Class structure

This course is constructed as a combination of classroom discussion and online reflection on the materials. This format provides you with a flexible structure for meeting class requirements and provides me with a greater opportunity to interact with you on an individual basis. We will meet in the classroom on Tuesdays to expand on the WebCT6 component of the course and to address other class requirements.  Tuesday sessions are conducted as a facilitated discussion of the topics covered that week, thus there are no 'class notes' available regarding the Tuesday sessions. 

You will need to access WebCT6 twice during the week, and should access it a third time.  Here’s how the WebCT6 segment works:

WebCT6 group: You are assigned to one of five groups in WebCT6.

WebCT6 topics: Topics for reflection are posted on the web page under ‘Weekly Schedule’ and are accessed by clicking on 'Weekly Schedule'. 

WebCT6 schedule:

After	but Before	Do	Where
Tuesday  5PM		Access questions	Weekly Schedule
Tuesday1 midnight	Friday midnight	Enter response	Discussion Group
Sunday midnight	Tuesday class	Access follow-up comments to prepare for class	Weekly Schedule

¹ So that I can manage the website, do not enter responses between class and midnight on Tuesday

Archive: Responses from previous weeks are maintained in an archive. These archived responses are valuable for studying for tests and for understanding what is considered to be a good answer.

Requirements/grading

An undergraduate course of this type typically requires between 2 and 4 hours for each hour of class credit.  Since this is a 3 credit course, this would typically mean spending between 6 and 12 hours per week in the class, on the computer, or studying.

WebCT6 response (35%): The WebCT6 response is central to learning the critical thinking perspective used in the class.  You are graded only on your response, but review of follow-up comments is necessary to prepare for class, papers, and quizzes.  There will be multiple questions posted on WebCT6 every week (see assignment 1 for an example).  The response to each question is graded 1, .5, or 0.  See notes further below on grading discussion. 

Paper and Presentation (35%):  Details on the papers and their presentation are provided in a separate webpage; we will regularly discuss the papers in the Tuesday class. 

Quizzes (30%): There will be three quizzes.  Quizzes pose three to five essay questions based on what we have read so far and the overall perspective of the class, your task will be to provide a detailed analysis.  At least one of the questions will link what we have been studying with something recently in the news.  Quizzes will be one hour in duration.  The final quiz is given during final exam period but is otherwise similar in length and time to the other quizzes. 

Classroom Participation: Classroom attendance is required on all days in which there are paper presentations (by anyone) or quizzes, attendance on other days is optional. However, participation in the classroom segment results in bonus points of up to 5% that can enhance your grade.  Note that simple attendance does not count as participation, you must contribute to the classroom discussion.

Grading: Grading other than the WebCT6 response grade is based on the assumption that average work is equal to a grade of about 80 (B-) on a scale of 0 to 100. Higher grades require evidence of an above average understanding of the material, and an above average application of the materials to social issues. 

All papers and discussion receive numeric or letter grades that are on a scale of 0 to 100. The course grade is the weighted average of all grades. Numeric grades are equivalent to the following letter grades: A=100-95; A-=94-90; B+= 89-87;B= 86-84; B-=83-80; C+=79-77; C=76-74; C-=73-70;D+= 69-67;D=66-64; D-=63-60;F= 59-0. Letter grades are equivalent to the higher number in each range (except F's, which are 0).

Posting of grades:  Due to the complexity of grading for this class, I do not use the standard WebCT6 gradebook.  Grades are posted on WebCT6 in a table and you are assigned a grade code to use for checking your grades.

Writing conventions

All written materials (papers, tests, WebCT6 discussion responses) must be grammatically correct, spell-checked, clearly written, and structurally sound; materials not meeting these requirements will receive a lower grade.  Posted on the class webpage is a list of common writing problems, the list will be updated regularly.  Checking the list will help eliminate problems that reduce grades. 

All material is checked for plagiarism.  So that I can check for plagiarism, the two papers and the draft must be submitted as email attachments through the class website.  Papers submitted over email must be Word or WordPerfect formats; if using MS Works, save the document as a Word document or as an RTF document. 

When submitting a paper over email, the file name (not the subject line) for the file containing the paper must be of this format:  S307 name desc.doc where name is your last name and desc is either 'paper1' or 'paper2'.   E.g., the second paper by Joe Smith would have the file name S307_smith_paper2.doc  Paper grades are reduced for failure to name the file correctly.

Email protocol

Due to the size of the classes and the volume of email that I receive, all email concerning the class must be through WebCT6.  Email concerning the class that is not sent through WebCT6 will be ignored. 

