Men in Women's Studies Classes III

PAGE 2 OF 2
==========================================================================

i've been very grateful for the discussion (again, i know) of Men in
Women's Studies, not least because it has helped me think about *another*
problem i'm having, which is that of WOMEN in Women Studies.

have we talked about this lately?  if so, ignore me.

i suspect that the "problem" of Men in Women's Studies is *also* an issue
of "complicity," in that the men who are "the problem" are also the ones
who are content with being complicit in the oppression of women (and,
usually, others).  which is to say, they don't want their views regarding
sexism to be challenged.

but i also have this same problem with *some*, not all, of my *women*
students in my introduction to women's literature class.  you've all heard
it, i know.  "i'm not oppressed!"  "we're not going to just bash men, are
we?"  "this won't be a class about *feminism*, will it?"  (no one in my
introduction to american ethnic literature class asked, "this won't be a
class about *racism*, will it?")

ok, so this is old stuff, but i'm experiencing an odd class-specific twist
here in my new institution.  i have several terrific, engaged and engaging
women students (and several equally terrific male students -- as well as,
natch, two completely resistant male students); but i also have a coterie
of *upper-class* white women students who are utterly resisant not just to
content (mina loy's "feminist manifesto" utterly freaked them out, if
you're looking for something wildly fun -- and short -- to stir the room
with) but also to the structure of a feminist classroom.  they've really
become quite disruptive, while most of the men are supportive, and the two
resistant men never speak!  i've never heard their voices!  oy.  sometimes
i wish i were hearing fewer of these upper-class female voices!  :>

teaching at a new institution is always A Wrench (as loy would say) and i
am considering razing my course and rebuilding with the notion of
complicity at the core.  can anyone suggest readings for me that are
reasonably brief and digestible by first-year students?  i'm taking a hint
from gloria steinem and speculating that in some ways, these upper class
women have "more" (in strict terms of valuation) to lose *personally* were
they to critique their notions of gender and hierarchy.  what can i do for
them?

