ILAS 550/ WOMS 510                                                                                          Dr. Kristen Myers

Sexualities                                                                                                               kmyers@niu.edu

Last taught Spring 2008

This syllabus is a contract between you and me. Please read it and ask any questions that you may have. This class promises to be demanding, stimulating, and even exciting. If you choose to stay in this class after reading the syllabus, I will assume that you intend participate fully in order to help the course reach its potential. In reading this syllabus, take note of the warnings discussed below.

This course aims to present a sophisticated interdisciplinary examination of the complexities of sexuality in society.  I have several goals for this class, and they may expand over the semester.

1. To critically assess the social construction of sex, gender, and sexuality.

2. To situate this knowledge in a social context, recognizing its politics and social repercussions.

3. To be able to critique diverse sources of information and arguments on the basis of logic, and to be able to evaluate which information is more accurate than others.

4. To understand the basic tenets of postmodern and queer theories.  

5. To examine the ways the sexuality is tied to power relations and violence, as well as pleasure.  

6. To explore the ways that art can represent sexuality and vice versa.

7. To use course material to improve research, writing, and speaking skills.   

8. To apply material to the real world.

You have eight (8!) required texts for this class. Your texts are these:

Sullivan’s "Critical Introduction to Queer Theory;" MacKinnon’s "AreWomen Human? " Nestle, et al’s (eds) "Gender Queer;" Wolkimir’s "Be Not Deceived; " Eugenides’ "Middlesex;" Scholinski’s "Last Time I Wore A Dress;"  Chabon’s "Mysteries of Pittsburgh." In addition to your assigned readings, I will lecture from relevant readings, and you will be responsible for this lecture material.

A note about e-mail: Due to e-mail, communication between faculty and students has become much easier over the years. I welcome your comments and questions over e-mail. However, remember that I am not on e-mail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and I will not always have time to check and/or respond to your e-mail. Be reasonable. Also, I do not accept ANY assignments over e-mail.

Cell phones: Turn them off before coming into class. No text messaging in class—even during films.

Policy on Academic Misconduct: Cheating in this course is taken as a serious offense. This includes not completing your own work, sharing information or materials for one-minute essays, freeloading on other group members, plagiarism (presentation of the work or ideas of another person as your own, including cutting-and-pasting text from the internet), the unauthorized use of course materials, or other forms of dishonesty in academic matters. Offenders will be disciplined through the procedures outlined in the Student Judicial Code on Academic Misconduct.

This is a graduate course. The pace in this class will be quick. I expect you to attend class so that you can keep up with developments as they happen. Part of the process of learning this material will be discussing it. Many of the ideas are abstract, but we will use class time to make material concrete, so as to emphasize its relevant to all of us. I will force you to talk to each other right away. I expect you to pick up the ball and keep a dialogue flowing from period to period. Your course assignments should embolden you in class, forcing you to have processed material before coming to class. I expect you to act like interested, informed scholars and to evidence that interest in class discussion.

I will reward you for your participation. Your final grade will include an evaluation of your class participation. Attendance is correlated with participation. A guideline for the participation grades is as follows:

A: Student participates regularly in a well-informed manner

B: Student participates occasionally in a well-informed manner

C: Student participates occasionally

D: Student participates rarely

F: Who?

MacKinnon’s work centers on Sexuality and international law. She makes frequent reference to the status of sexual rights in other nations around the globe. This assignment has you delve into the background of the issues that she discusses. You will be in a group assigned to research sexual rights, freedoms and oppressions in one of four global states/regions: Eastern Europe, including Bosnia/Herzegovina; Northwestern Europe, including the Nordic countries, Germany and France; India and the Middle East, and Africa. Your group will delegate the work among its members. I will give time each class to convene shortly, but most work will be done outside of class. You will present your research to the class in a creative manner.

As already discussed, you have a lot of diverse readings each week in this class. Each week’s readings are organized around a theme, but the pieces included each week are not necessarily transparent in their interconnections. As such, you are required to locate and explore the ways that each week’s readings interconnect. You will do this every week before you come to class so as to optimize your participation in class discussion. However, on three days of your choosing, you will also write a paper analyzing the interconnected themes in the readings for that day. I have designated 5 days on which the readings can be written about. You will choose three, submitting a total of three thematic analysis papers.