Grading of WebCT6 discussions.

As noted, the grade on the WebCT6 discussion is simply a 1/.5/0 grade.  Each weekly assignment contains multiple questions and each is graded separately.  A 1 is given if the answer to the question reflects: a) having read the assigned materials; b) critical thinking; c) is understandable; and d) is consistent with the perspective being taught in the class.  A grade of .5 is given for answers that are close to meeting these requirements but are not complete; a 0 is given when there is no answer or answers are unrelated to the assignment.  Despite how this sounds, the answers do not have to be long. 

Your final grade for the WebCT6 portion of the class is based on the sum of the scores for all of the questions divided by the number of questions.  An ongoing grade for the WebCT6 portion of the class is posted on webpage as 'webgrd'; this grade ranges from 0 to 100 and is indicative of the grade you will receive for the WebCT6 portion of the class.  This grade is curved to allow for assignments that were particularly problematic for the class.

Considerations/ethics

Though classroom attendance is not required, classroom discussion is an important component of learning to use a critical perspective.  To facilitate classroom discussion, we follow some basic rules: 1) honor the viewpoints of others even if you disagree with them, 2) give everyone an equal opportunity to participate, 3) don't interrupt, and 4) pay attention to what others are saying.  Unfortunately this last is increasing difficult to handle in the classroom due to the proliferation of electronic devices which distract from classroom participation.  Thus the use of any electronic devices (cell phones, laptops, etc.) is prohibited during class and can result in a request to leave the classroom. 

In order to be able to critically write about issues, it is essential that all writing be your own.  For me to know that the writing is clearly your own, it should include very little direct quoting from texts and no paraphrasing.   When a response contains long quotes from the readings, I do not read the long quotes -- which results in a lower grade. Paraphrasing is a form of plagiarism and is strictly prohibited.  For guidelines on quoting and paraphrasing, look at the section in the university catalog and at my description of plagiarism (click here).  Papers and responses are submitted to Turnitin if there is reason to believe the writing is not one's own; other sources are also checked in such situations.  Presenting material that is not your own as your own is considered plagiarism, is graded 0, and cannot be redone.  Any act of plagiarism can result in failure of the course, and can result in suspension from the university.

Note that the class addresses sensitive topics that frequently stir strong emotions in responses.  If you are uncomfortable discussing sexuality in open discussions, then the course may not be appropriate for you.  Note that you will have to give a presentation on one of the two papers, which will require talking about sexuality.  Needless use of sexual slang and needless use of graphically sexual language is prohibited. 

Other considerations:  Regular and on-time participation is essential to making this work.  WebCT6 discussion responses, papers, and tests must be entered or handed in on time. Late assignments will not be accepted and tests must be taken on the day given.  

Papers and tests that have not been picked up will be disposed of at the end of the Fall 08 semester.

 

Presentation:

Note that you have to write both papers and they are due on the dates listed in the schedule.  You have to present to the class one of the papers.  Which paper is presented was determined by a randomization process.  You can ask to be changed (email me), but changes are only possible when there are others who want to change.

Student

presentation

 

S307, Internet discussion 1

The purpose of the discussion questions is to stimulate learning of critical thinking skills.  As is true in all of my courses, I treat the books as a jumping off point for a spirited discussion of sexuality in American (and global) society. It is important to understand what is in the readings, but it is also important to be able to look at a set of readings and see how the findings in the reading are a reflection of broader American phenomenon.

This approach to using class readings may be new to some of you, thus answering the discussion questions can be frustrating and can take a little time to master. What I typically ask you to do is to use the readings as a springboard (a diving board is a type of springboard) for thinking about sexuality in society in general. I use the springboard metaphor here intentionally. A springboard has no spring if there is no solid base. Thus your answers to weekly assignments need to reflect both an understanding of the readings (the base), and a reflection (springing out) on how the issues addressed in the readings fit within society as a whole.

Doing the weekly online assignment is essential to the course, so it helps if you spend some time during the week reflecting on the questions for that week.  Remember, however, that these are not term papers – your complete answer should be only 1-2 pages.  In the classroom following the online discussion, we will go over problems in the assignment and will expand upon the readings.   