thanks in advance for the counsel,

kass fleisher

~~~~~~~~~
kass.fleisher  @  colorado.edu
http://spot.colorado.edu/~fleisher
(site under construction)
==========================================================================

I believe the problem of the male social status -- as leaders of Nazism,
communism, etc. -- needs to be discussed as a central feminist issue.
German feminists have tried unsuccessfully to make this a central issue.
Ruby Rohrlich
rohrlich  @  gwu.edu
==========================================================================

>From Gill Wright Miller
>>Let me encourage us not to think we can "force the horse to drink."
Setting a stage where the horse is very thirsty, showing the horse
water, running our fingers through it, none of these things guarantee
that the horse will drink.  Maybe, maybe not.<<

In reading the recent discussions, this was my first thought, too. I teach
a course in media and gender. From the beginning of the semester, I am very
up front about the course's and the department's ideology.

But I also tell the students that they have the right to pick and choose
what they want to accept about this ideology and what they do not. I don't
think it's my job as a wms to brainwash students to think as I do about
everything, to swallow a certain brand name feminism hook, line, and
sinker.
I think education is about free will and choices. If a student expresses a
horribly sexist, racist, heterosexist, ageist etc. opinion, I will fight
it, challenge it, struggle against it.
But the student has the right to that opinion even if I disagree with it.

My ultimate goal is push them into that zone of discomfort that everyone's
been discussing and encourage them to reconsider their worldview. Most of
my students oversimplify everything into polarisms. I advocate my main
credo: "EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY."

There's much about which I am uncertain. The world is complex. There are
too many shades of grey. And so I advocate uncertainty.
I feel I have been successful if I chip away, even just a little, at the
walls they have built to protect themselves against complexity, a fortress
that they have built to kepe the world simple and ordered into "right" and
"wrong."

>>In teaching, you're somewhat legitimized by an institution, so you have
the
authority to give a bad grade to someone who starts from a bad place and
doesn't go very far. But I think it's hard to establish standards for WS
classes when students start from such different places and progress in such
unique directions and at such different rates. Maybe this student you
talked
to is still processing what was said in her WS classes.<<

Here's what I struggle with all the time.
I tell my students that I respect their own ideas and believe that they
have the right to feel anyway that they wish to feel, believe what they
wish to believe.
BUT I would have a hard time giving a paper professing blatant racism or
sexism a good grade.
I ask that they write from the ideology even though they may not agree with
the ideology.
But then I also say that they should go as far with the ideology as they
wish to go. Like many of my students, almost every man, reject ideas of
castration anxiety that fuel media, especially horror films.
I do a lot with Barbara Creed's _Monstrous Feminine_ and the students have
a very hard time with castration anxiety and the vagina dentata as
motivations for imagery and story in horror film. Not a huge fan of Freud
myself, I must admit that I struggle with some Freudian-based analysis, and
I admit that to them, but Creed's work is well researched and sound and not
easily dismissed.

My dilemma is that I don't think my job is to grade my students on how far
they have come in the process of individuation, how far they have opened
their minds, but rather how well they perform in the course doing
assignments and taking quizzes and such. Now implicit in that is the fact
that in my mind a good paper for the course is one that fully embraces the
ideology. And yet I don't think fully embracing the ideology should be a
requirement for an A. I can't seem to get my head around grading them for
"how" or "what" they think even though I want to inspire them to embrace
the ideology and to fight for social justice.

>From Sharon Jacobson, Ed. D.
>>their psychology professors who in lecturing about gender, talkled about
how
women were to blame for the problems that men were having in the world
today
and that men needed to reclaim their masculinity. ......They were so proud
of these two men for "breaking rank" as they put it.  These two men talked
about how uncomfortable it was to do that, but
how uncomfortable it also was to listen to something that they knew was
wrong
and not say something.  What we teach should not be comfortable, nor should
it
be easy, however, in creating this environment for growth we should also
strive to make people feel supported during their discomfort.<<

I would be so proud of these students if they were mine...... ;-)
I face this reactionary stuff about the "men's movement" all the time
almost exclusively from the male students.

peace
cbt

Chris Tower
Western Michigan University
Women's Studies/English
==========================================================================

>From Chris Tower:
<< My dilemma is that I don't think my job is to grade my students on how far
 they have come in the process of individuation, how far they have opened
 their minds, but rather how well they perform in the course doing
 assignments and taking quizzes and such. Now implicit in that is the fact
 that in my mind a good paper for the course is one that fully embraces the
 ideology. And yet I don't think fully embracing the ideology should be a
 requirement for an A. I can't seem to get my head around grading them for
 "how" or "what" they think even though I want to inspire them to embrace
 the ideology and to fight for social justice. >>

I don't like this idea that our students have to agree with us in order to
get good grades -- that reduces grading to the subjectiveness of which many
students accuse professors.  What I tell students is that questioning is the
key -- if I can get them to just ask "why?" -- even if it is of me -- I am
somewhat happy.  Complacency -- whether feminist or sexist -- can be a
problem.

I do have difficulty grading papers that are blatantly racist, sexist, or
