62:988:325

Politics of Sexuality
Spring 2009
Rutgers-Newark

Tuesday 6:00–9:00 pm
Life Sciences Center (LSC) 103

Instructor: Makiko Oku

Office: Conklin 426
Office Hours: Tuesday 5:00–6:00 pm, or by appointment
973 353 1166
makikoku@rutgers.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE

The course aims to understand how gender, race, ethnicity, sexual preferences, and other identity
markers are configured in the political, social, and cultural spheres both in the United States and global
contexts. The course is also designed to challenge the normative discourses on gender, race, and
sexuality, critiquing and politicizing what we think we already know about these topics and the world we
live in. The objective of the course is to acquire a new lens to broadly and creatively deconstruct issues
of politics, identities, and sexuality. Themes we will examine are: gender as a social construction;
intersectionality of gender, race, and sexuality; politics of LGBTQ; rape and other sexual violences;
gender and world politics; and art and politics. This course is writing intensive and meets the
interdisciplinary requirement.

I hope to have a stimulating and challenging course and look forward to helping you through your
academic journey. Good luck!

COURSE MATERIAL

Reading Packet
The required reading packet can be purchased at Affordable Copies Center on 49 Halsey Street (between
Bleeker and New Streets) in Newark. Their phone number is 973 802 1007. The reading packet is
approximately 55 dollars.

Handouts
The instructor will periodically hand out additional readings to you, typically one or two class sessions
before you should have them read.

It is imperative to read ALL the course material and engage in class discussion. You are expected to
finish the readings even if you miss class.

ASSIGNMENTS

(1) Weekly Response Paper

Your informed discussion of the readings comprises a significant portion of the course. In order to
facilitate an engaging dialogue, weekly submission of response papers is essential. You are required to
submit a one-page response paper on two of the assigned readings for the day respectively. The
instructor will collect two sheets of paper, one for one reading and the other for the second reading, at

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the end of each class. Please type your papers and use a 10 to 12-point font. Late submission is not
accepted. Response papers must include the following three elements:

(1) The author’s main point and argument

Capture and summarize the author’s main point and argument. Demonstrate that you have done
the readings and are ready to discuss the material in class.

(2) Quotes or passages that were memorable and worth discussing in class
Cite the entire quote on your response paper. Be prepared to share with the class why you
thought the quote or passage is significant. Please cite which page you found the quote.

(3) Questions for class discussion

The question should be analytical, not factual in nature. It should not ask about the specific
content of the reading, but should aim to provide food for thought.

See “Response Paper Sample” for details.

(2) Midterm and Final Exams

There will be two take-home exams – a midterm and a final. Questions for the exams will pertain to the
course readings, films watched in class, in-class discussions, and lectures. The midterm exam is due in
class on Tuesday, March 10, and the final exam is due by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, May 5 by email.

(3) Class Participation and Attendance

This course is dependent upon diverse and intellectual dialogue, and your participation in class
discussion is essential for understanding the course material and contents. Your individual experiences,
observations, questions, and analyses are valuable to the discussions. This part of your grade will be
based on both the quality and quantity of your participation. As for Attendance, see Class Policies below
for details.

Please note that the assignments are subject to change. The instructors will notify you when any changes
are made.

GRADES

Grading Scale
90–100 A
85–89 B+
80–84 B
75–79 C+
70–74 C
65–69 D
64 and below F

Grade Distribution
Weekly Response Paper 30%
Midterm Exam 25%
Final Exam 25%
Class Participation and Attendance 20%

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CLASS POLICIES

Attendance
Full attendance is expected for the entire course. However, if you have an emergency situation and
cannot come to class, you MUST notify the instructor in advance by phone or email of your absence.
More than one unexcused absence will affect your final grade.

Academic Integrity
Plagiarism and cheating are not tolerated and will be reported. Either will result in disciplinary action
from Rutgers University and/or failure of assignment or course. You will be held to the Rutgers Policy
on Academic Integrity, which can be found online at http://teachx.rutgers.edu/Integrity/policy.html.

COURSE SCHEDULE

(1) January 20
Introduction and Course Overview
Vocabulary and Definitions

(2) January 27
Gender/Sex as a Social Construction

Margaret L. Andersen, “Chapter 2: The Social Construction of Gender,” Thinking About Women:
Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2006), 20-32.

Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Is Gender Essential?” in Matthew Rottnek (ed.), Sissies and Tomboys:
Gender Nonconformity and Homosexual Childhood (New York: New York University Press,
1999), 52-57.

June Jordan, “A New Politics of Sexuality” in Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey, Women’s
Lives: Multicultural Perspectives (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004), 159-62.

(3) February 3
Deconstructing Gender/Sex

Anne Fausto-Sterling, “The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough,” The Sciences, Vol. 33,
Issue 2 (March/April 1993), 20-24.

“Peer Review: Letters from Readers,” The Sciences, Vol. 33, Issue 4 (July/August 1993), 3-4.

Anne Fausto-Sterling, “The Five Sexes, Revisited,” The Sciences, Vol. 40, Issue 4 (July/August 2000),
19-23.