Lancaster chapters 1, 2, 34

The first set of readings uses a relatively historical perspective and illustrates how thinking about sexuality has been shaped by larger social forces. Chapter 1 focuses on how the economic needs of colonialism shaped thinking about inter-racial sexual behavior in the colonies. Chapter 2 notes that the process of culture's thinking about sexuality as falling into types (homosexual, heterosexual) begins at the same time as do efforts to ‘scientifically’ define races as biologically different based on supposed differences in sexual organs. What’s important about this chapter is that this is a time (turn of the century) when there were increased fears of mixing between immigrant groups and thus efforts to legitimate miscegenation laws, and that the distinction between homosexual and heterosexual grew out of this. Chapter 34 focuses on how western images of sexuality were initially used to discredit Aboriginal claims to territory during the founding of Australia, and are continuing to be used to hamper efforts to resolve long-standing land claims of Aborigines.

The important theme here is that cultures manipulate images of sexuality within social groups so as to convey images about the moral quality of those groups, and that cultures use those manipulated images to positively or negatively influence interaction between social groups. Key to all of this is the conveyance of images that some social groups are more able to control their sexual behavior than are other groups.  This thus legitimates the power of the elite in society (i.e., creates hegemony).

Writing assignment:

1a) The first thing to do is to write 2-3 paragraphs (total) showing how the readings convey this theme of using the manipulation of sexual images as a way to control social groups.

1b) Then, write 1-2 more paragraphs showing how this theme is still used in contemporary culture. Be creative on this last part – think about how popularly conveyed images of minorities and child birth, drugs and sexual behavior, sex workers (prostitutes, etc.), sexual criminals, or other popular issues perpetuate this theme.

Remember: Answers should reflect knowledge of the readings, but should not contain quotes or paraphrases from the readings.

S307, Internet discussion 2

Lancaster and di Leonardo chapters 10 - 13, 25

In the last assignment, we saw how economic, political, and social policies legitimize the regulation of sexual behavior and reproduction.  Even though we know that social and economic policies result in a culture that regulates sexual behavior, we don't know how this culture gets translated into a system for regulating individual behavior --these readings move us towards looking at the process of social change.

Chapter 10 attempts to draw a line from the individual to the nation showing how the regulation of sexuality starts at the fairly low level of 'labeling' the appropriateness of relationships with others in one's social network; moves to a mid-level of communities organizing the sexual options of individuals and social groups (social classes) through the conveyance of norms about schooling, dating, age of marriage, etc.; and how all of this is connected to economic and power relations between nations. D'Emilio (chapter 11) and Greenberg (chapter 12) then use models of historic progression to examine the development of social notions of gay or lesbian identity across the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Similarly, Gutmann (chapter 13), examines how changes in the social meaning of sexual 'machismo' in Mexican culture have changed with changing notions of the virility of the Mexican nation. Note that both Guttuman and D'Emilio both show that changes in sexual behavior vary across social classes.  Chapter 25 (Stein) then moves us very much ahead into contemporary culture and contemporary impacts of structural change on sexual identity.

One thing to look for in common across these is the part that the labeling of types of relationships has played in regulating sexual behavior: 1) that labels (e.g., sister, cousin) are integral to defining appropriate versus inappropriate sexual relations, 2) that labels are integral to providing a social organization of sexuality, e.g., homosexual behavior versus being gay, 3) that the meaning of labels changes with time (e.g., 'la casa chica'), and 4) that changes in labels are closely connected to changes in the larger social and economic structure.

Writing assignment: Write 1-2 paragraphs on each of the following, be sure to reference the readings in your answers:

2a) How have historic changes in the labels associated with homosexual behavior helped change the organization of homosexual behavior in the 20^th century?

2b) How has the social labeling of sexual relations outside of marriage changed, and how are these changes connected to social class? 

Remember: Answers should reflect knowledge of the readings, but should not contain quotes or paraphrases from the readings.

 

 

S307, Internet discussion 8

Steele: Introduction to Part 2; Chapters 6 and 9

Back in our very first WebCT assignment we focused fairly broadly on how the state (meaning government in general, not the state of California) manipulates images of sexuality for its own purposes.  The readings for this week are a variation on that discussion that we had in the first assignment, focusing on how the wishes of the state and religion (which frequently acts as an agent for the state) get either translated into actual practice, or internalized as norms that serve to control us. 

8a) Write 2-3 paragraphs (total) illustrating how the state and religion manipulate the definitions (the social constructions) of sexuality to control social groups.  Be sure to use examples from this week's readings.

8b) Attached is an opinion column from Sunday's (3/11) LA Times.  The column is about how we treat men who have been found guilty of a sex offense, but if you 'pull back' and look at the column from a more distant perspective, you can see that such articles are also part of how we (the culture): 1) create moral panics about sexuality in general, and 2) create moral panics about children and vulnerability.  How does this column create these two types of moral panic about sexuality?

