STUDENTS PLEASE NOTE:

There will be a full first class session, including a pre-reading that will be sent via email the week before classes start. It is your responsibility to check your SFU email regularly and check for updates on the Class Blog link above.

Be aware that this class has a demanding reading load of approximately 100 ppw (pages per week). Thus it is critical that you stay on top of readings, come to all class sessions, and do the homework as assigned. Attendance is taken at all class sessions.

“What’s the worst possible thing you can call a woman? Don’t hold back, now.

    You’re probably thinking of words like slut, whore, bitch, cunt (I told you not to hold back!), skank.

    Okay, now, what are the worst things you can call a guy? Fag, girl, bitch, pussy. I’ve even heard the term “mangina.”

    Notice anything? The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate insult.”

Jessica Valenti, Full Frontal Feminism:

A young woman’s guide to why feminism matters, p. 5

Prerequisites:

This course is open to undergraduates in all Faculties who have completed sixty (60) credit hours of coursework (it is strongly recommended that students have completed at least one equity-related class in any department that addressed racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, or other form of oppression).

Course Description:

Scholars have identified misogyny (the hatred of women) as one of the foundations of sexism. While the overt expressions of misogyny may be recognizable, the covert manifestations are often invisible. Using the example of children’s socialization, students will examine the covert expressions of sexism and misogyny in order to understand how these expressions become normalized in society.

To do so, we will study the popular culture and media culture targeting school-aged children to explore the ways in which misogyny is normalized. We will examine how elements of misogyny emerge in youth culture in ways that construct relations of sexism (and concurrent relations of oppression such as racism and classism) as normal, and in some cases, as desirable. Concepts will be studied via case studies of “texts” from youth culture that include: toys and dolls, tween magazines, beauty and body, fashion, pop music and music videos, and tween movies.

This course serves as an introduction to key concepts and authors in fields including social justice education, critical pedagogy, media studies, gender and sexuality studies, sociology, and cultural studies. It will provide undergraduate students an interdisciplinary set of conceptual tools and language with which to examine, understand, and respond to the educative and normalizing role of misogyny in popular youth culture.

Course Objective:

The course activities are organized with attention to the following learning objectives. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

•Identify and define elements of misogyny and trace them into popular youth culture;

•Describe and analyze the role of media and popular youth culture in normalizing discourses of misogyny;

•Describe and analyze the relationship between misogyny and concurrent relations of oppression such as racism, classism, ableism;

•Develop and improve one's critical thinking, listening, writing, and speaking skills to cogently communicate about the complexity of the concepts under study;

Required texts:

Here are the books that will be read in the course, in the order they will be taken up:

1. Dworkin, A. (c1974). Woman hating. New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN: 0525474234 / 0-525-47423-4) (This book is out of print. There are various used copies available via abebooks.com or other used booksellers. The bookstore will make some coursepacks available for purchase).

2. Durham, M.G. (2009). The Lolita effect: The media sexualization of young girls and what we can do about it. New York: The Overlook Press. 1590202155, 9781590202159 (Amazon $13.36)

3. Azam, S. (2008). Oral sex is the new goodnight kiss: The sexual bullying of middle class girls. ISBN: 978-0-973971118 (approx. $19.95)

4. Brock, R. (2005). Sista Talk: The personal and the pedagogical. NY: Peter Lang.  ISBN: 0-8204-4953-9 (Amazon $18.38)

5. Jeffreys, S. (2005). Beauty and misogyny: Harmful cultural practices in the West. NY: Routledge. ISBN-10: 0415351820 (Amazon $24.46, e-book available via SFU library)

6. Jiwani, Y., Steenbergen, C., & Mitchell, C. (Eds.) (2006). Girlhood: Redefining the limits. Montréal: Black Rose Books. ISBN: 155164276X (Amazon $17.00)

* Additional readings will be required week-to-week. These will be articles from the SFU library database. You should be familiar with accessing library databases to acquire journal articles.

Required Learning Activities:

ASSIGNMENTS                                            DUE DATE            VALUE

Attendance, Participation, Homework*    Ongoing                 25%

In class pop quizzes                                      Ongoing                25%
 Textual analysis (movie project)                Week 7                   25%

Final project                                                  Week 13                   25%

*you will regularly collect data via field assignments – viewing music videos, trip to a toy store, drug store, etc.

Photo by ÖS, Las Vegas NV