homophobic -- the ideas are so ugly, I think it's hard not to recoil.  What I
consciously do in those cases, however, is ask myself: did they support their
argument well?  do they fall prey to logical fallacies?  do they use reasoned
evidence?  how good is the writing?  I ask these questions of all papers and
try to get rid of the subjective quotient.  This is true for papers that just
make me jump up and down and say, "YES! They got it!" as well.  We have to
have better criteria than "did they agree with me?"

My two cents.
Alyson Buckman
cataria2  @  aol.com
Visiting Assistant Professor of English
Illinois College
==========================================================================

Kass writes:

> but i also have this same problem with *some*, not all, of my *women*
> students in my introduction to women's literature class.  you've all heard
> it, i know.  "i'm not oppressed!"  "we're not going to just bash men, are
> we?"  "this won't be a class about *feminism*, will it?"

Kass, the great majority of resistance I get is from women (who are
ideologically and theologically conservative.  I am in the Bible Belt.)
Three things have helped greatly:  One, on the first day I make very very
clear that "this class is taught from the feminist perspective."  I also
point out that other classes also have a perspective but don't generally
acknowledge it the first day.  I tell them my expertise is feminist
theory, that I was hired by the institution to teach it, and that they do
not know what feminism is because they have learned of it through a mass
culture that is interested in defeating it.  So I repeat, in the
beginning, in a number of ways, that this class will make them
uncomfortable.  This way they can drop.  Otherwise, as I had to do the
other day, I remind them "I _told_ you that we would read things that
would challenge all of your core beliefs_."  They had to squirm in
acknowledgment and that stemmed the outrage (for the moment!)

Second, keep a sense of humor.  Don't treat each of their complaints as
legitimate.  They aren't.  One guy said "This class is about how all men
are pigs!"  I smiled and said "that's right, and it's going to be on the
final."  Why justify his defensive jibberish?  We are engaged in
intellectually legimimate discourse and don't need to be defensive about
it.

Finally, I find the way to women's hearts is often through anecdotal
mention of the myriad ways their day-to-day existence is compromised by
sexism as much as through reading ideological tracts.  My field is
literature, so along with wonderful readings by Tillie Olsen, Adrienne
Rich, Sandra Cisneros, Julia Foote, Marge Piercy,etc etc etc, I point out
ways in which women have been treated --often using stories I have heard
from female students themselves.  For example, a woman told me that she
and her friend had been talking in the back seat on a car trip and the
boyfriend had turned around and said "you two sound like hens back there!"
Women will identify with this attack on the integrity of their speech even
though no one will have pointed it out before.  This story goes nicely
with Piercy's "Unlearning Not to Speak" and the notion of silence as
discussed by Olsen and Rich.  Start collecting vivid anecdotes.  Maybe
watch their favorite show for a few weeks. _That_ will provide fodder. My
students are forever saying I've "ruined" things for them, like "Pretty
Woman," Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier.  I always say "GOOD!"  Don't look for
a burning bush.  The effect is cumulative.

Diana York Blaine
dblaine  @  unt.edu
Book Review Editor
Studies in the Novel
University of North Texas
==========================================================================

Regarding grading, and students who don't "agree" with us--

My stragtegy, which I developed over the years, is this:

First, I tell the students at the very beginning that feminisms are
simultaneously theoretical perspectives, positions from which activism
takes place, and visions for the future.  I also tell them that, although I
do not require them to "agree" with feminisms, they do need to understand
what feminist issues are, and how they are argued, in order to disagree
intelligently.

When I create writing assignments, research assignments, and exam questions
(my exams are always all-essay), I make sure to create opportunities for
students to show that they understand the perspectives we have studied
_and_then_ to argue for (not merely share) their own opinions about those
perspectives.

For example, the last paper assignment I graded asked students to work with
the concept of "oppression" as we addressed it in class.  "Oppression," in
all our materials, was based on cultural power.

Throughout the semester, one student has been incredibly resistant to the
ideas in the class. He is, at the same time, really bright and involved
(speaks up in class in substantive ways) and an excellent writer.  Even
when his papers argue against a particular understanding of a concept from
our course, they do so very well.

In this last paper, however, he completely separated the idea of
"oppression" from the idea of "power"--a move not uncommon in students who
feel uncomfortable with the materials I teach, I've found.  His argument
focused on an understanding of oppression as comprised of isolated
incidents perpetrated by a few people.

Although the paper was technically very well-written, it did not earn the
kind of grade he is accustomed to earning, because he did not address
"oppression" as it had been explained in our course materials.

The way the assignment is set up, students should be able to analyze an
event as an example of oppression, as oppression has been defined in class.
Then, the students are invited to argue for their own opinions--would they
call this incident oppression or not, and why?

As I explain to them, if they were taking a class on Marxist theory, they
would not be expected to become Marxists.  They would, however, be expected
to develop the ability to recognize Marxist theoretical concepts and to
apply Marxist analytical tools to cultural examples.  In my class, the same
holds true for feminism, anti-racism, etc.

(Just so you know: although I do not grade them on agreement, I am really
delighted when, in the process of "getting" the theory they also get the
