Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies 230:
Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Popular Culture
T Th 8:00-10:50, Denney Hall 253
Instructor: Haley Swenson
Office Hours: T 11-1 and by appointment
Office Location: University Hall 037
Contact:
Accommodation of students with Disabilities:
Students who have verification from Disability Services are responsible for contacting the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary arrangements. The Office for Disability Services (150 Pomerene Hall; 614-292-3307) verifies the need for accommodations and assists in the development of accommodation strategies.
Course Description
This course explores how popular culture generates and articulates our understandings of gender and sexuality and their intersections with race and class. We will study a variety of theories and methods used in contemporary gender/sexual scholarship on popular culture, and we will examine a number of popular media texts.
This course is based on the premise that popular culture is never solely an amusement or diversion. The images, sounds and stories in popular texts are also media through which we imagine and practice femininities, masculinities, and sexualities. These images and practices are also infused with class and racial characteristics (consider, for example, the whiteness of brides in bridal magazines). The norms sustained and contested by popular culture are evident in our constructions of ourselves – from the look we aspire to and the clothes we buy to the ways we understand sex, love, and romance. This course allows us to think critically about the images, practices, and narratives that perpetuate and/or disrupt these norms. Our course will often cover sexually explicit and violent material, because these are characteristic of popular culture. Students are encouraged to take a critical approach to these texts, just as they do to other texts in the course.
Fulfillment of GEC Requirement
This course fulfills the GEC requirement for Arts and Literature: Visual/Performing Arts. At the completion of WGSST 230, students should be able to:
- understand the basic concepts of major critical theories used in studies of popular culture;
- make practical application of these theories to a popular text; critically analyze a popular text through close attention to structure, imagery, and generic components;
- and locate, through the above, the text’s treatment of issues of gender, sexuality, and race.
Required Texts
All required readings are available on Carmen. Students are required to print out and bring texts to class.
Attendance Policy:
Each student is allowed one unexcused absence over the duration of the quarter. For each absence beyond that, except in extenuating circumstances, the student’s final grade will be dropped by three points. If you are absent from a class, you are responsible for speaking to classmates about what you missed. I will only respond to emails about what was missed in class under extenuating circumstances. On exam days, I must know about an absence and excuse it before the exam. A doctor’s note or equivalent notification will be required. If you miss an exam without getting acknowledgement from me first, you may not make up the exam, except in emergency circumstances and with ample evidence of the reason for your absence.
Course Requirements:
In-Class Participation (15%)
What makes a women’s studies class truly dynamic is the quality of its discussions. Though there will be some short lectures during the quarter, most classes will be discussion based, with an emphasis on dialogue and sharing of perspectives, ideas, and interpretations. It is expected that you will be an active and informed participant in all class discussions and that you will have read assigned texts by the dates indicated on the syllabus and brought them with you to class. Students are expected to engage in respectful intellectual dialogue in the classroom. Tardiness, disruptiveness, or the use of cell phones or other distracting items during class will result in lower participation grades.
Response Papers (15%)
You will write five 1-page (single or doubled spaced) response papers during the quarter, one for every week of the semester, except for the first week and the final week. You will read one of these response papers out loud to the class, and this will help ground the discussion for the day. Each student has been assigned to a response group (A-F), which has been assigned one day to read aloud. Other than the week you have been chosen to read your paper, you may choose whether to write for Tuesday or Thursday's class. Response Papers must be written in advance of our class discussion of a reading and will be turned in at the end of class. You must be present in class to turn in a response paper. Though you are only required to read one response paper to the class, the assignment is designed to stimulate class discussion. It is expected that you will refer to your response papers throughout the course.
What is a Response Paper? A Response Paper is simply a one-page reflection on an issue, question, or concept that interested you from one of the readings for the day. This means, you must cite the article, include page numbers, and demonstrate an understanding of that article. A good way to think about response papers is that about half of it should summarize the article's main idea, and then half of it should include your thoughts in response, whether agreement, disagreement, something that confused you, or something you'd simply like for us to talk about more. Response papers will be grade on a scale of 0-3 points. A score of 3 is reserved for those papers that meet all expectations of a response paper and demonstrate creative, critical thought about the article. Response papers that do not meet the basic expectations listed here may receive a score of 0 or 1.
Formal Paper Assignments (35%):
Paper # 1: Methods (15%) 2-3 pages: A prompt will be given for this paper approximately two weeks before the due date.
Paper # 2: Ad Analysis (20%): A prompt will be given for this paper approximately two weeks before the due date.
All papers are expected to be typed, double-spaced, with 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins. All papers must adhere to the standard MLA research paper format and should include in-text citations as well as a Works Cited page. Your thesis statement must be underlined. Your papers should not merely repeat class discussion or consist of plot summaries or descriptions; your papers should argue a thesis from a definite position about a pop cultural text. Papers are to be submitted in class.
