WS 101 Reading & Study Questions for the Final Exam Womens Studies: Perspectives & Practices

1. Define feminism. What are two crucial aspects of any definition of feminism? What is meant by the term the personal is political? 2. Know the different waves and kinds of feminism (liberal, radical, lesbian/separatist, womanist, socialist, Marxist) and be able to compare them generally to each other. Explain how the strategies for change are different for liberal as opposed to radical feminism. What is meant by global feminism and why is it important today? What important conference occurred in 1995 that illustrated the power of global feminism? 3. What is feminist backlash? Why are groups involved in backlash against feminism? What is this perspective called? Be able to name some women resistant to the core principles of feminism. What term resulted from their work? 4. What changes have occurred since 1970, according to the reading A Day without Feminism? Are there any issues that were discussed in this article that still need attention today? Which ones and how might they be remedied? 5. According to Johnson in Guilt, Shame and Responsibility, what are the various reasons why men avoid taking responsibility for patriarchy? What kind of actions do men confuse taking responsibility with? What would taking responsibility look like? 6. According to Denials of Inequality, what is the popular perception of gender equality? Are there differences in perception for women and men? What does Rhode mean by self-interest in relation to men and gender inequality? According to Rhode, in what contexts are the denials of gender inequality most prevalent?

Systems of Inequality and Privilege

1. How are social institutions central in creating systems of inequality and privilege? What are the three functions of social institutions discussed in the text that support systems of inequality and privilege? 2. How does ideology support systems of inequality and privilege? How does ideology foster internalized oppression and keep privilege invisible? How do internalized oppression and horizontal hostility work to keep those without privilege subordinate?

3. What does it mean to universalize the category woman? What does Hill Collins mean when she writes of additive analyses of oppression? On what two premises do additive analyses rest? 4. Be able to give examples of the institutional, symbolic, and individual dimensions of oppression. Discuss the three issues involved in reconceptualizing these systems and give an example of each. 5. According to Marilyn Frye in Oppression, how is the experience of being oppressed different from being limited? How does the double bind work in the context of systems of oppression? 6. What are some of the examples of white privilege that McIntosh lists in White Privilege and Male Privilege? Why does she call this an invisible knapsack? Explain the pattern running through the matrix of white privilege. 7. What is Yamatos definition of racism in Something About the Subject Makes Its Hard to Name? Be able to identify the four forms of racism she discussesaware/blatant, aware-covert, unaware/unintentional, and unaware/self-righteous. What are the differences between the different types of racism she writes about? 8. According to Kendell, what are the strategies for whites who want to be allies to people of color? What are the strategies for people of color working through internalized racism? 9. According to in-class discussion and Johnson in Shame, Guilt and Responsibility, what are the various reasons why men avoid taking responsibility for patriarchy? Men frequently confuse taking responsibility with what kind of actions? What would look like if men were to take responsibility? 10. What does Rhode, in her article Denials of Inequality mean by self-interest in relation to men and gender inequality? Give examples. In what contexts are the denials of gender inequality most prevalent? 11. Explain the ways members of target groups may come to believe in their own subordination and keep others in line. How does language function to maintain systems of inequality and privilege? 12. Explain in your own words Suzanne Pharrs discussion of the relationship between homophobia, heterosexism, and compulsory heterosexuality. What is lesbian baiting? What does a woman have to do to get called a lesbian and how do all women suffer from being labeled so?

13. How is homophobia related to a backlash to feminism? How is it related to problems within the womens movement? 14. What is the difference between gender consciousness and feminist consciousness? Why are some women afraid of feminism?