spirit.  In fact, my energy as a teacher is greatly enhanced by this.  I
haven't given up on the spirit; I'm just letting them know that I grade on
the information.)

Jeannie


+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+
The world begins at a kitchen table.  .  .  . / /
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laugh-
ing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
        --Joy Harjo (Muscogee) "Perhaps the World Ends Here"

Jeannie Ludlow                              jludlow  @  bgnet.bgsu.edu
American Culture Studies                             (419)372-0176
Women's Studies
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green OH 43403
==========================================================================

This is in reply to Kass Fleisher's request for some way to address
complicity.  There is a great article in _Signs_ 14(4) pp 833-855, by Aida
Hurtado that has really helped me to understand this "complicity" better.
The article is called "Relating to Privilege: Seduction and Rejection in
the Subordination of White Women and Women of Color."

Briefly, Hurtado's thesis is that patriarchy in the US (that is, _white_
patriarcy) benefits from internalized sexism among white women.  Therefore,
it is in the best interest of patriarchy to "seduce" white women with
privilege, with the promise of power (or at least the promise of proximity
to power) at the same time that patriarchy must "reject" women of color, in
order to maintain its power structures.

I use this argument all the time--it structures my own work--but I've never
actually taught the article in an undergrad course.  I just try to use the
ideas in it with the students.

I would highly recommend it, for your own use.  If you do decide to use it
in class, I'd love to hear how it works out.

In my own undergrad courses, my strategy is to ask the students, at each
turn, "who wins if I think this?"  For instance, when we talk about
discrimination against fat people in class, I ask them "who wins if I am
spending my time and energies and money on feeling bad about and trying to
change my body shape?"  In the end, it is almost always capitalist
patriarchy who "wins"; the lesson is, of course, that complicity is all
about internalized sexism, racism, classism, etc.

Hope this helps!

Best of luck,
Jeannie

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+
The world begins at a kitchen table.  .  .  . / /
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laugh-
ing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
        --Joy Harjo (Muscogee) "Perhaps the World Ends Here"

Jeannie Ludlow                              jludlow  @  bgnet.bgsu.edu
American Culture Studies                             (419)372-0176
Women's Studies
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green OH 43403
==========================================================================

In a message dated 11/21/99 11:10:41 AM Eastern Standard Time,
dblaine  @  UNT.EDU writes:

<< Second, keep a sense of humor.  Don't treat each of their complaints as
 legitimate.  They aren't.  One guy said "This class is about how all men
 are pigs!"  I smiled and said "that's right, and it's going to be on the
 final."  Why justify his defensive jibberish?  We are engaged in
 intellectually legimimate discourse and don't need to be defensive about
 it. >>


I think this is a great approach, but how might more serious complaints be
addressed effectively.  For instance, in a class entitled "Dynamics of Race,
Class and Sex," sections were devoted to discussing race, gender and its
construction (including a separate section on masculinity) and now that we
have begun tackling more current issues, like the rapes in Bosnia, male
students have begun to object.  The other day, one student said that he was
"tired of hearing about all the bad things men do to women" and asked when we
were going to talk about "all the bad things women do."  Certainly we had
devoted time to discussing "male" issues and how masculinity is constructed,
etc., but I wasn't sure how to address his question.  Any suggestions???

Victoria D. Heckler
vdheckler  @  aol.com
==========================================================================

re "all the bad things women do" question:

i tell them that's all their OTHER classes.  very like students in my
ideologies classes asking me if i'm a communist because i spend so much
time on what communism is and how communists view the world and treat it
as a legitimate, empirically-grounded perspective--i explain that i do
that because it's less familiar to them as a consequence of the dominant
ideology in which they've been enculturated, and that "the other
perspective" permeates both their social and academic environments.
(good lead-in to discussions about context and construction).

debbie <louis  @  umbc.edu>
==========================================================================

On Sun, 21 Nov 1999, Victoria D. Heckler wrote:

> students have begun to object.  The other day, one student said that he was
> "tired of hearing about all the bad things men do to women" and asked when we
> were going to talk about "all the bad things women do."  Certainly we had
> devoted time to discussing "male" issues and how masculinity is constructed,
> etc., but I wasn't sure how to address his question.  Any suggestions???

I think what i 'd want to say is something to the effect of "okay, what
are all the bad things women do to men?" I suppose it depends on the class
and it might be strategic to get a sense of what's on the student's mind
outside of class, but I think this might be a great opportunity to
discuss not only the way masculinity is constructed and lived by these
men--but also the differences between structural sex/gender oppression and
individual lived experience, as well as the ways in which such structural
oppression is mediated to individuals and different groups.

Sara Murphy
sem2  @  is4.nyu.edu
==========================================================================

Some comments on dealing with men around feminist theory.

As I was teaching a class on the Internet and Cultural Theory, I had
several readings written by feminists who were critiquing the structure and
practice of many Internet forums and also one that celebrated the potential
of the Internet for women.

