Week 1: Course Intro & “Good” Writing
Tues 8/28 Intro to Course
Introductions & syllabus overview, group reading of “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire” i & ii (pp. 3-10) [Butler]
Homework: Diagnostic Assignment (500 words on the Butler reading). Choose three words from Butler’s piece and write about what they make you think of or what they remind you of. (As well as submitting your assignment to me via Dropbox, please bring one paper copy to class on Thursday.)
Thurs 8/30 Drag & Close Reading
Read/Watch: “Drag of Masculinity: An Interview with Judith ‘Jack’ Halberstam” [Williams] and “What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment” (in Writing in College); Divine Waters
Close reading handout from class
Writing Lab Hour: Discuss your diagnostic assignment with three different classmates. Do a close reading of three sentences from the Butler passage. Read Butler handout.
Diagnostic Assignment due (500 words)
Homework: Register for the OpenLab and join our course site. Introduce yourself by
adding a comment on the Welcome post. On the post for our next class, write at least one
paragraph answering both of the following questions: How does Hubbard’s piece influence your understanding of gender? How does her work help you understand what Butler is getting at?
Week 2: What is Gender, Making a Claim
Tues 9/4 Definitions of Gender & Making a Claim
Read/Watch: “Gender and Genitals: Constructs of Sex and Gender” (Hubbard) [you’ll need to have your online library access set up for this one] and “Developing a Thesis”
Thesis/claim handout from class
Homework: Read “Should I Use I” (UNC Writing Center handout) and add a comment in response to the post on our site.
Thurs 9/6 Identification & Representation
Read/Watch: “Disidentifications” chapter (Muñoz)
Homework (due on Dropbox by 5 pm): Write one page expanding your Hubbard  OpenLab post to include one or more of Muñoz’s ideas. Before Tuesday, you must post a preliminary draft of your claim for Essay #1 using Muñoz on our OpenLab.
- Assignment sheet for Essay 1
Week 3: Refining a Claim & Playing with Gender
Tues 9/11 No class (Rosh HaShanah).
Homework (due on OpenLab by 9 pm): Post your claim and comment on two of your classmates’ claim drafts; you should evaluate them for clarity, relevance, specificity, and engagement. As well, add a relevant resource [article, website, book title, movie title, etc.] to our OpenLab “Course Resources” post and write a short paragraph in your post explaining its usefulness for us (and how it relates to or expands your understanding of gender).
Thurs 9/13 Refining a Claim & Playing with Gender
Read/Watch: “Constructing the Thesis and ArgumentâFrom the Ground Up” chapter in Writing in College and “Argument” handout (UNC Writing Center); watch “The Try Guys Wear High Heels for a Night”
Writing Lab Hour: Work on refining your claim in groups of three.
Homework: On the post for our next class, write two paragraphs on what the Try Guys video does to challenge gender norms, and how Butler might respond.
Week 4: Intro & Outline
Tues 9/18 No class (Yom Kippur)
Thurs 9/20 Intro & Outline & Intersectionality
Read/Watch: “Intros and Outros” chapter and “John and Lorena Bobbitt, 25 Years Post-Castration” (McDonnell-Parry); watch “The Urgency of Intersectionality” (Crenshaw)
Writing Lab Hour: Write a one-paragraph intro to an imaginary essay on the Bobbitt essay. Then, draft an intro for your own essay, using your claim draft.
Homework: On the OpenLab post for our next class, write two paragraphs linking “Bad Feminist” and the “Queer” Keywords essay using a logic of your choosing. What do you see in each of them that puts them in conversation (in topic or style or structure or any combination)?
Week 5: Supporting Grafs & Peer Review
Tues 9/25 Supporting Paragraphs
Read/Watch: “Bad Feminist” (Gay) and and “Queer” Keywords essay [Somerville]
Homework: Work on your draft of Essay #1. (You must have three written pages for in-class peer review on Thursday.)
Thurs 9/27 Peer Review of Essay #1 (bring a hard copy to class)
Homework: On the post for our next class, write two paragraphs reflecting on the process of receivingâand offeringâpeer critiques.