Please note that assignments are due on the dates designated in the syllabus. If an emergency arises and you make arrangements with me ahead of time, I may agree to accept a late assignment. If I do not agree or if prior arrangements have not been made, you will receive a lowered grade for that assignment. Paper grades will be dropped by a point (i.e. 20 to 19) for each day that they are late. A computer malfunction is not an acceptable excuse for not turning a paper in on time.
Exams (35%):
The class will involve a mid-term (15%) and a final exam (20%). The final exam will be a comprehensive exam. Exams will include multiple-choice, short answer, and short essay questions about the course readings and classroom discussions. To prepare for these exams, take abundant and detailed notes during course discussions and screenings, review lecture notes and PowerPoints, and stay current with course readings.
Academic Misconduct:
All students are responsible for doing their own work and plagiarism will NOT be tolerated. As defined by University Rule 3335-31-02, plagiarism is “the representation of another’s works or ideas as one’s own; it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person’s work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person’s ideas.” Plagiarism is one of the most serious offenses that can be committed in an academic community; as such, it is the obligation of this department and its instructors to report all cases of suspected plagiarism to the Committee on Academic Misconduct. After the report is filed, a hearing takes place and if the student is found guilty, the possible punishment ranges from failing the class to suspension or expulsion from the university. Although the existence of the Internet makes it relatively easy to plagiarize, it also makes it even easier for instructors to find evidence of plagiarism. It is obvious to most teachers when a student turns in work that is not his or her own and plagiarism search engines make documenting the offense very simple.
To preserve the integrity of OSU as an institution of higher learning, to maintain your own integrity, and to avoid jeopardizing your future, do not plagiarize!
Resources
Yourinstructor: Please feel free to contact me at any time over the course of the quarter if you are struggling with papers, course work, etc. I am willing to work with you. Email is the best way to contact me. Also, I encourage you to use my office hours or set up additional appointments. If you have concerns about the course or find yourself struggling with content or assignments, it is your responsibility to seek help from me as early in the quarter as possible.
The OSU Writing Center: OSU Writing Center consultants are an excellent resource for writers at any level or stage in the writing process. Take advantage of the free individual tutoring that you can receive there. The Writing Center is located in 485 Mendenhall Laboratory, on the south side of the oval. Phone: 614.688.4291 Website:
Note: The instructor reserves the right to make changes to this syllabus at any time.
6/19Introduction and Welcome to WGSS 230
Douglas Kellner, “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture”
Jhally, “Image-Based Culture”
Unit I: Introduction to Pop Cultural Studies and Feminist Theory
6/21Why Study Pop Culture?
Winseck, "The State of Media Ownership and Media Markets"
James Lull, “Hegemony”
Hall, “The Whites of their Eyes”
6/26 Consuming Pop Culture:
Berger, “Ways of Seeing”
Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze”
Screening, “This Film is Not Yet Rated”
6/28 Masculinities and Femininities:
Bordo, “Never Just Pictures”
Bordo, “Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body”
Barr, “And I Should Know”
Response Group A presentations
Unit II: Pop Culture and Identity Formation
7/3 Work, Life, and Modernity
Acker, “Inequality Regimes”
Screening, “Mad Men,” “The Office”
Response Group B presentations
7/5 American Families
Screening, “Modern Family,” “Roseanne,” “The Cosby Show”
Stacey, “The Making and Unmaking of the Modern Family”
Methods Paper Due in Class
7/10 Adolescence and the Straight Individual
Screening: “Super Bad”
Speed, “Loose Cannons”
Response Group C presentations
7/12 Is Gay Mainstream?
White, “Good Old Days”
Jenkins, “Potential Lesbians at Two O’Clock”
Jenkins, “Fan Fiction”
Fan fic for Glee
Screening, “Glee”
7/17 Encountering Difference: The Self Meets the Social
Screening, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Wright, “Why Would You Do That Larry?” Pp. 660-669
Haller and Ralph, "Current Perspectives on Advertising Images of Disability"
Mid-Term Exam in class
7/19The Politics of Play
Screening, “Not Just a Game”
Zirin, “The NBA and the Two Souls of Hip Hop”
Messner, Dunbar, Hunt, “The Televised Sports Manhood Formula”
Response Group D presentations
7/24 Post-Feminism
Screening, “Sex and the City”; “Girls”
McRobbie, "Postfeminism and Popular Culture"
Gerhard, "Sex and the City"
Response Group E presentations
7/26 Class and the Facts and Fictions of American Inequality:
Screening, “The Wire”, “King of Queens”
Butsch, "Ralph, Fred, Archie, Homer, and the King of Queens"
Dreier, Atlas “The Wire: Bush Era Fable about America’s Urban Poor?”
Response Group F presentations
7/31 Nationalism and Race in Post-9/11 America
Screening, “Reel Bad Arabs”
Spigel, “Entertainment Wars: Television Culture after 9/11”
Scrapbook Presentations
8/2 Scrapbook Presentations
Ad Scrapbooks due in class
8/7-- 8 a.m. Final Exam