Phew! After a few weeks of research and compiling, here's a rough draft of my syllabus for a class I'm teaching this summer, "The Sociology of Sexuality." Thoughts on the content??? There are obviously things missing, but in 7 weeks there's only so much to cover. Let me know if you have ideas for edits, substitutions, etc! Thanks!! xoxo

Unit I: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SEXUALITY

I. Week 1: May 6th – 8th

i. Wednesday, May 6th , “Introduction to the Course”

ii. Friday, May 8th , “Socially Constructed Sexuality”

i. Schwartz, P. & Rutter, V. (1998). “The Social Origins of Desire” in The Gender of Sexuality. pp. 13-21

ii. Seidman, S. (2003). “Social Constructionism: Sociology, History, and Philosophy” [Chapter 3]. In The Social Construction of Sexuality. pp. 25-39.

II. Week 2: May 11th – May 15th

i. Monday, May 11th “Normalizing Sex”

i. Rubin, G. (1984). "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality" in Pleasure and Danger.
ii. Warner, M. (1999). “The Ethics of Sexual Shame.” In The Trouble With Normal.

ii. Wednesday, May 13th , “The Construction of the ‘Homosexual’”

i. Chauncey, G. (1989). “From Sexual Inversion to Homosexuality: The Changing Medical Conceptualization of Female ‘Deviance.’” In Passion and Power: Sexuality in History.

iii. Friday, May 15th , “The Construction of the ‘Heterosexual’”

i. Katz, J. (1995). “The Invention of Heterosexuality.” Socialist Review, 20(1), pp. 7-34.

ii. Halley, J. (1993). “The Construction of Heterosexuality.” In Warner, M. (ed.), Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory.

III. Week 3: May 18th – May 22nd

i. Monday, May 18th , “The Construction of ‘Gay’ and ‘Lesbian’”

i. D’Emilio, J. “Placing Gay in the Sixties.” In The World Turned.

ii. D’Emilio, J. “Capitalism and Gay Identity.” In Passion and Power: Sexuality in History.

iii. Berube, A. “The Legacy of the War.” In Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two

Unit 2: MICHEL FOUCAULT, POSTSTRUCTURALISM, AND QUEER THEORY

ii. Wednesday, May 20th , “Foucault’s History of Sexuality”

i. Foucault, M (1980). History of Sexuality, Volume I. Pp. 3-49, 103-114.

ii. Epstein, S. (2003). “An Incitement to Discourse: Sociology and The History of Sexuality.” Sociological Forum, 18(3).

iii. Friday, May 22nd , “Foucault’s Queer Politics”

i. Halperin, D. (1995). “The Queer Politics of Michel Foucault.” In Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. Pp. 15-125.

IV. Week 4: May 25th – May 29th

i. Monday, May 25th , “An Introduction to Queer Theory”

i. Sullivan, N. (2003). “Queer: A Question of Being or a Question of Doing?” In A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory.

ii. Halperin, D. (2003). "The Normalization of Queer Theory." Journal of Homosexuality, 45 (2).

ii. Wednesday, May 27th , “Heteronormativity”

i. Warner, M. (1995). “Introduction.” In Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory.

ii. Cohen, C. "Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?" In Black Queer Politics.

iii. Friday, May 29th , “Performativity”

i. Sullivan, N. (2003). “Performance, Performativity, Parody, and Politics.” In A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory.

ii. Esterberg, K. G. (1996). "'A Certain Swagger When I Walk': Performing Lesbian Identity.” In Seidman, S. (Ed.) Queer Theory / Sociology.

Unit 3: FEMINISM AND SEXUALITY

V. Week 5: June 1st – June 5th

i. Monday, June 1st , “The Politics of Pornography”

i. MacKinnon, C. (1993) “Defamation and Discrimination.” In Only Words.

ii. Califia, P. "Among Us, Against Us: Does Equation of Pornography with Violence Add up to Political Repression?" In Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex.

ii. Wednesday, June 3rd , “Sexual Violence”

i. Malamuth, N. M. (1996). “The Confluence Model of Sexual Aggression: Feminist and Evolutionary Perspective. In D. Buss & N. Malamuth (Eds.), Sex, Power, and Conflict.

ii. Armstrong, E., Hamilton, L. & Sweeny, B. “Hooking Up and Party Rape: The Social Organization of Gender and Sexuality at a Large Research University.”

iii. Friday, June 5th , “Sadomaschism”

i. Califia, P. “Sadomasachism and Feminism.” In Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex.

ii. Rofes, E. “Snapshots of Desire: Surviving as a Queer Among Queers.” In In Mark Thompson (Ed.), Leatherfolk.

Unit 4: SEXUAL SUBCULTURES, IDENTITIES, & PRACTICES

VI. Week 6: June 8th – June 12th

i. Monday, June 8th , “Bathhouses and Sex Clubs”

i. Rubin, G. “The Catacombs: A Temple of the Butthole.” In Mark Thompson (Ed.), Leatherfolk.

ii. Alexander, "Bathhouses and Brothels: Symbolic Sites in Discourse and Practice" In Dangerous Bedfellows (Eds.), Policing Public Sex.

ii. Wednesday, June 10th , “Sex Work”

i. Chapkis, W. (1996), "The Emotional Labor of Sex" In Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor.

ii. Wonders, N. and Michalowski, R. (2001). “Bodies, Borders, and Sex Tourism in a Globalized World: A Tale of Two Cities—Amsterdam and Havana.” Social Problems, 48(4).

iii. Friday, June 12th , “Transgender Lives”

i. Stryer, S. (2008). “Introduction to Transgender Terms and Concepts.” In Transgender History.

ii. Stryer, S. (2008). “A Hundred Years of Transgender History.” In Transgender History.

iii. Meyerowitz, J. (2003). “Introduction.” In How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States.

VII. Week 7: June 15th – June 17th

i. Monday, June 15th , “Intersexuality”

i. The Intersex Society of North America. “What is intersex?” Online at: http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex

ii. Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). "Of Gender and Genitals: The Use and Abuse of the Modern Interssexual" In Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality.

ii. Wednesday, June 17th , “Sexuality Research and its Discontents”

i. Humphries, L. (1970). “Methods: The Sociologist as Voyeur” In Tearoom Trade.

ii. Epstein, S. (2006). “The New Attack on Sexuality Research: : Morality and the Politics of Knowledge Production.” In Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 3(1).