SY37G - Sex, Gender and Society

COURSE OUTLINE WITH READINGS
SEMESTER II : 2003 - 4

Mehindi Photo by Rex Dixon

Course Lecturer: Dr. Patricia Mohammed - Senior Lecturer, CGDS - Email: pamohammed@cgds.uwi.tt

Course Tutor: Ms. Marsha Massiah Email:

LECTURES – Tuesday 10.00 – 12 noon – Room 100A Social Sciences
TUTORIALS – To be determined
OFFICE HOURS - Tuesdays 1.30 - 4.00 pm

CGDS St. Augustine Information for Students
Head – Professor Rhoda Reddock
Administration: Ms. Glenda Ottley
Telephone: 645 – 3232 Ext 3573 / Email – Main Office: gender@cgds.uwi.tt

COURSE OUTLINE WITH READINGS

This course critically examines the sociological tradition on women and gender. We will review the biological, anthropological and social psychological approaches to the origins of sex differences and analyze the changes in the sexual division of labour in human history. The course attempts to understand the significance of sex, gender and sexuality in controlling and ordering the structure of society.

This course is primarily one of theoretical and methodological exploration. For each lecture and tutorial students must have read at least one of the assigned readings and be prepared to read and to engage in collective discussion in class and tutorials.

Course Assessment

One piece of coursework which will count for 25% of the total course mark.
Tutorial attendance and participation is compulsory and will count for 5% of coursework mark.
Written examinations - 70%

Main Course Texts

Caroline Brettel and Carolyn Sargeant (eds), Gender in Gross-Cultural Perspective, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1st or revised edition.

Linda Lindsey: Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, (Third Edition) Prentice Hall, USA, 1997

Sherry Ortner, Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1981

Patricia Mohammed (ed.) Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought, University of the West Indies Press, Jamaica, 2001

Jeffrey Weeks, Sexuality, Routledge,, London and New York, 1986

Note that where the reference refers to an entire book, these will not be accessible in your Box of course readings, one of each which is located in the Main Library and in the CGDS reading room. You will need to locate these books and borrow or purchase them.

Outline and Readings

Section 1. Perceiving the relationships between sex, gender and society through the image and the literary text

Multimedia power point presentation of images and discussion

Film on sexuality

1. Sophocles: Extracts from The Theban Plays: Abstract of Oedipus and Oedipus at Colonnus.
The play Antigone, Penguin Classics, London, 1974

2. V.S. Naipaul, Miguel Street, story: “Until the Soldiers came”, Heinemann in association with Andre Deutsch, , London, 1974 pp 179-198

3. Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John, Plume/Penguin USA, 1986

4. Linda Lindsey: Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, (Third Edition) Prentice Hall, USA, 1997, Chapter 1 –: “The Sociology of Gender: Theoretical Perspectives and Feminist Frameworks” pp 1- 19

Section 2. Brief Overview- The Women’s Movement, Feminism and Feminist Theory

- Introduction to Feminism
- The Emergence of the Women's Movement and the Challenge to Theory and Knowledge
- Overview of Feminist Theoretical approaches

Section readings
5. . Rosalind Delmar, "What is Feminism?" in Anne C. Herremann & Abigail Stewart(eds) Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Westview Press, Boulder/Oxford, 1994.

(4 as above) Linda Lindsey: Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, (Third Edition) Prentice Hall, USA, 1997, Chapter 1 –: “The Sociology of Gender: Theoretical Perspectives and Feminist Frameworks” pp 1- 19

6. Rhoda Reddock, “Women’s Organizations and Movement’s in the Commonwealth Caribbean: The response to Global Economic Crisis in the 1980s” in Feminist Review, Rethinking Caribbean Difference, No 59, Summer 1998, Routledge Journals, London, pp: 57-73

7. Patricia Mohammed, Stories in Caribbean Feminism, Centre for Gender and Development Studies, Fifth Anniversary Public Lecture, St. Augustine, 1998

8. Rosemary Tong, "Introduction: The Varieties of Feminist Thinking" in Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction, Westview Press, Boulder, 1989.

9. Sheila Ruth, "An Introduction to Women's Studies" in Issues in Feminism: An Introduction to Women's Studies, Mayfield Publishing, California,1990.

10. Jane Flax “Women do Theory” in Alison Jaggar and Paula S. Rothenberg, Feminist Frameworks, McGraw Hill, United States, 1993, pp.80-85

11. Wendy Kolmar and Frances Bartkowski, “Lexicon of Debates” in Feminist Theory: A Reader, Mayfield Publishing Copy, California, 2000, pp 34-51

12. Victoria Robinson, "Heterosexuality and Masculinity: Theorising male power or male wounded psyche?", Chapter 7, in Diane Richardson(ed) Theorising Heterosexuality: Telling it Straight, Open University Press, Buckingham/Philadelphia, 1996.

