CISS 120: INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S STUDIES

Professor Shawn Maurer
Fall 2002

Topic and Readings:

This course introduces students to the discipline of Women's Studies by analyzing women's
roles and women's contributions to culture from the perspective of the recent scholarship on
women. We will be primarily concerned with the complex interactions between gender and other
social divisions such as race, class, and sexual orientation, both in the assigned readings and
in our own writing and discussion. We will address the following issues, among others: the
politics of women's work, the representation of women's bodies in advertising and pornography,
violence against women, healthcare and reproductive rights. We will look briefly at the history of
feminist movements in the U.S., and will explore different theoretical perspectives that feminists
have used to understand women's experience. Texts will include Ann Cahill's WOMEN ON THE
HILL [a history of women at Holy Cross], FEMINIST PHILOSOPHIES [an antholgy of readings in
women's studies and feminist theory], Danzy Senna's novel CAUCASIA, and Bell Hooks's
FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY.

Exams and Assignment:

Class participation will be very important. Weekly journal entries are required, as well as three
take-home/in-class hour exams and a final service learning project, which will include a written
component.