Peer review handout from class
Week 6: Structure & Citation (& Muppets)
Tues 10/2 Structuring an Essay (& Structures of Power)
Read/Watch: “White” essay (from Keywords) [Perry], watch “11 Questions You Want To Ask A Lesbian” (Esposito)
Homework: Finalize Essay #1.
Thurs 10/4 Citation Workshop; Muppets & Heterosexuality
Read/Watch: “The Invention of ‘Heterosexuality;'” “The Power of Puppets: P&G and Sesame Workshop Explains Gender Equality in India,” and “Indigenous languages recognize gender states not even named in English“
Writing Lab Hour: Draft a Keywords-style essay of at least two pages on heterosexuality.
Close Reading Essay #1 due (3 pages)
Week 7: Representation & Library Visit
Tues 10/9 The Academic Conversation & Representation
Read/Watch: “I Detransitioned. But Not Because I Wasn’t Trans” (Kanner) and “What Does Black Masculinity Look Like” (Crunk Feminist Collective)
Homework: On the post for our next class, write a paragraph on what inclusive representation looks like based on what we’ve discussed in class; give one example of a pop cultural text (song, film, book, et cetera) that you think does the work of inclusive representation well.
Thurs 10/11 Ursula Schwerin Library Visit (9 am) & Marsha P. Johnson
Room L540: meet outside the library in the Atrium building
(Afterwards, we will use the remaining class time discussing The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson.)
Read/Watch: The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson [available on Netflix] and LA Times article
Homework: On the post for our next class, write two paragraphs applying “The Perfect Paragraph” to “Understanding Patriarchy” and offering a preliminary definition of analysis, along with any ways you think you’ve previously done it in an academic setting.
Writing Lab Hour: Write one page integrating what you learned from the Gossett documentary about gender with what we’ve discussed earlier in the term.
Week 8: Patriarchy & Paragraphs
Tues 10/16 What is Patriarchy? What is Analysis?
Read/Watch: “Understanding Patriarchy” (hooks) and “Back to Basics: The Perfect Paragraph” in Writing for Success
Homework: On the post for our next class, write two paragraphs sharing what you learned in the library session, and include at least one question. Reply to at least two questions from your classmates in the comments.
Thurs 10/18 Choosing & Contextualizing Quotes
Read/Watch: “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” (Lorde) and “Listening to Sources, Talking to Sources” in Writing in College
Homework: Identify an article from a popular publication (e.g., the New York Times, Newsweek, Science News) that reports on an issue being addressed in your class, then track down the scholarly source of the information and answer the following questions in an OpenLab post: is the information in the popular article accurate? Why would you rely on one of the articles instead of the other? What is the intended audience of each article?
Writing Lab Hour: Present your article to a classmate, contextualizing your answers to all of the homework questions; they’ll then present theirs to you.
Week 9: Rhetorical Situation, Machado, & Audience
Tues 10/23 Rhetorical Situation & Writing Feelings
Read/Watch: “Gender” essay (from Keywords in American Cultural Studies) [Halberstam]; “Procrastination” and “Writing Anxiety” (UNC Writing Center handouts)
Homework: On the OpenLab post for our next class, answer the following questions about “The Husband Stitch”: What other works that you’ve read might you be able to put Machado in conversation with? What do you notice about Machado’s style? What does it do to/for the story she’s telling?
- Assignment sheet for Essay 2
Thurs 10/25 Magical Realism, Audience, & Inclusive Language
Read/Watch: “The Husband Stitch” (Machado) and “Gender-Inclusive Language” (UNC Writing Center handout)
[We will choose research essay topics in class today]
Homework: Add a relevant resource [article, website, book title, movie title, etc.] to our OpenLab “Course Resources” post and write a short paragraph explaining its usefulness for us (and how it relates to or expands your understanding of gender). In addition, comment on the Research Essay Topics OpenLab post with your chosen topic and the questions it raises for you that you think you might be interested in investigating.
Writing Lab Hour: In groups of three, write 500 words on what Machado’s rhetorical situation is. Who is her intended audience, do you think? What kinds of existing discourses (that we’ve learned about, or others) do you think she’s participating in?