I had an equal number of men in the class, so I also led a discussion with
a number of questions (on one day) to let men see that gender roles trap
them too.  It was a little simplistic but these students were sophmores and
seemed to respond well.
(I learned this from my son, a wonderful young man who has struggled with
his sexism.  What has worked for him has been to see how he also is trapped
and limited by the expectations placed upon him in his role as a man, and
how that becomes the platform which makes sexist attitudes seem natural or
necessary. )

So the questions I put forward were:
For example, how old were you when you first realized that because you were
a male, you might have to fight in an army and die?  How old were you when
you learned you had to be tough and not show your feelings? When did you
learn you weren't supposed to touch or physically show non-sexual affection
to other boys and men?  Did you learn that it was up to men to fix things,
make things better, solve problems?  What's it like to be told that you are
better than other humans just because of your gender, your class or your
race?  What are some of the forces or beliefs that operate to install and
perpetuate the placement of men in their narrowly confined roles -- i.e.
the army, sports (emphasizing the competitive), drugs and alcohol
industries (masking pain), overwork, homophobia (no closeness/touching or
you are gay!).

It seems like it's not until men understand what they lose through their
oppression of others i.e. a real connection with other men and with women,
isolation, the perceived feeling of being responsibile to make things work,
numbing themselves through overwork or drugs and alcohol, that they might
give up the "power" or oppression of  others that makes them feel better by
temporarily feeling superior  (and because it's temporary it must continue
to be reinstalled day by day, moment by moment.) I suspect sucessful men
who oppress women and other men must feel isolated and worry that the
tables may turn one day.  And that fear -- -- along with the benefits of
power--helps keep the oppression in place .  Of course, class issues
complicate things since working class men have similar pressures, but the
additional burden of feeling belittled by their fellow males further up the
class ladder.

Obviously, a course in women's studies should not be *required* to spend
time on men's issues.  But it seems that a class devoted to some
recognition of how the system is held in place, often even by well-meaning
men, by men's "oppression" may be helpful and may open a space where men do
not feel that they have to defend themselves (and the system) since they
begin to see that it hurts them too.

L. Clare Bratten
==========================================================================
From kass.fleisher  @  COLORADO.EDU Tue Nov 23 21:17:23 1999

Reply-To: Women's Studies List <WMST-L  @  UMDD.UMD.EDU>
To: WMST-L  @  UMDD.UMD.EDU

sara murphy wrote:

I think what i 'd want to say is something to the effect of "okay, what
are all the bad things women do to men?" I suppose it depends on the class
and it might be strategic to get a sense of what's on the student's mind
outside of class, but I think this might be a great opportunity to
discuss not only the way masculinity is constructed and lived by these
men--but also the differences between structural sex/gender oppression and
individual lived experience, as well as the ways in which such structural
oppression is mediated to individuals and different groups.

and l. clare bratten wrote:

I had an equal number of men in the class, so I also led a discussion with
a number of questions (on one day) to let men see that gender roles trap
them too.  It was a little simplistic but these students were sophmores and
seemed to respond well.
_____

and you know, all of that is okay with me.  what susan faludi is doing
right now is okay with me.  i'm all for feminism and gender studies being a
way to benefit *all* comers.

problem is, and i have to factor the class issues back into this now, these
men-suffer-too discussions are the *only* means i have found to engage *not
men* (who seem already to take this as axiomatic) but my *upper-class
women* students.  at the beginning of the semester they dismissed feminism
and my feminist pedagogical practices altogether; as we near the end of the
semester the *only* time i can get them to consider feminist ideology is
when it applies to men.  which is to say -- and pardon my
lower-middle-class upbringing here -- i sense that they're using my class
as a way to practice what they're going to say about women's issues should
these come up at a dinner party.  i mean, i'm being provocative here and
committing hyperbole and all manner of dreadful devices to spark
discussion, but something *else* has to happen here.  of course feminism is
about men too, but for pity's sake, so many people refuse to let it be
about women!  so isn't men-suffer-too a pleasant, nice, easy way to help
everyone be comfortable, without getting at the really radical questions
that go unaddressed in that conversation?  these men how suffer too -- are
they willing to sacrifice the advantages they *do* enjoy in Being Men?  in
order to end their suffering?  during men-suffer-too conversations (in
class, as well as my professional or personal life), i've never heard a man
say so, and i've rarely heard a woman advance this as the necessary Next
Question.

which is not to say that pleasant, nice and easy can't be a useful
instructional tool on some occasions.  but i feel rather stuck in a rut of
easiness as i try to work with these upper-class students.  at this
juncture in the course, they're trying to "get me" (they are *very*
instructor-centered folks) to "change back" -- make this feminist classroom
a patriarchal one, where the instructor controls all and the comfortable
hierarchies of patriarchy are nicely in place.  which attempts are
profoundly annoying the middle- and working-class students in the community.

i'm thinking to bring foucault in.  how, for oppression (or subordination)
to continue, the oppressed must learn to oppress themselves.  any other
thoughts on how to address complicity?  literary suggestions would be most
useful.  (for those who are waiting, i'm still collecting citations and
will report back soon.)

thanks for the coninuing dialogue,
kass fleisher

