FALL 2001

This information effective for Fall 2001.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Psychology

[PSYC-140Q]

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140Q. Social Psychology of Sex and Gender

Fall 2001
Instructor: Faye Crosby
phone: 459 - 3568
fjcrosby@cats.ucsc.edu
Office hours Tuesday 2-4 PM
Social Science II 379

Aims

You will have to decide your own goals for this course.

The instructors have goals too. First, we hope you will learn a lot about what the social psychological experts have decided about sex and gender. Second, we hope that you will learn how the experts come to their conclusions. It is our aim to help you attain sophistication about evidence and inference. Finally, we hope that all of us become more aware of the assumptions we possess about self and about gender. We may all end up feeling less, rather than more secure in our convictions about what it means to be a woman or a man. But whether more or less secure in our convictions, we hope that we will all be more conscious of how we come to feel that we know something.

Your first responsibility is to learn as much as you can about the topic, acquiring increasing epistemological sophistication and self-scrutiny. Your secondary responsibility is to enable the learning of the other students in the course. When one person's learning is achieved at the expense of another, the educational process is compromised. Our responsibility is to prepare and present the materials in ways that we think will facilitate you reaching your goals.

The Social Psychology of Sex and Gender is not a course that is "taken" or "given." It is an experience that we create together.

Schedule of class sessions

Readings: all from Hilary M. Lips. Sex and Gender: An introduction (4th ed). Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Co.. The book is at The Literary Guillotine

For the beginning sections (March 29 and April 3), read chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4

For section on biology and sexuality (April 5 and 10), read chapters 5, 7, and 8

For section on gender and family (April 12 and 17), read chapter 11

For section on gender and education (April 19 and 24), read chapters 6 and 10

For section on gender and work (April 26 and May 1), read chapters 12, 13, and 14

For section on (mental) health (May 3 and 8), read chapter 9.

Requirements (Graded Assignments)

1. On November 8, you will have an exam. The exam will cover all the lectures (including guest lectures) and all the textbook readings through Nov 8. The exam counts 30% of the grade for those students obtaining grades.
2. You will work in a group and give a presentation. The point of the presentation is to educate other students on your chosen topic, and you will be assessed on how much you appear to have educated the class. Your presentation will be some time between Nov 13 and Nov 29. The presentation counts 25% of the grade.
3. In the group, or on your own, you will also write a short paper covering the topic on which you presented. The paper counts 25% of your grade. The point of the paper is to show how much you know. It is due on the day of the presentation.
4. You will write 4 very brief reaction papers to the class presentations on the 4 topics not covered by your group. Each paper is due on the class session following the presentations (or on Monday, December 3 for the last paper). In the reaction paper, you can react to one presentation or the other or both. Try to limit yourself to 2 double-spaced typed pages. One page papers are fine, too. Each reaction paper counts 5% of the grade for a total of 20%.

Logistics of Group Work

Each group will have 6, 7, 8, or 9 members. Groups will each make a 40 to 45-minute presentation--two within each area of study (sexuality; gender and families; gender and education; gender and work; gender and (mental) health).

We will make the initial choice of groups on the first day of class. By Thursday, September 27, we need to know the composition of the group--names, emails, and telephone numbers--and the exact topic begin studied.

The groups can work in whatever way they find best, with whatever division of labor seems best. Groups will need to consult the journals to find materials on their topic. Groups will need to negotiate among themselves about what precise topic to select and how to divide the labor. Groups have the option of writing a group paper, or they can write individual papers. Clusters within any group can submit a single (shared) written paper. Groups will need to negotiate between themselves so that within any topic area, the two groups do not present on the same specific issues or questions.

All groups can have access to Faye via e-mail and phone and can come during office hours. Each group must meet with the TA twice, once at the beginning of the course and once before presenting. The TA can help groups find what they need. If you are precise about your topic by September 27, then Faye can probably be helpful with some sources, too.

Good journals to look at include Psychology of Women Quarterly, Sex Roles, Sex and Gender, and for some topics Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. There are many other specialized journals. Your text has great references, too.

Tip: divide the work. Have one person find the journal articles, web sites, books, and book chapters during the first week of classes. Then divide up the reading so that every group member (except the original hard worker) reads one or two articles very closely. Then meet to combine knowledge.

If you want to do some interviews or a little experiment for your topic, fine. But don't shy away from the library. Your group will be the experts. If you don't become expert, you are cheating yourselves and also your classmates.

Here are some topics that can be researched concerning biology and sexuality

1. What is evolutionary theory? What does the theory claim? Is there any evidence?

2. Men, women, and masturbation.

3. Men, women, and sexual activity.

4. transexuality

5. the work of John Money.

6. bases of homosexuality

7. ethnicity & sexual orientation

Here are some topics that can be researched concerning sex, gender, and the family

8. division of labor in white families, African American families, Latino families, and Asian American families

9. gender fairness in the home and mental health

10. role division in heterosexual and homosexual couples

11. family power: who gets to make decisions?

12. family structures across cultures

13. survival in low income single parent families

14. welfare reform

Here are some topics that can be researched concerning gender in the schools

15. sex differences in mathematical ability: contrasting views

16. the work of Jacque Eccles

17. single sex education

18. how schools shortchange girls (or boys)

19. girls, boys, and sports in schoo.l

20. the work of Michelle Fine

21. gangs in schools

Here are some topics that can be researched concerning gender and work

22. denial of personal discrimination

23. reactions to affirmative action for women

24. sex segregated work forces

25. gender bending on the job: male nurses and female truck drivers (or other unusual combinations)

26. fear of success

27. male and female conversational styles at work: myth or reality?

28. gendered mentoring at work

Here are some topics that can be researched concerning gender and (mental) health

29. gender and depression

30. gender and eating disorders

31. the female advantage in longevity

32. gender differences in old age

33. aggression

34. violence

35. gender of client and therapist

Remember, these are only suggestions!