8c) More importantly for this weeks assignment, the column addressed in 8b also illustrates how the state (prison, police), plays a role in generating such moral panics.  With regard this column, what is the role of the state in generating a moral panic?

8d) Look back at what we discussed in the first week of class.  How do the materials from this week illustrate what we wrote about in that first assignment?

 

S307, Internet discussion 9

Steele: Chapters 2 and 4  and

Wardlow, Holly.  Anger, Economy, and Female Agency: Problematizing “Prostitution” and “Sex Work” among the Huli of Papua New Guinea.  Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2004, vol. 29, no. 4, pp 1017-1040

In the second assignment for the class (see assignment 2) we focused on the creation of categories (labels and 'identities') as means of controlling and regulating sexuality, and that the social meanings associated with those categories were closely related to more global changes in economics and culture.  The Steele readings for this week go into much more detail about how the categories developed over time (chapter 2), with an interesting close examination in chapter 4 on how the meaning of "love" is intertwined with gender, power, economics, and culture.  The Wardlow reading then provides an interesting example of how negative labels are sometimes appropriated by stigmatized groups so as to give them power.

9a&b) Write 2-3 paragraphs (total) summarizing: 9a) the book's discussion of the creation of categories of sexual behavior (e.g., hetero, homo, bi, queer), and 9b) summarizing how definitions of 'love' reflect gender, economic, and power (political) relations.

9c) I stated that the Wardlow article can be interpreted as being about the appropriation of negative labels by stigmatized groups to their benefit.  Briefly summarize the Wardlow reading and how this is an example of power through appropriation.

As always, answers should reflect knowledge of the readings, but should be in your own words.

 

S307, Internet discussion 10

Steele:  Chapter 10 & 11, the article in Steele starting on p. 225, and:

Forbes, Joan S.  Disciplining women in contemporary discourses of sexuality. Journal of Gender Studies; Jul96, Vol. 5 Issue 2, p177, 13p

As in the past couple of weeks, we're continuing our process of using the Steele reading to illustrate the actual process that results in the broader social forces that we examined earlier in the semester.  This week we're drawing a parallel between Steele and assignment 3.  In that assignment we focused on how definitions of family change with changes in economic forces and how those changes in the definition of family affect access to sexuality and reproduction.  The readings in Steele and the Forbes article don't map strictly back to assignment 3, but they do illustrate again how our interactions with broad cultural institutions shape our sexuality. 

10a) Using Chapter 10 and the p.225 article, describe how teenage pregnancy, lesbian motherhood, and a hyper-sexualized masculinity are either seen as threats by society to common norms about family and sexuality, or challenge those norms.  In this answer, also describe the counterbalancing effect of the workplace in reinforcing 'family'.

10b) Chapter 11 doesn't initially appear to fit in with the topic of family and how the social structure organizes sexual behavior for reproduction, but if you read these chapters with an eye towards what they might tell you about family and the organization of sexuality for reproduction, you'll get some new insight into how standards of beauty and virility are related to family and reproduction.  So, using this chapter, try to draw the link between standards of beauty and virility, and the more 'homey' norms of family and reproduction.

10c) My assessment of the Forbes article is that it illustrates that economic forces have changed women's sexuality, but that the final outcome is that women's sexuality is still dictated by men's sexuality.  How does the article illustrate this, and do you agree with this  assessment?

As always, answers should reflect knowledge of the readings, but should be in your own words.

 

S307, Internet discussion 11

Steele:  Chapter 14, 15

The readings for this week are particularly good (and short), so I want you to pay particular attention to the chapters.  If you recall from some time earlier in the semester, we talked about direct and indirect effects of society on sexual behavior.  Direct effects are those effects where society specifically controls sexual behavior either in some very tangible way (e.g., legally marriage is the only recognized form of sexual interaction) or through less tangible ways (e.g., social pressures by friends and family to get married.)  Indirect effects are those effects from our having internalized all of these direct effects into being sort of a emotional and mental 'road map' of how to behave (e.g., we don't want to be outcast by society and family, so we either wait till marriage for sex, or we're discrete about it).

11a) The articles in chapter 14 provide very good examples of how public attitudes about sexually transmitted infections (STI's, including AIDS) work as both direct and indirect ways of controlling behavior that could transmit disease.  Describe how these articles illustrate both the direct and indirect methods of controlling sexual behavior, being sure to mention how these articles also illustrate that societal standards of behavior are not equally transmitted across class, race, and gender lines.  Also make sure your answer indicates how societal messages about STI's are messages about sexual behavior in general.