~~~~~~~~~

kass.fleisher  @  colorado.edu
http://spot.colorado.edu/~fleisher
(site under construction)
==========================================================================

Kass,
In Rothenberg's _Race,_Class,_and_Gender_in_the_United_States_, there are a
couple of great essays that might help: one is by Jenny Yamato and is
called "Racism: Something About the Subject Makes It Hard to Name."  In it,
Yamato categorizes racist behaviors into 5 types: aware/blatant;
aware/covert; unaware/unintentional; unaware/self-righteous; and
internalized.

My (first- and second-year) students find this categorization very helpful,
and we extend the discussion to various forms of oppression (sexism,
heterosexism, ableism, etc.) too.  The end of the essay, in which she
discusses internalized racism and how it works to further the racist power
structures might be helpful.

The other helpful essay (I think) would be Suzanne Pharr's "Homophobia as a
Weapon of Sexism."  In it, she explains how various homophobic impulses and
stereotypes work to keep us all "in our places" in this sexist culture.  I
have found that students can see the homophobic at work in our culture,
after reading the essay.

Good luck!
Jeannie


+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+
"Context is so little to share, and so vital."
    --Dorothy Allison, "Context"
        in _Skin:_Talking_About_Sex,_Class_&_Literature_

Jeannie Ludlow                     jludlow  @  bgnet.bgsu.edu
American Culture Studies        (419)372-0176
101 East Hall
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green OH 43403
==========================================================================

kass.fleisher  @  COLORADO.EDU writes:

<< i'm thinking to bring foucault in.  how, for oppression (or subordination)
 to continue, the oppressed must learn to oppress themselves.  any other
 thoughts on how to address complicity?  literary suggestions would be most
 useful.  ( >>

Foucault was a child molester, so I don't like to suggest that his work be
read as if it were detached from his life.  No one's work is.  Besides, in
this area, he was not particularly inventive or innovative.  A lovely
substitute would be __THE NATURE OF PREJUDICE-- by Gordon Allport,
Addison-Wesley, 1954, especially the chapter called "Traits Due to
Vicimization" which can lead to fruitful discussions of class and race and
anit-Semitism as well as gender.  And it's really easy reading.  Very
forthright.  The 1988 25th anniversary edition is still available in
paperback.  It was a favorite of Malcolm X and MLK, observable next to them
in pictures of them.  It was one of the textbooks I used when I first began
teaching women's studies in 1966.