Film: Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She

(4) February 10
Intersectionality

Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,”

http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf.

Audre Lorde, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” in Wendy K. Kolmar and
Frances Bartkowski (eds.), Feminist Theory: A Reader (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), 338-43.

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Mitsuye Yamada, “Asian Pacific American Women and Feminism” in Wendy K. Kolmar and Frances
Bartkowski (eds.), Feminist Theory: A Reader (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), 365-68.

Surina A. Khan, “The All-American Queer Pakistani Girl” in Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey,
Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004), 162-63.

(5) February 17
Intersectionality continued

Kimberle Crenshaw, “Intersectionality and Identity Politics: Learning from Violence against Women of
Color” in Wendy K. Kolmar and Frances Bartkowski (eds.), Feminist Theory: A Reader (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2005), 533-42.

Patricia Hill Collins, “Why Black Sexual Politics?” Black Sexual Politics (New York: Routledge, 2004),
22-52.

Adrianne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Experience,” in Wendy K. Kolmar and
Frances Bartkowski (eds.), Feminist Theory: A Reader (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), 347-56.

(6) February 24
LGBTQ Politics

Cathy Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics,” GLQ,
Vol. 3, 437-465.

Karla Jay, “Confessions of a Worrywart: Ruminations on a Lesbian Feminist Overview,” in Robin

Morgan (ed.), Sisterhood is Forever (New York: Washington Square Press, 2003), 212-221.

Leslie Feinberg, “Stone Butch Blues” in David Shneer and Caryn Aviv (eds.), American Queer, Now
and Then (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2006), 185-92.

(7) March 3
Masculinity and Men

R.W. Connell, “Gender Politics for Men” in Laurel Richardson, et al. (eds.), Feminist Frontiers
(Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2001), 8-13.

Mia Consalvo, “The Monsters Next Door: Media Constructions of Boys and Masculinity,” Feminist
Media Studies 3(1) (2003), 27-45.

Myriam Miedzian, Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence (New York:
Lantern Books, 2002), 241-51.
1. “Films and Videos: When Blood and Guts Is Fun,” 241-51.
2. “Music and Wrestling: The ‘Joys’ of Rape, Satanism, and Bigotry,” 253-65.

Midterm Exam
This is a take-home exam, and you will have a week to complete your answers. Please bring your
answers to class on Tuesday, March 10.

(8) March 10
Thinking Sex

Gayle S. Rubin, “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality” in Carole S.
Vance (ed.), Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality (New York: Routledge, 1984), 3-55.

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Film: Southern Comfort

March 17: Spring Break, NO CLASS

(9) March 24
Gender, Sexuality, and Global Politics

V. Spike Peterson and Anne Sisson Runyan, Global Gender Issues: Dilemmas in World Politics
(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999), 1-20.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses” in
Wendy K. Kolmar and Frances Bartkowski (eds.), Feminist Theory: A Reader (New York: McGraw-
Hill, 2005), 372-79.

Janet Afary, “Seeking a Feminist Politics for the Middle East after September 11,” Frontiers, Vol. 25,
No. 1, 2004: 128-137.

(10) March 31
Sexual Violence in the Domestic and Global Worlds

Elizabeth Rehn and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts’
Assessment (New York: UNIFEM, 2002), 11-19 (Violence Against Women).

United Nations, “Security Council Resolution 1325” (2000).

Jeanne Ward, et al., Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams: Violence Against Women Exposed (Nairobi, Kenya:
United Nations, 2005).
1. “Intimate-Partner Violence,” 115-26
2. “Perpetrators,” 205-21

(11) April 7
Discussing Bodies, Culture, and Politics

Jeanne Ward, et al., Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams: Violence Against Women Exposed (Nairobi, Kenya:
United Nations, 2005), 51-58 (Female Genital Mutilation).

Richard A. Shweder, “What About ‘Female Genital Mutilation’? And Why Understanding Culture
Matters in the First Place” Daedalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 12
(2000), 461-69.

Film: V-Day: Until the Violence Stops

(12) April 14
Gender and Sex in War/Peace Time

Rhonda Copelon, “Surfacing Gender: Reconceptualizing Crimes against Women in Time of War” in
Lois Ann Lorentzen and Jennifer Turpin (eds.), Women and War Reader (New York: New York
University Press, 1998), 63-79.

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, “Maternal Thinking and the Politics of War” in Lois Ann Lorentzen and
Jennifer Turpin (eds.), Women and War Reader (New York: New York University Press, 1998), 227-33.

Carol Cohn, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals,” Signs 12(4) (1987), 687-
718.

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(13) April 21
Art, Spirituality, and Empowerment

Gloria Anzaldúa, “Towards a New Consciousness,” Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (San
Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1999), 99-113.

Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” in Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey,
Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004), 168-71.

Marjane Satrapi, Embroideries (New York: Random House, 2005).

(14) April 28:

Social Change and Activism
Course Evaluation

The readings for this week will be distributed a couple of weeks prior to class.

Final Exam
This is a take-home exam. Please email your answers to makikoku@rutgers.edu by 5:00 pm on Tuesday,
May 5.