Section 3. Origins of Sex/Gender Differences

- Social Constructivism
- Social-psychological explanations
- Biological and Behaviourist explanations
- Evolutionist/Anthropological Explanations

Section readings

13. Linda Lindsey: Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, (Third Edition) Prentice Hall, USA, 1997, Chapter 2, “Gender Role Development: Biological and Psychological Perspectives”
pp 20-52 & Chapter 3 “Gender Role Development: The Socialization Process” pp. 53-73

14. Helen Haste, “Describing Difference” Chapter 3, The Sexual Metaphor, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1994, pp 60-83

15. Kate Young, "Notes on the Social Relations of Gender" in P. Mohammed and C. Shepherd (eds) Gender in Caribbean Development, WDSG, Mona, St. Augustine and Cave Hill, 1988.

16. Joyce McCarl Neilson, Sex and Gender in Society: Perspectives on Stratification, Waveland Press, Illinois, 1990.

- Chapter 2, Gender and Status in Pre-Industrial Societies
- Chapter 6, Biological Explanations
- Chapter 7, Social Learning Explanations

17. Ife Amadiume, Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in African Society, Zed Books, London, 1987.

18. Serena Nanda " Neither Man nor Women: The Hijras of India", in Caroline Bretell & Carolyn Sargeant (eds) Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1993.

19. Suzanne Kessler (1994) "The Medical Construction of Gender: Case Management of Intersexed infants" in Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social sciences, Anne Herrmann and Abigail Stewart (eds), Westview Press, Boulder.

20. Lila Leibowitz (1993) "Perspectives on the Evolution of Sex Differences", in Brettel and Sargeant (eds) Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Prentice -Hall.

21. Sally Slocum (1975) "Woman the Gatherer" in Rayna Rapp Reiter (ed) Toward an Anthropology of Women, Monthly Review Press.

22. Saskia Wieringa Essentialism versus Constructivism: Time for a Rapprochement? In Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought, Patricia Mohammed (ed.) University of the West Indies Press, Jamaica, 2001 pp: 3-21

23. David Gilmore (1993) "The Manhood Puzzle", in Brettel and Sargeant (eds) Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Prentice-Hall.

24. Kate Young, C. Walkowitz & R. McCullagh, "Introduction" in Of Marriage and The Market: Women's Subordination in International Perspective, CSE Books, London.

Additional recommended texts for this section

Caroline Brettel & Carolyn Sargeant, Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1993.

Eleanor Leacock and Mona Etienne, Women and Colonization: Anthropological Perspectives, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1980.

Martin M. Kay and Barbara Voorhies, Female of the Species, Columbia University Press, 1975.

Elizabeth Fisher, Women's Creation: Sexual Evolution and the Shaping of Society, Wildwood House, London, 1980.

Rayna Reiter (ed) Toward an Anthropology of Women, Monthly Review Press, New York and London, 1975.

Dorothy Dinnerstein, The Mermaid and the Minotaur, Harper and Row, New York, 1976.

Nancy Chodorow, The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978.

Janet Sayers, Biological Politics: Feminist and Anti-Feminist Perspectives, Methuen, New York, 1982.

Section 4 . Women and the Sociological Tradition

- The 'Founding Fathers' and Sociology
- The Feminist Critique of Sociology
- Feminism and The Family

Ø Application of theoretical understanding to social phenomena: Social Welfare and Employment Policies

Section Readings
25. Linda Lindsey: Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, (Third Edition) Prentice Hall, USA, 1997, Chapter 7 – “Love and Marriage in Contemporary Society” pp 160-189

26. Pamela Abbott and Claire Wallace, "Introduction: The Feminist Critique of Malestream Sociology and the Way Forward" in An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives, Routledge, London and New York, 1990.

27. Ann Oakley, "Chapter 1 "The Invisible Woman, Sexism in Sociology" in The Sociology of Housework, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1993.

28. Helen Roberts, "Some of the Boys won't Play anymore: The Impact of Feminism on Sociology" In Dale Spender (ed) Mens Studies Modified: The Impact of Feminism on Academic Disciplines, Pergamon Press, 1987.

29. Linda Christiansen-Ruffman, "Developing Feminist Sociological Knowledge: Processes of Discovery", Chapter 1 in Christiansen-Ruffman(ed) The Global Feminist Enlightenment: Women and Social Knowledge, International Sociological Association, Madrid, 1998.

30. Friedrich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and The State. 1884, various editions.

31. Lorenne M.G. Clark and Lynda Lange (eds) The Sexism of Social and Political Theory, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1979.

32. Sandra Morgen, "Conceptualizing and Changing Consciousness: Socialist-Feminist Perspectives" in K. Hansen and I. Philipson (eds) Women, Class and the Feminist Imagination, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1990.

33. Dorothy Smith, The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1987.

34. Sonia Cuales, (1988) "Some Theoretical Considerations on Social Class, Class Consciousness and Gender Consciousness", in P. Mohammed and C. Shepherd (eds) Gender in Caribbean Development, Women and Development Studies Project, UWI, Mona, St. Augustine, Cave Hill.