Learning Gender in a Diverse Society

1. When does gender socialization begin and through what institutions does it work? 2. Understand the various socially constructed traits associated with of masculinity and femininity. Give examples of the dimensions of masculinity described in the text. What are the limitations of masculine scripts? What are some of the dimensions of femininity? How do these limit and/or provide opportunities for women? 3. What does Sapiro mean when she writes of the plurality of gender-based realities? What are the specific stereotypes that vary by race? Be able to give two examples of systems of inequality and privilege interacting with gender. How is femininity constructed differently through these other various systems of inequality? What kinds of cultural stereotypes are associated with women of color and as opposed to white women? 4. Explain the differences between transsexual, transgendered and transvestite. What is the trans liberation movement and what is its aim? Inscribing Gender on the Body 1. Explain the association of women and nature using the example of menstruation. What would it be like if men could menstruate? Give examples. What does this have to do with patriarchy and androcentrism? What is the political content of Steinems message? 2. Be able to discuss the four points associated with beauty ideals and give examples. How might women resist these ideals? What do these ideals have to do with race? What does the double standard of beauty and aging by gender imply? 3. Define disciplinary beauty practices and give examples. Why do women, and increasingly men, engage in these practices? How can women resist and embrace beauty practices? What does beauty have to do with power in society? Give examples of this phenomenon. 4. What are the 4 major traumas Becky Wangsgaard Thompson identifies in A Way Outa No Way? What are the ways these patterns of structured inequality precipitate and maintain eating disorders?

Womens Health and Well-being

1. Understand and be able to give examples of each of the three key concepts in terms of womens health: androcentrism, medicalization, and gender stereotyping. 2. What Supreme Court ruling rescinded the states ban on abortion? When? What did it stipulate? Discuss the ways abortion legislation has chipped away at womens right to an abortion. What are the statistics on attitudes towards abortion, percentages of unplanned pregnancies, use of abortion in the U.S.? Be familiar with the ethical, social and economic issues involved in abortion. 3. Give examples of the ways racial stereotypes affect access to and quality of health care. Explain how poverty is not the only issue to blame for the health status of women of color. How does racism inform research on health issues? What kinds of constructive changes have occurred in this area as described by the authors in Forgotten women: How minorities are underserved?

Sex, Power and Intimacy (Chapter 4 and related readings)

1. What is the relationship between patriarchy and sexual scripts? What are the consequences of this relationship for womens lives? 2. What are the two issues involved discussed in the text about the politics of sexuality? 3. Examples of compulsory heterosexuality and obstacles for lesbians in contemporary U.S. society. 4. Explain the relationship between intimacy and masculine privilege. Why are women socialized to do better with intimacy than men?

Resisting Violence Against Women (Chapter 10 & readings)

1. What are the 4 key points discussed in the chapter that provide the framework for understanding misogynous violence? 2. What are the 3 rape myths described in the text? What is the reality? 3. Define the rape spectrum and sexual terrorism. What are the issues and trends on race and rape? 4. When males are abused, who are they most likely to be hurt by and during what period of their lives are they most vulnerable? How does prison rape illustrate gender hierarchies?

5. What are the reasons why women might stay in an abusive relationship? 6. How do the various forms of violence relate to male domination and misogyny?

Womens Work Inside and Outside the Home (Ch. 8 & related readings)
1. What is the relationship between expectations of gender, womens domestic labor, and the kinds of work women tend to do in the labor force? 2. Discuss the different kinds of sexual harassment. 3. Describe the differences between vertical and horizontal segregation and give examples. What is the glass ceiling? What is the gender wage gap? How much do women earn compared to men? How does this vary by race? What is comparable worth? 4. Explain the trends in womens workforce participation. What kinds of work do women tend to perform outside the home? What does pink collar mean? 5. How did African-American women fit into the cult of true womanhood? How are their experiences with paid labor and work environment different than that of white women? Families: Systems and Lives (Chapter 7 and related readings) 1. Explain the distinction between family as institution and family as experience. Discuss examples of power in the family and how power is organized by gender and other systems of inequality and privilege. 2. What is the political debate over family values? Why are feminists opposed to the neo-conservatives claim over family values? 3. Explain how the family is connected to other institutions and be able to give examples.

Exam Format: points points

30 multiple choice @ 1 point each 1 short essay answer @ 10 points

= 30 = 10

15 fill-ins @ 1 point each points TOTAL points

= 15 55

BRING #2 PENCILS TO THE EXAM