We are fortunate to have two outside speakers invited to present just for the LGBT program. We will incorporate those talks into our class time—which may require us to meet earlier or later on those two days (see below). We are also fortunate that for Women’s History and LGBT months will occur during this semester. I want us to take full advantage of this opportunity in class. As such, you are required to attend three LGBT-related campus events of your choosing, after each of which you will write and submit to me a summary for credit.

This course focuses on art in several ways: Our two speakers bring art to the course, as do our two novels. You will be required to think about sexuality personally, really reflecting on your own sexual identity, fears, fantasies, talismans, etc. You will find some way to represent those ideas and images artistically. We will conceptualize art broadly to include visual arts, music, film, theater, and written media. Spend time thinking about this throughout the semester. We will discuss it frequently before it is assigned. What are your artistic skills and penchants? I love to write and sew, so I would think of ways to use those two techniques in a visual/written art presentation.

We will read two novels in this class. These not only stand on their own, but they exemplify much of the theoretical and empirical material in the course. You will choose one of the two to analyze, in writing, using other course material. More will be said about this paper later in the semester.

You will have a final, cumulative exam in this class. It will require you to synthesize broad ideas, to show depth and breadth of material. It will be open book, and in-class.

Participation                                                                                     10%

Global Sexual Freedom Research & Presentation                             10%

Thematic analysis papers (3, options designated below )                   30%

Summarization of LGBT campus events (not those on syllabus) (3)     5%

Art(s) Project                                                                                  10%

Novel analysis                                                                                 15%

Final Exam                                                                                      20%

                                                                                                      100%

Read Sullivan Ch 1; Nestle et al’s Introductions (all 3); and MacKinnon Ch 3.

Read Sullivan Ch 2; Nestle et al’s "It’s your gender, stupid," "Transie," "Twenty Passings," and "Be a man;" + MacKinnon Ch 4.

*Option: Thematic analysis paper, due in class

Read Sullivan Ch 3-4; Nestle et al’s "Queerer Bodies," "Changing the Subject," "Deconstructing Trans," and "Fading to Pink;" + MacKinnon’s Ch 22

*Option: Thematic analysis paper, due in class

*Assignment: research sexuality, rights, and freedom in either Bosnia/Herzegovnia, India, or NW Europe.

Read first two thirds of Jones

Read rest of Jones + Sullivan’s Ch 5; Watch film, "Kinsey"

--- change in plans--

Feb 27: Sexology continued

Read rest of Jones + Sullivan’s Ch 5;  Watch film, “Kinsey”

Meet with Margie DuS 148

 March 5: Religion and Rights

Read Wolkimir  

 March 19: The pornographication of sexuality

Read MacKinnon Ch 12, 15, & 24; Nestle et al’s “Loving Outside Simple Lines,” “Packing a Rod,” “Liminal,” & “My Woman Poppa;” Sullivan Ch 10-11

*Option: Thematic analysis paper, due in class

 March 26: Rape and Sexual Violence

No class---  BUT: Read MacKinnon Ch 10, 16, & 18; Sullivan Ch 9; Nestle et al’s “A Life,” & “Do your ears?”

*Option: Thematic analysis paper, due 4/2 in class

 April 2: Art and Sexuality Part 1: Art History

Invited lecturer Richard Meyer to present “Art, Sex and Censorship from Paul Cadmus to the Patriot Act” (University of Southern California).  Art Building rm 100 5p,m.  Reception to follow.  Class resumes from 7-7:45 in Arends 103.

*Assign art project

 April 9: Art and Sexuality Part 2: Autobiographical Visual Art

Read all of Scholinski + Nestle et al’s “Story of a Preadolescent Drag King,” &  “The Gender Cops Work Overtime”

*Option: Thematic analysis paper, due in class

Move to Student Life (Rm 100) where, at 7:30, we convene to listen to Scholinski  present “Mental (St)ealth” (Sent(a)Mental Studios)

April 16: Art and Sexuality Part 3: Pulitzer Prize Fiction

Read 2/3 of Eugenides + Nestle et al’s “Affronting Reason”

*Assign novel analysis

April 23: Art and Sexuality Part 4: Pulitzer Prize Fiction

Read rest of Eugenides + Nestle et al’s 1^st 6 “Stories”

April 30: Queer Fiction Part 5: Coming of Age Fiction

Read all of Chabon

*Share art projects

Final

*Novel analysis due