11b) I found all 3 of the articles in chapter 15 to be excellent readings on things we seldom talk about, though each is a little more problematic in terms of breaking into direct and indirect effects.  The first article illustrates how text books (a direct effect) reinforce male versus female roles in procreation which we internalize (thus becoming an indirect effect) when we learn from those textbooks.  The second article is actually doing the reverse, primarily talking about how expressions of individual feelings (indirect effects) get translated into social movements (a direct effect) around abortion.   The third article, like the first, mainly describes how structural factors (direct effects) limit feelings of being able to make a choice regarding conception.   So, illustrate these direct and indirect effects using examples from all 3 of these articles and explaining how they are direct or indirect effects.

As always, answers should reflect knowledge of the readings, but should be in your own words.

 

S307, Internet discussion 12

Steele:  Chapters 12,13, 7 (skip first article), & article beginning at p. 230

Back in assignment five we looked at some of the same or similar phenomena (pornography, sexual violence) that we're looking at in this week's readings.  As I've noted before, the difference between the perspective when we were reading the Lancaster book versus this book is primarily the difference between taking a macro look (the Lancaster readings) at how phenomena such as pornography serve the culture, and taking a much more micro look (the Steele readings) at the relations between individual actors and these same phenomena.   Back in assignment five I asked you to examine how defining these phenomena as social problems served the culture, in this assignment I'm moving the focus down (towards micro) quite a bit and asking how does the fact that these phenomena are defined as social problems harm individuals.

Just as in that earlier assignment, the articles suggest 3 questions: 1) how does the phenomena (e.g., pornography) create problems for individual members of social groups (e.g., women or men), 2) are these problems really problems (e.g., is there any physical or emotional harm, do they result in harm to others?), and 3) what are the intended and unintended consequences for the individuals in these social groups of defining these phenomena as harmful? 

More than in the earlier assignment, you're going to have to make some guesses beyond the readings regarding some the questions above, though your answers should reflect knowledge of the readings.  In the following I refer to four types of phenomena -- here's the map to those phenomena (the page numbers are the starting page of the article):

• Sex work (p. 230, p. 352)
• Pornography (p. 333, p.341)
• Sexual Violence (all of chapter 13)
• Sexualized Media & Entertainment (p. 192, p. 204)

12a, b, c, & d) Your assignment is to read all of the readings keeping in mind the 3 points described above. Then, for each of the four phenomena, write 1-2 short paragraphs addressing the three points above. Here's an example of how to do this, using male homosexuality (not in this week's readings) as an example:

The readings suggest that the stigma associated with homosexuality creates problems for men who were homosexually-active, and had unintended consequences those who were not.  For men who were homosexually-active, it made them feel that there was something wrong with their behavior which made it difficult for them to fulfill their sexual needs,  and it also created discriminatory problems when other men suspected them of homosexuality (point 1).  The effects of stigma on homosexually-active men were somewhat real, with some men having emotional or health problems (e.g., heavy alcohol use), but there were others who seemed to be perfectly happy and psychologically 'normal' despite the stigma (point 2). The stigma associated with homosexuality served its intended social purpose for many men who were homosexually-active, but may have had unintended consequences for men who are not homosexually active.  For men who were not homosexually-active, the focus on condemning homosexuals may have reduced the opportunity for men in general to be physically close or intimate for fear of seeming sexually approachable, though this generalization of the fear of homosexuals is unfounded, since there was no evidence that homosexuals somehow 'convert' men who were not interested in sexuality with other men.

 

S307, Internet discussion 13

Steele:  Chapter 5

This chapter is a short amount of reading, but sums up fairly well many of the issues that are key to this class.  There's one point about the articles that needs to be added, which is when reading the Humphries article it is important to note that it was written in the late 1960's and thus much of the language in it is different from what we use now. 

Each response to the questions below should be 1-2 paragraphs.  Each response should also integrate material from multiple of the articles in the chapter. 

13a) Summarize what the articles (be sure to include the Humphries's article) tell us about how society, and individuals in society, 'construct' heterosexuality.

13b) Many of us argue that being gay is 'white' -- how do the articles support this assertion.

13c) The article on transsexuals helps to illustrate how the assumption that thinking of sexuality as dichotomous, as being only two choices (gay/straight), is problematic.  But, the article also illustrates how many transsexual relations end up actually reinforcing the assumption that sexuality is dichotomous. Explain how the challenge to dichotomization can actually end up reinforcing dichotomization, using points from multiple chapters.