your KnapsackLearning Activity: Test for Hidden BiasInstitutionsBox: Challenging Your AssumptionsLearning Activity: Combating HateBox: Historical Moment: Women of Color FeminismBox: Stark Intersections: Gender, Race, Class, and HIV/AIDSIdeology and LanguageActivist Profile: Fannie Lou HammerIdeas for Activism Box: challenging the Pseudogeneric "Man"8. Patricia Hill Collins, Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection9. Marilyn Frye, Oppression 10. *Lois Keith, Tomorrow I’m Going to Rewrite the English Language11. Suzanne Pharr, Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism12. Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege and Male Privilege13. Gloria Yamato, Something About the Subject Makes It Hard to Name 14. Donna Langston, Tired of Playing Monopoly? 15. Baba Copper, Voices: On Becoming Old Women16. Susan Wendell, The Social Construction of DisabilityCHAPTER 3. LEARNING GENDER IN A DIVERSE SOCIETYBiology and CultureLearning Activity: Tomboys and SissiesLearning Activity: Speaking of Women and MenBox: Historical Moment: Gender TestingMasculinityBox: Rites of PassageLearning Activity: Performing Gender in the MoviesFemininity Activist Profile: Gloria SteinemBox: The Problem with Promise KeepersLearning Activity: Walk Like a Man, Sit Like a LadyGender RankingIdeas for ActivismDiverse Gendered Experiences17. Lois Gould, X: A Fabulous Child’s Story18. Judith Lorber, The Social Construction of Gender19. Virginia Sapiro, The Plurality of Gender-Based Realities20. Nellie Wong, When I Was Growing Up21. Natalie Angier, Spiking the Punch: In Defense of Female Aggression22. Mariah Burton Nelson, Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Will Not23. *Leslie Feinberg, To Be or Not to Be CHAPTER 4. SEX, POWER, AND INTIMACY The Social Construction of SexualityBox: Rainbow TriviaBox: World Report 2002: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender RightsLearning Activity: Talking About Being "Out"The Politics of SexualityActivist Profile: Emma GoldmanLearning Activity: As the World TurnsLearning Activity: Heteronormativity: It’s EverywhereIntimaciesLearning Activity: It’s in the CardsBox: Historical Moment: The Faked OrganismIdeas for Activism24. Pepper Schwartz and Virginia Rutter, Sexual Desire and Gender25. *bell Hooks, The Search for Men Who Love26. *Marcia Deihl and Robin Ochs, Biophobia27. April Sinclair, Coffee Will Make You Black 28. Cherrie Moraga, La Güera29. *Emily Oxford, Pam Shows Her Knickers30. Carolyn Reyes and Eric DeMeulenaere, Compañeros31. Paula Gunn Allen, Some Like Indians EndureCHAPTER 5. INSCRIBING GENDER ON THE BODYLearning Activity: Considering Body Size, Shape, and MovementBodies, Nature, and WomenActivist Profile: Maggie KuhnBox: Body Image Quiz Eating DisordersIdeas for ActivismResisting the Beauty IdealBox: Learn to Love Your Body32. Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Breast Buds and the “Training Bra”33. Gloria Steinem, If Men Could Menstruate34. *Amelia (Amy) Richards, Body Image: Third Wave Feminism’s Issue?35. Becky Wangsgaard Thompson, “A Way Outa No Way”: Eating Problems Among African American, Latina,and White Women36. Veronica Chambers, Dreadlocked37. Lisa Miya-Jervis, Hold That Nose38. *Meredith McGhan, Dancing Toward Redemption39. Maya Angelou, Phenomenal WomanCHAPTER 6. HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Health and WellnessBox: The World's Women 2000: HealthLearning Activity: Obsessed with BreastsBox: Health Consequence of Tobacco Use Among WomenLearning Activity: Test Your Knowledge of HIV/AIDSLearning Activity: Women, Heart Disease, and Cancer in Your StateBox: Alcohol AbuseReproductive ChoiceBox: Historical Moment: The Women's Health MovementActivist Profile: Margaret SangerBox: Sexually Transmitted DiseasesLearning Activity: Walk In Her ShoesBox: Facts About Abortion, Choice, and Women’s HealthIdeas for Activism: Ten Things You Can Do to Protect Choice40. Harvard Women’s Health Watch, How Far We’ve Come41. Patti Lou Watkins and Diane Whaley, Gender Role Stressors and Women’s Health42. Lisa Collier Cool, Forgotten Women: How Minorities Are Underserved by Our Health Care System43. Adrienne Germain, Man-made Threats to Women’s Health44. MS., Breast Cancer: Is It the Environment?45. Margaret Sanger, My Fight for Birth Control46. Cynthia Gorney, Caught in the Crossfire47. Rachel Roth, How Women Pay for Fetal RightsCHAPTER 7. FAMILY SYSTEMS, FAMILY LIVESDefinitions of FamilyBox: Facts About U.S. FamiliesBox: The World's Women 2000: Women and FamiliesBox: Myths and Facts About Lesbian FamiliesLearning Activity: What Makes a Family?Institutional ConnectionsLearning Activity: Families in PovertyActivist Profile: Hannah SolomonLearning Activity: Divorce Law: Who Benefits in My State?Ideas for ActivismBox: Historical Moment: The Feminine MystiqueMotheringBox: Children with Single Parents—How They Fare48. Michael Kimmel, The “Constructed Problems” of Contemporary Family Life49. Emma Goldman, Marriage and Love50. *Deborah R. Connolly, Motherly Things51. Betty Holcomb, Friendly for Whose Family? 