Franz Fanon is also an important thinker in this area whose work, which seems
to be out of print and ought not to be, shouldn't be overlooked.

And I'll be thinking about literary examples of what you are thinking of,
too.  Although what comes most immediately to my mind is my own most recent
book, WOMEN IN THE TREES: U.S. WOMEN'S SHORT STORIES ABOUT BATTERING AND
RESISTANCE, 1839-1994 (Beacon Press, 1996).  The whole patriarchal guerilla
warfar phenomenon of wife abuse/battery is a perfect example of the process
of the internatlization and -- more and more frequently on time, i.e., before
death, where there is intervention and activism and support services, the
realization and rejection of the internalization of oppression.

Susan Koppelman <<huddis  @  aol.com>>
==========================================================================

>Foucault was a child molester, so I don't like to suggest that his work be
>read as if it were detached from his life.  No one's work is.

Um, goodness me I seem to have missed some gossip somewhere along the way!
A child molester?   I'm not quite sure how one makes that relevant to his
work (I've always wondered about that w. Althusser although there are some
interesting readings which do) but I'd be interested to know what the deal
is here.  Does it come up in one of the Foucault bios that I haven't read
or what? I'd be interested to know your source. Thanks, Belinda.

Belinda Johnston
b.johnston  @  english.unimelb.edu.au
==========================================================================

I think I had a related problem to Kassie's last year. The students
in question were not resistant but were visibly SCARED by the stuff I
was getting them to read (in a sociology/cultural studies class on
gender). It particularly came to the fore in a workshop on Gender adn
Professional Work where I had them read a piece by Linda McDowell on
merchant banking (brilliant piece by the way, and discusses
masculinities...).

Anyway, one 'nice middle class' woman student came up to me at the
end of the session and asked if it was really like that. It suddenly
occured to me that some of these women are insulated from sexism to
a certain extent but class and race privilege (and hte fact that
feminists have been reasonably successful at changing primary and
secondary education).

I told the student that I really wished it wasn't that bad but that I
suspected it was. I suggested taht she do more research about women
and work for her essay and decide for herself. I said taht I would
love for her to prove me wrong.

In the end she wrote a brilliant essay. I expect she is now better
prepared to go out into the world as well.

The article, for those interested, is

McDowell, Linda & Court, Gill (1994) 'Performing work: bodily
representations in merchant banks' Environment and Planning D: Society
and Space vol. 12: 727-750.

JoVE

Dr. J. VanEvery
Dept. of Cultural Studies and Sociology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
0121 414 3730
0121 414 6061 (fax)
j.van-every  @  bham.ac.uk
*I do not check e-mail daily.*
==========================================================================

Regarding getting students to recognize oppression in their own
lives: I have used the following exercise and found it helps a lot. I
do it on the first day and refer to it in later sessions.

Write (anonymously but indicating whether you are a man or a woman)
about a specific event that has happened recently and has made you
aware of being a man/woman.

I got the idea from an article:

Widerberg, Karin (1998) 'Teaching Gedner Through Writing "Experience
Stories"' Women's Studies International Forum 21, 2: 193-198.

Her discussion would also be helpful.

I find that women students almost always write about limitations on
their lives -- being out late at night or being frightened to be or
having (male) friends refuse to let them be; discrimination at work;
etc. Some will talk about biology (had a period, etc.). Men are fewer
in my classes so hard to generalize but it does give you an
indication of whether they are aware of gender/feminist issues yet or
not.


Dr. J. VanEvery
Dept. of Cultural Studies and Sociology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
0121 414 3730
0121 414 6061 (fax)
j.van-every  @  bham.ac.uk
*I do not check e-mail daily.*
==========================================================================