English 160: Literature and the Sexes
Dr. Pidge Molyneaux Olney 146 e-mail: molyneam@lasalle.edu or molyneau@bellatlantic.net	Course Home Page: http://www.lasalle.edu/~molyneam Phone: (215) 951-1150 Fax: (610) 449-2523

What is sex? What is gender? What’s the difference?

The distinction is simple: sex in innate--we are born with it. Gender is learned, the product of cultural initiation into modes of behavior and assumptions about sex and gender that infiltrate all aspects of our lives. Course material--fiction, poetry, drama, film, and non-fiction--includes works by both female and male writers and is a drawn from a variety of historical periods and cultures. The material challenges beliefs and assumptions about definitions of sex and gender; it invites us to analyze, evaluate, and perhaps alter attitudes and beliefs about the roles of women and men in American culture. Consider this series of questions as you read:

• What kinds of behavior does this work seem to enforce?
• Are there differences between my values implicit in the work? What are those differences?
• Whose freedom of thought or movement seems to be constrained either explicitly or implicitly by what happens in this work? Does gender have anything to do with the ability to move freely in the world?
• What are the larger social structures with which this work is connected?

1. Papers: 2 short critical papers, about 3-4 pages
2. Exams: 3 one-hour exams
3. Frequent unannounced quizzes. No quiz may be made up but you may drop your lowest grade
4. Participation and attendance: All material must be read prior to discussion and you are expected to participate actively in discussion. Because you cannot participate if you are not present, one point will be subtracted from your final grade for each unexcused absence. I have voice-mail, 2 e-mail addresses, and a FAX #, so I can always be reached
5. I require to be on time for class; it is rude and disruptive to enter class late. I take attendance every day and if you miss it you will be counted as absent.
6. Academic honesty: You must fully and accurately document any outside information you use for this course. For definitions of plagiarism, see http://www.dc.peachnet.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/handouts/plagiarism.html
7. Here is how I will calculate your grade:

Schedule of Readings (subject to change)

Aug. 31: Syllabus: Introduction to the Course
Sept. 1: Initiation into gender roles: how do we learn to be who we are?; Alice Munro, "Boys and Girls"
Sept. 3: Marge Piercy, "Barbie Doll"; Lucille Clifton, "homage to my hips"; Sharon Olds, "Rites of Passage"

Sept. 7: Labor Day Holiday
Sept. 8: Russell Baker, "Masculinity"
Sept. 10: Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Casa"

Sept. 14: Gretchen Anthony and Rick Cory, "Coming Out"
Sept. 15: Happy Endings?: Myths, Fairy Tales, and the Romance Novel: Cinderella Stories
Sept. 17: "A Composite of a Romance Tip Sheet," from Tania Modleski;
A comparison of two stories: Karen Van Der Zee, from A Secret Sorrow' Gail Godwin, "A Sorrowful Woman"

Sept. 21: Van Der Zee & Godwin cont'd.
Sept. 22: Ann Sexton, "Cinderella"; Mona Van Duyn, "Cinderella's Story"
Sept. 24: Assignment for Paper #1; Prep for Exam #1

Sept. 28: Exam #1
Sept. 29: Sexual Encounters: Brian D. Johnson, "Campus Confidential"
Oct. 1: Susan Minot, "Lust"

Oct. 5: Galway Kinnell, "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps"; Sharon Olds, "Sex Without Love"
Oct. 6: T. Coraghesson Boyle, "Carnal Knowledge"
Oct. 7: No Class

Oct. 12: Paper #1 due: Richard Rausch, "The Man Who Knew Belle Starr"
Oct. 13: Madison Smart Bell, "Dragon's Seed"
Oct. 15: Margaret Atwood, "Kat"

Oct. 19: Politics, Gender, and Cultural Difference: David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly
Oct. 20: Hwang cont'd.
Oct. 22: M. Butterfly, excerpts from film

Oct. 26: Exam #2
Oct. 27: Translated Woman, Lecture Demonstration by Pregones Theater Company
Oct. 29: Discussion of Pregones Presentation

Nov. 2: No class
Nov. 3: Athol Fugard, The Road to Mecca
Nov. 5: Fugard cont'd.

Nov. 9: Kazuo Ishiguro, "Family Supper"
Nov. 10: Challenging the Stereotypes: Sarah Orne Jewett, "Tom's Husband"
Nov. 12: Isaac Bashevis Singer, "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy"

Nov. 16: Ursula LeGuin, "Sur"
Nov. 17: LeGuin cont'd.
Nov. 19: Trip Gabriel, "Call of the Wildmen"; Joe Bob Briggs, "Get in Touch with Your Ancient Spear: A Manly Seminar with Iron Joe Bob"

Nov. 23: Assignment for Paper #2; Gabriel and Briggs cont'd.
Nov. 24-26: No class (Thanksgiving Holiday)

Nov. 30: Anaïs Nin, "Almost a Twinship"
Dec. 1: Alison Baker, "Better Be Ready 'Bout Half Past Eight"
Dec. 3: Baker cont'd.

Dec. 7: Happy Endings!: excerpts from When Harry Met Sally (film)
Dec. 8: Conclusions
Dec. 10: Paper #2 due; Course Evaluations