Drag King

"Disputes over sexual behavior often become the vehicles for displacing social anxieties..."
-Gayle Rubin

Home Page
Class Schedule
bredin home

Renae Bredin
H 212A, X3742
Office Hours: M 1-2:30, T 11:30-1
rbredin@fullerton.edu
hss.fullerton.edu/womens/bredin

Resources

student work
Cross Dressing Day: The Report

fyi web sites
National Sexuality Resource Center
Women's E-News

NY Times articles
When Sex Goes to School, on sex education (book review)
FDA approves Morning After Pill over the counter
Duke University Rape Case
Colorado Domestic Partner Ballot Initiative
Laptops in bed

site management: renae bredin
Updated: 10/30/06

WMST 360
The Politics of Sexuality Class Syllabus
Fall 2006

Course Description

In the contemporary United States, sex seems to be everywhere: on televisions and movie screens, around sidewalks and playgrounds, in classroom and Congress. Globally, debates rage about the rising rates of HIV infection, the horrors of military rape, and the challenges to cultural and religious proscriptions and standards. In this course, we will draw on scholarship in Women’s Studies in order to develop analytic skills in order to examine critically the cultural politics of sexuality within the United States and across national and cultural contexts. Our central questions will include the following: what is communicated by, through, and about sex in public controversies? What is the relationship of sexuality to struggles for power? And what role have debates about sexuality played in visions of social change? Our goal in this class will be to examine the often highly charged debates about sexual politics, to understand a variety of positions and concerns, and to seek creative strategies for resolving controversies affecting campuses and communities. In analyzing the politics of sexuality, we will explore its relationship to other important social categories including gender, race, class, sexual orientation, age, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and ability. This course fulfills the requirements for General Education in Lifelong Learning and Cultural Diversity.

Required Books

The Penguin Atlas of Human Sexual Behavior, Mackay
Corregidora, Gayle Jones
Readings on-line accessible from on-line class schedule, reserve readings and handouts

Course Requirements

  • 20 points Cross Dressing Day
  • 20 points Music & Sexuality Clip
  • 35 points Public Policy Proposal
  • 25 points Participation

Cross Dressing Day

On September 13, each student will perform a gender that is not the one they currently perform. We will discuss the experience in class, and you will write a one page, typed, 12 point font analysis of the experience grounded in the theoretical texts we are reading in the first four weeks of class, to be turned in during the following class on 9/18.

Music & Sexuality Clip

Chose one musical text that expresses the theoretical and ideological issues we have discussed this semester, and hand in that text, either by email or on cd in class. Using "It Just Be's Dat Way Sometime" as your model, think about how this text connects to sexuality, power, and gender, and explain this to the class. These clips are due 11/6, and the summaries and analyses will be done the following class.

Public Policy Proposal Group Presentation

In groups of five, you will choose a controversial issue related to the politics of sexuality and do research on scholarly and political debate about this question. The purpose of the proposal is to develop a thesis expressing your position on this issue and articulating a public policy solution. Examples of appropriate issues include sexual harassment policies in elementary schools, regulation of pornography on the Internet, military policy on sexual orientation, birth control distribution, among many others. You must use at least five sources outside of the assigned readings for the class. Each group member will bring their ethnography to the group as part of the larger set of research materials. Web resources must offer substantive and verified research (more details on evaluating web resources will be provided in the library research workshop). More detailed instructions for the public policy proposal group presentation will be provided in class. Hand in a portfolio that includes the following: policy paper covering all aspects of the proposal, action plan for implimentation of the proposal, media materials to sell the proposal.

Participation

Participation means contributing to the discussions in class, coming to class prepared (ready and thinking), and talking. This is a discussion-based course, and you will need to be here to keep up with the material. Your contributions to the class will also be critical to our success. See below for separate attendance policy.

Grading

This class will not use plus/minus grading.

Attendance Policy

Because part of your grade is based on participation, you must attend class. Lack of attendance will have a negative impact on your participation grade.

Classroom Expectations

The following list covers expectations for in-class behavior:
  • Turn off all cell phones and beepers [you'll be asked to leave if your phone rings]
  • Arrive on time
  • Do not leave during class except for emergencies
  • Be prepared with all readings
  • All work must be your own. Plagarism will result in a failing grade on the assignment.

Learning Goals and Outcomes

  • Developing critical analysis skills
  • understand key terms and concepts in feminist thinking about the social construction of sexuality
  • recognize and evaluate how one’s cultural history affects one’s sense of self and will employ historical analysis to situate sexual controversies in context
  • understand a range of diverse positions on selected issues and controversies, identifying key assumptions and use of evidence
  • develop and defend arguments and interpretations of primary documents
  • understand different cultural approaches to and conceptions of sexuality
  • employ research skills in order to use scholarly practices to illuminate public debate