Week 10: Nanette & Lockwood; Research Claim
Tues 10/30 Summary & Paraphrasing
Read/Watch: “How Do We Write Now” (Lockwood) and Nanette (Gadsby) [available on Netflix]
Homework: Start to expand your research topic into your working claim by identifying 1 scholarly (peer-reviewed) article and 1 popular article that handle your topic and drafting your claim in response to a point or question they raise.
Thurs 11/1 Looking Beyond the  U.S. & Developing a Research Claim
Read/Watch: NPR article on Huerta and Times article on Mankiller
Homework: Comment on the Research Essay Claims OpenLab post with a draft of your claim (which will shift as you complete your research).
Writing Lab Hour:
Article Analysis Essay #2 due
Week 11: Research Essay Claim & Proposal (on your own)
Tues 11/6 Election Day (no class). Work on revising your research essay claim and
finding and reading your sources.
Homework: Comment on the Revised Research Essay Claims OpenLab post with your original claim and your revised version. Also comment on 2 classmates’ claims, evaluating them for engagement, specificity, and relevance.
Thurs 11/8 Faculty Conference (no class). Work on your research essay claim and proposal.
Week 12 Cinema & Clarity
Tues 11/13 (Voiceless) White Femininity on Film
Read/Watch: How to Marry a Millionaire; read “Fragments of Marilyn”
(Hendrix)
Homework: Identify an article from a popular publication (e.g., the New York Times, Newsweek, Science News) that reports on an issue being addressed in your class, then track down the scholarly source of the information and answer the following questions in an OpenLab post: is the information in the popular article accurate? Why would you rely on one of the articles instead of the other? What is the intended audience of each article?
Thurs 11/15 Clarity and “Bad Feminist” Redux
Read/Watch: “Clarity and Concision” in Writing in College and re-read “Bad
Feminist” (Gay)
Homework: On the OpenLab post for next week, write a paragraph linking AnzaldĂșa’s project to that of the Combahee River Collective. What are their shared values and/or outcomes?
Writing Lab Hour: In groups of three, expand and challenge your topic questions.
Week 13 Audience & Black Feminism Redux, Research Proposal, & Thanksgiving
Tues 11/20 Audience & Black Feminism
Read/Watch: “Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers”
(AnzaldĂșa) and Combahee River Collective statement
Homework: Comment on the Research Essay Proposal OpenLab post, answering the following questions:
What is your general topic in a few words?
What more specific aspect of your topic will be your focus?
What is your preliminary thesis or hypothesis?
Where will you begin looking for legitimate primary & secondary sources?
Why does this topic interest you? Why have you decided to pursue this topic?
- Assignment sheet (for the paper)
Thurs 11/22 No class (Happy Thanksgiving!)
Homework: Comment on the Working Outline post with your working outline. It’s fine to include sections you might move, or to indicate that you aren’t sure where they fit or what their relevance is. Comment on two classmates’ posts, offering advice on any questions they have or anything that intrigues you.
Week 14 Back to Muñoz & Final Exam Review
Tues 11/27 Research Outline Discussion & Muñoz Discussion
Re-Read/Watch: “Disidentifications” chapter (Muñoz)
Homework: Add a relevant resource [article, website, book title, movie title, etc.] to our
OpenLab “Course Resources” post and write a short paragraph explaining its usefulness for us (and how it relates to or expands your understanding of gender).
Thurs 11/29 Final Exam Review
Read: “Essay Exams” (UNC Writing Center handout)
Homework: Finalize your research presentation
Week 15 Research Presentations
Tues 12/4 Research Presentations [at least 10 min describing your research project,
your evolving questions, and your work up to now]
Thurs 12/6 Research Presentations
Week 16 Final Exam Review & Last Class
Tues 12/11 Final Exam Review
Thurs 12/13 Reading Day (no class)
Week 17 Final Exam Review & Final Exam
Tues 12/18 Final Exam ReviewThurs 12/20 Final Exam & Research Essay #3 due
