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In the middle to late 1960s, courses explaining and developing feminist theory began to be taught on college campuses. By 1970, the phrase “Women’s Studies” was applied to them. By 1980, over twenty thousand courses were being taught in that “discipline.”
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In the middle to late 1960s, courses explaining and developing feminist theory began to be taught on college campuses. By 1970, the phrase “Women’s Studies” was applied to them. By 1980, over twenty thousand courses were being taught in that “discipline.” Today there are programs at all levels of study—undergraduate minor, undergraduate major, master’s degree, doctorate. It even has its own association, the National Women’s Studies Association, and journal. Introduction to Gender 2000
Women’s Studies programs have been so successful as part of an intellectual movement that there is now a greater awareness of the importance of gender in people’s lives. Many school have Women’s Studies and/or Gender Studies programs “Women and men are more alike than they are different. Men are not from Mars; women are not from Venus—we are all from planet Earth.” Michael S. Kimmel Gender Studies
Study of Women Done by Men Views Women as Objects Excluded women’s opinions Saw women as different than , and usually inferior to, men Women’s Studies Done by Women and men Views women as subjects and authorities Includes women’s opinions Sees women as different from men but disagrees on how different, in what ways they are different, and why they are different History of Ideas
Study of Women Sigmund Freud thought women believed women were vengeful, castrating, penis-envying creatures who seek domination by men Women’s Studies Karen Horney critiqued Freud’s conclusions, arguing that men both fear and “envy” the womb, which accounts for their “need” to dominate women Psychological
Terminology Terms to Learn Sex Gender Role Stereotype Equality Patriarchy Ideal Feminism Positionality Misogyny Ideology
Sex • For our purposes, sex will be used to indicate the biological categories within which people are typically placed, or the biological difference between males and females. Sex is a physiological concept and is thought to be natural to a person; it cannot really be changed (at least not without surgery and hormone treatments, and even so, one’s DNA will still hold the original unaltered code).Sex is an ascribed social status.
Gender • Genderis the social significance of the difference in sex. Gender, according to Professor Lois Self, the Chair of the Women’s Studies Department at Northern Illinois University, “is the difference the [sex] difference makes.” Gender is a social concept. Masculinity and femininity are the usual descriptors of gender, and they refer to a complex set of characteristics and behaviors that are prescribed for members of a particular sex category; it is an achieved social status.
Role A role is the pattern of behaviors prescribed for and expected from a person that corresponds to their position in society. A person may, of course, have multiple positions in society and multiple role expectations.
Stereotype A stereotype is a composite image of characteristics and expectations pertaining to some group. This image is present in the social consciousness, but it is generally not accurate or is skewed in one or more ways.
Equality Equalityis the condition of being alike in value, having the same potential for accomplishment, and having the same inherent worth—in spite of individual differences. In other words, even though people are not the same, they can (and should) be considered and treated as equals.
Patriarchy Most of the societies that we know of have tended to be patriarchal. They are based upon an organizing principle that privileges the males—or the fathers, specifically, from the Latin patrí? family and archós leader—over the females. In a patriarchy, power is held by and transferred through men. This can be through educational and societal restrictions on women or by laws that favor men.
Ideal An ideal is a concept concerning a role, a position, or a physical image that contains only the most desirable traits or behaviors. It can be a standard of judgment, a goal, or both. It can contain ideas that are actually exclusive of each other, and it is—as a hypothetical concept of perfection—unobtainable in reality.
Feminism Feminism is a philosophy that holds with this ideal of equality. It is the belief that although they are different, men and women are equal. Feminism recognizes that women have been oppressed and repressed in certain societies throughout history. It also carries with it the commitment to change the attitudes and behaviors of those who do not see men and women—all people, really—as equals. This equality should be manifested in economic, political, and social equality for both sexes.
Positionality The concept of positionality recognizes that people’s perspectives, their perceptions of reality, and their actual realities—their truths—are dependent upon where they are positioned in society. In other words, it sees truth and reality as being relative and multi-faceted.
Misogyny and Ideology Misogyny is the hatred of or hostility toward women. In a society that subordinates women it is easy to understand that people within that society would or could hold such beliefs. In this class we will analyze cultures in order to study their ideologies—the “hidden” as well as the explicit values that societies and people hold—to see what people have believed about gender and sex.
Looking Ahead: A Few Key Ideas from Kimmel’s “Introduction” • Gender varies cross culturally. It depends on where you are, who you are, and when you are living. • “Invisibility is a privilege in another sense—as a luxury. Only white people in our society have the luxury not to think about race very minute of their lives. And only men have the luxury to pretend that gender does not matter” (6). • Assuming neutrality perpetuates the status quo.
