Karissa Nowakowski
When discussing the “syllabus project,” I decided to redo the first half of the syllabus (12/21-12/30) and also to compile both of our information together. While doing this project, I kept most of the readings together (I kept them almost in the same groupings as they originally were). I occasionally took a reading out of the original categories and then added my own. The reason I kept the readings the same was because I wanted to look for something else, other than the original topic, which connected them.
The First day (12/21), I changed the category to, “Women and Education.” I kept the “Sor Juana” and “Sor Fioleta” articles in this category, and then added a webpage titled, “Republican Motherhood.” Originally, the category looked at religion and normality. While the two original articles had a main message of religion, I thought they both talked about how the women in them used religion to their advantage. In this case, the women used their religion to continue their studies; which was something women were not permitted to do at the time. The article I added into this category didn’t have to do with religion, but with women’s evolving roles and how they were allowed to grow their intellect. I think these articles show how women and their ability to get an education have progressed over time.
The second category (12/22) was originally “Negotiating Native Identity” and I changed it to “Women and their Home Roots.” I felt like my new category still dealt with issues of native women, but I tried to pick articles that focused more on how their native roots have affected the ways society sees them as women. The new article I added into this category was titled, “Native Women’s Issues.” It talks about how the past historical events involving their “tribe” or native family has impacted the issues they face today. All women face issues, but I think your “roots” affect many of those issues as well. For example, an article I left in the grouping was, “Yo Say La Malinche;” which was about a woman who betrayed her people. This event was during a major moment in history and caused society to look at “La Malinche” differently. La Malinche has since then created stereotypes of women who have descended from her people, which in return caused hardships for women in society.
For the third day (12/23), I changed the topic to “Women Undercover- Dressing/Acting like Men.” This was a small similarity I saw through the original readings on this day, but I thought it was one that was important. I think it shows how women have had to manipulate society to be allowed to do what men do. I kept the Catalina de Erauso article and the Mary Wesiner article in the grouping because they both talked about how women dressed as men (for whatever reason). The movie I added to this category was the Disney movie, “Mulan.” “Mulan” reminded me of the Catalina de Erauso article because it was about a girl who changed her appearance in order to fight in the military. Catalina was a transvestite but dressed as a man to do the same. I think this new topic I have created could be reason for a good discussion in the classroom.
For the day of 12/28, I changed the category to “Women and Opportunity.” I felt like throughout the entire class, opportunity has been an issue in every category. Therefore, I put an article by Woolf, Nochlin, and one I found on the web in this category. The article by Nochlin was originally in the art category, but I thought it dealt a lot with why women haven’t been given the opportunity to succeed in the art world. The new article I found on my own was about Pakistan and the fact that the girls have not been given the chance for a true education. I put this in this category because it talks about females don’t go to school due to “disrupted family and community structures.”
On the fifth day (12/29), the topic was originally “work space” and I changed it to “Women Putting Family 1st and Their Needs 2nd.” I found that articles in the original category talked about how women were supposed to be the “perfect housewife.” However, when you look at the articles more in depth, you see how women put their needs 2nd. Being a housewife means taking care of your family, but all of the women were described as being unhappy. In “Culinary Lessons,” the woman was not pleased with her life, yet it was what she was “supposed” to do and it made her husband happy; the same thing goes with the movie, “The Hours.” I think this topic could also be discussed more in depth as to why women feel the need to disregard themselves and why society would enforce a social norm like that.
The final day I altered was 12/30 and was originally titled, “The Construction of Gender.” I changed this category to “Women and Stereotypes” because I felt like it was an important part and theme in the readings that talked about gender. I found stereotypes to be very interesting to learn about in this course, so I found a website that talked about some of those. I kept “Night to his Day” and “Introduction to the 2nd sex” in this category, but I feel like many of the articles could also go along here. Gender has been socially constructed and without stereotypes, I don’t think males and females would act the way they do now. Stereotypes is an important topic to research because I think it says a lot about the ideals of society; it also fits in with a lot of the media studies articles in later days on the syllabus that are in regards to women.
My changes to the syllabus, I feel, takes a closer look at each category and tries to narrow them down just a little bit more. By examining all aspects of feminism, I think society could “open their mind” and maybe start to improve things even more for women than they already have.
Nicole Huckins
Since we decided to split the syllabus in half, it was my responsibility to create the syllabus for the second half of Unit 2, Women and the Modern World, starting from the 31st of December and Unit 3, Women and the Post-Modern World. When I was constructing the syllabus I thought about what I would find interesting as well as what would be useful or the class to study. I decided that it would be most beneficial to focus on a different topic every day, but for there to be some overlap of ideas from day to day. Upon creating the syllabus I aimed to invoke thought as well as stimulate discussion for each of the topics.
I decided to start my section on December 31st with the category of “Women & Sexuality”. I thought that it would be a good tie-in to the topic of the day before. Women’s sexuality is a topic that I feel should be discussed in GWS because it is a fundamental part of who a female is. There are 3 readings for the day, 2 of which were from the original syllabus. The 3rd an article that I found, Human Female Sexuality, I decided to include because it gives a great overview of how women’s sexuality has been ignored throughout time. This idea of how women have been ignored tied in to the topic for the next day, “Women & Mental Illness” flawlessly. For this part of the syllabus I used all new texts. The texts brought to life how women’s needs, with regards to mental illness, have been ignored. The articles give an overview of the history of mental illness in women and talk about what is being done in that area today. This is important to GWS because until the 20th century mental illness in women was not recognized. We need to study about this to better understand not only about women but how men relate to women’s needs.
The next two days, the 5th and 6th of January, focus around the media and the stereotyping of women that is heavily present in the modern world. The 5th takes a look at movies and television while the 6th discusses music and art. The underlying theme of these two days is the influence that music and movies have on a young girl. Two of the articles on the 5th discuss how Disney, the leader in early childhood and adolescent entertainment, is one the biggest offenders when it comes to stereotyping women. The class on the also looks at a segment of Leave it to Beaver, which illustrates the “perfect” woman with regards to family structure. The class of the 6th takes a look more at the music and art side of the media. It talks about the negative influence that music has had on popular culture. The class also discusses art, using “The Gorilla Girls” from the original syllabus. I felt that it was important to include the media and the modern world in the syllabus because the media is the number one influencer in a woman’s life. I felt is necessary to also bring up the media and its influence in the 3rd Unit of the syllabus, on January 11th. Only in this part I focused on how the media is shaping what is considered to be “Politically Correct” and it is shaping men’s ideas about women.
The last part of Unit 2, and the first day of Unit three, mesh well together and help for a smooth transition between the two units. Both days, January 7th & 8th, focus on politics; Unit 2 around World Politics and Unit 3 regarding American Politics. I used a lot of the material from the original syllabus on these two days because the information that we studied was very interesting. It is important to study politics in GWS because that is the area I feel that women have the least amount of representation. As a culture we need to realize this; and what better way to understand something than to study it?
The final day of the class, January 12th, I lightened up the topic. I decided to end on the category of “Women and Athletics”. Women don’t have fair representation in athletics and it is something that needs to be acknowledged. In the past few years women have been gaining notoriety in the sports arena, this trend needs to continue. This is a great topic to end the class on because it can stimulate a lot of discussion as well and allow for students to express their ideas in a different forum.
When I approached creating my part of the syllabus I really looked for a way to engage all students that would be taking the class. Also I wanted to create an environment that would be interesting and informative for even the most advanced student.
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