35. Derek Gordon, "Integrating Gender into Sociological Research" in Elsa Leo-Rhynie, Barbara Bailey and Christine Barrow (eds) Gender: A Caribbean Multi-Disciplinary Perspective, Ian Randle Publishers/Centre for Gender and Development Studies, UWI, 1997.

36. Joan French, Colonial Policy in Jamaica after the 1930s' Labour Disturbances, mimeo.

37. Mindie Lazarus-Black, "Why Women take Men to Magistrates Court: Caribbean Kinship Ideology and Law", in Christine Barrow (ed) Family in The Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives, Ian Randle/James Currey, Kingston/Oxford, 1996.

38. Rhoda Reddock, Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago: A History, Chapter 8, "Post-War Welfare Policy and Women's Work" Zed Books, London/Ian Randle, Kingston, 1994.

39. Elsie Le Franc, Wilma Bailey and Clement Branche, "Gender Role Definition and Identity: The Centrality of Primordial Values", in Caribbean Dialogue, Vol.4, No.1, January/March 1998

40. Roanna Gopaul, Paula Morgan and Rhoda Reddock(1996) Women, Family and Family Violence in the Caribbean: The Historical and Contemporary Experience with Special Reference to Trinidad and Tobago, Document prepared for the CARICOM Secretariat, Centre for Gender and Development Studies, UWI, St. Augustine.

Section 5. Sexuality and Society

- Sexuality and Sociology
- Sexual meanings and the construction of Gender
- Sexuality and Social control

Ø Application of theoretical understanding to social phenomena: Prostitution, and Homosexuality and Trans-gendered identities, Sexual Politics and the State

Section readings
Texts
Sherry B. Ortner and Harriet Whitehead (1981) Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stevi Jackson, (1988) On the Social Construction of Female Sexuality, Women's Resource and Outreach Centre, London.

Michel Foucault, A History of Sexuality, Volume 1

Articles and Essays
41. Fatima Mernissi, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Muslim Society, Schenkman with John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1975, Chapters 1 & 2.

42. Catherine McKinnon, "Sexuality" in Wendy Kolman and Frances Bartkowski, A Reader, Mayfield Publishing, California, 200, pp: 437-449

43. S. Ruehl "Sexual Theory and Practice: Another Double Standard" in Sue Cartledge and Joanna Ryan (eds) Sex and Love: New Thoughts on Old Contradictions, The Women's Press, Boulder/Oxford, 1994.

44. Jeffery Weeks, Sexuality, Chapter 1, The Languages of Sex, pp 19-36, and Chapter 5, Sexuality and Politics, pp 89-105, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1986.

45. Jeffrey Richards, Sex, Dissidence and Damnation: Minority Groups in the Middle Ages, Routledge, London, 1991, see esp Chapter 6, Prostitutes pp: 116-132, and Chapter 7 and Homosexuals, p pp 132-149

46. Barry Chevannes , “Gender and Adult Sexuality” in Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought, Patricia Mohammed (ed.) University of the West Indies Press, Jamaica, 2001
pp 486-494

47. Richard L.W. Clarke, “Androgyny and Miscegenation in The Crying Game: The case for a Performative Model of Gender and Race, in Gendered Realities op cit , pp 297-313

48. Kathy Ann Waterman, “Woman of the Shadows” in Gendered Realities op cit pp; 416-438

49. Patricia Mohammed "The Idea of Childhood and the Age of Sexual Maturity among
Indians in Trinidad A Socio-Historical Scrutiny” in Caribbean Families: Diversity Among
Ethnic Groups, Eds, Jaipaul L. Roopnarine and Janet Brown, Advances in Applied Developmental
Psychology 14 Irving E Sigel: Series Editor, Ablex Publishing Corporation: Connecticut and
London pp.115-147

50. Kamala Kempadoo, “Continuities and Change: Five Centuries of Prostitution in the Caribbean” in Sun, Sex and Gold: Tourism and Sex Work in the Caribbean, Kamala Kempadoo (Ed.) Rowman and Littlefield, Boulder, 1999 pp.

51. Evelyn O’Callaghan, “Compulsory Heterosxuality and Textual/Sexual Alternatives in Selected Texts by West Indian Women Writers” in Caribbean Portratits: Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities, ed Christine Barrow, Ian Randle Publications and Centre for Gender and Development Studies, Kingston and UWI, 1998, pp 294-319

NOTE
Readings are available in the lecturers' boxes in the Main Library as well as in the Reading Room of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies. Many of the books are also available on the open shelves or the Reserve Section of the Main Library. The Main texts should also be available at the UWI Bookshop.

Please also consult the following Journals as well as the Internet for websites on Feminist Theory, Women’s Studies, Gender and Sexuality:

Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society
Feminist Review
Feminist Studies
Gender and Society
Women's Studies International Quarterly.