52. Anndee Hochman, What We Call Each Other53. Sandra Cisneros, Only DaughterCHAPTER 8. WOMEN’S WORK INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE HOME Unpaid Labor in the HomeBox: Women and AgricultureLearning Activity: Who Does the Work at Your School and In Your Home?Paid LaborBox: Historical Moment: Wages for HouseworkBox: Detailed Occupation Group of the Employed Civilian Population 16 Years and Over By Sex: March 2000Box: What Is Sexual Harassment?Ideas for ActivismBox: The World's Women 2000: WorkActivist Profile: Dolores HuertaBox: Selected Nontraditional Occupations for Women in 2001Learning Activity: Working Women and Unions54. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Women and Economics55. Sharlene Hesse-Biber and Gregg Lee Carter, A Brief History of Working Women56. *Michelle Sidler, Living in McJobdom: Third Wave Feminism and Class Inequality57. *Jackie Krasos Rogers and Kevin D. Henson, “Hey, Why Don’t You Wear a Shorter Skirt?”58. Barbara Ehrenreich, Maid to Order: The Politics of Other Women’s Work59. Priscilla Alexander, Prostitution: A Difficult Issue for Feminists60. Cynthia Enloe, The Globetrotting SneakerCHAPTER 9. WOMEN CONFRONTING AND CREATING CULTURE TelevisionLearning Activity: Talking About Talk ShowsThe MoviesBox: Janet and Susan’s Chick Flick PicksLearning Activity: Women Make MoviesContemporary Music and Music VideosBox: Test Your Knowledge of Women and Rock‘n’RollPrint MediaIdeas for ActivismLearning Activity: Looking Good, Feeling Sexy, Getting a ManLiterature and the ArtsActivist Profile: Maxine Hong KingstonBox: Janet and Susan’s Must-Read Novels Box: Historical Moment: The NEA Four61. Virginia Woolf, Thinking about Shakespeare’s Sister62. Audre Lorde, Poetry is Not a Luxury63. Gloria Anzaldúa, The Path of the Red and Black Ink64. Jill Birnie Henke, Diane Zimmerman Umble, and Nancy J. Smith, Construction of the Female Self: Feminist Readings of the Disney Heroine65. Joan Morgan, From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos66. *Jennifer Reed, Roseanne, A “Killer Bitch” for Generation X67. Jane M. Shattuc, The Oprahification of America: Talk Shows and the Public Sphere68. Nina Hartley, Confessions of a Feminist Porno StarCHAPTER 10. RESISTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Historical Moment: The Violence Against Women Act of 1994Box: Race, Class, Sexual Orientation, and Violence Against WomenActivist Profile: Del MartinBox: Key Findings of the National Violence Against Women SurveyRapeLearning Activity: How Safe Is Your Campus?Battering and Physical AbuseIdeas for ActivismBox: Check Up on Your RelationshipBox: The Cycle of ViolenceIncestBox: VAW: Selected Human Rights DocumentsPornography69. Women in Action, Violence against Women: An Issue of Human Rights70. Gloria Steinem, Supremacy Crimes71. A. Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade, Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?72. *Del Martin, A Letter from a Battered Wife73. Grace Caroline Bridges, Lisa’s Ritual, Age 1074. John Stoltenberg, Pornography and Freedom75. Donna M. Hughes, The Internet and the Global Prostitution Industry76. Fiona Lee, Militarism and Sexual ViolenceCHAPTER 11. STATE, LAW, AND SOCIAL POLICYGovernment and Representation Learning Activity: Women in Leadership Around the WorldLearning Activity: The League of Women VotersActivist Profile: Wilma MankillerBox: Historical Moment: Shirley Chisholm for PresidentWomen and the LawBox: Women in Elective OfficeIdeas for ActivismBox: Affirmative Action: Myth Versus RealityPublic PolicyThe Criminal Justice SystemBox: Women in PolicingBox: Women in PrisonThe MilitaryBox: Women in the Military 77. Susan B. Anthony, Constitutional Argument78. M. Margaret Conway, David W. Ahern, and Gertrude A. Steuernagel, Women and Family Law: Marriage and Divorce79. Mary Frances Berry, The Crime That Had No Name