ILS 2180:  SEXUALITY:  SCIENCE/CULTURE/LAW

Spring 2025

Tentative Course Schedule

TR 9:30-10:45

GWC 410

NOTE:  This schedule may change as needed.  Your presence in class ensures correct assignments

ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE BY THE BEGINNING OF OUR CLASS MEETING TIME (9:30AM)

WEEK 1     WEEK 2     WEEK 3     WEEK 4     WEEK 5     WEEK 6     WEEK 7

WEEK 8     WEEK 9     WEEK 10     WEEK 11     WEEK  12     WEEK 13     WEEK 14

WEEK 15      WEEK 16

WEEK 1

T 1/7            Course Introduction

                    HOMEWORK (DUE 1/9):

•           Complete Syllabus Quiz
  

•          Watch Before Stonewall (in JWU Kanopy database)
  

•          Read Creating the First Visual History of Queer Life before Stonewall
  

                  Be prepared to do FW next class : What do you see as the cultural, historical, 

                  and political value of a film like Before Stonewall? 

R  1/9        Stonewall FW; The Ethical Uses of AI

                   HOMEWORK (DUE 1/14):

                   Read "Is There a History of Sexuality?" by David Halperin (SEE WEEK 1 

                    FOLDER)

•          Be prepared to answer this question about your reading and be able to support
  

                   your answer with specific evidence from the text (quotes):  What important 

                   lessons does this article teach us about the history of sexuality? 

WEEK 2

T 1/14      Journal Entry and Discussion of Halperin; Important Terms; Binaries, Behavior,

                  and Identities; 

                  HOMEWORK (DUE 1/16):

                  Read "Run, Mourner, Run" by Randall Kenan (see week 2 folder)

                  Do Reader Response 1:  Argue what you see as the theme of this story and why.  

                  Theme = the central idea communicated by the work. Identify the theme as a 

                   one word idea. Your response should be a minimum of 300 words.

R 1/16     Fiction Terms and Discussion of Kenan Story   

                 HOMEWORK (DUE 1/21): 

•        Read "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx
  

•       Read "Queer" by Frank Bidart
  

•       Do Reader Response 2:  Thematically, what do these two works have in   
  

               common? Why is that significant and how does this relate to the other works we

               have examined thus far (Kenan, Freedman, and Halperin)?

WEEK 3

T 1/21       Discuss Proulx and Bidart

                   HOMEWORK (DUE 1/23):

•           Read "The Invention of Sexuality" from Jeffrey Weeks' book, Sexuality
  

•          Read Audre Lorde's bio
  

•          Read Audre Lorde's "A Litany for Survival"
  

•          Complete Reader Response 3:  In a minimum of 600 words by class time on R
  

                   1/27 answering the following question:   Weeks argues that "the invention of 

                  sexuality was not a single event, now lost in a distant past.  It is a continuing 

                  process in which we are simultaneously acted upon and actors, objects of 

                 change, and its subject."  What do you think he means by this and what 

                 connections might this statement have to Audre Lorde's poem?  Support your 

                 argument with evidence from both texts as well as 

                 Lorde's bio. 

•        Upload completed Response to Turnitin folder
  

R 1/23     Discuss Weeks and Lorde 

                  HOMEWORK (DUE 1/28):

•         Watch Undertow (Contracorriente); 2010, 1 hour 54 minutes; $2.99 rental
  

                   WARNING:  SEXUAL SITUATIONS AND SOME NUDITY​

•         Watch Judith Butler:  Your Behavior Creates Your Gender
  

•         Watch Judith Butler:  How Discourse Creates Homosexuality
  

WEEK 4

T  1/28     Discuss Undertow (Contracorriente) & Gender Performance

                  HOMEWORK (DUE 1/30):

•         Watch Moonlight (1 hr. 50 min.) $2.99 at Amazon
  

•        Do Reader Response 4:   In a minimum of 600 words by class time on R
  

                 1/30 answer the following question:  In what ways does this film present gender

                 as a "peformance" as Judith Butler claims.  What connections do you see to 

                Undertow? Explain and include at least one quote from each film. 

R 1/30     Discuss Moonlight (analyze scene)

                     

                   HOMEWORK (DUE 2/4):

•          Watch Moonlight (1 hour 50 minutes) $2.99 at Amazon
  

 

WEEK 5

T 2/4        Discuss Moonlight and Connections to Undertow

                   HOMEWORK (DUE 2/6):

•          Watch "Society Vs. Self-Identity:  Knocking Down the Walls of 
  

                   Heternormativity" (8 min)

•          Watch Judith Butler:  Short Speech on Gender (2 min.)
  

•          Read "When Homosexuality Stopped Being a Mental Disorder"
  

•          Read LGBTQ+ Panic Defense
  

•          Watch "Striking Vipers," Black Mirror (Season 5, episode 1; 1 hour); Available
  

                   on Netflix

•          Do Reader Response 5:  In what ways do ALL these texts and the film form a 
  

                   conversation/discourse about heternormativity?  What is their collective 

                   central message about it? Support your argument with evidence/quotes from

                   the texts.  Your response should be a min. of 600 words.

R 2/6        Discuss Striking Vipers 

                   HOMEWORK (DUE 2/11):

•          Read instructions for Midterm Exam in Week 6 folder.
  

•          Complete Claim and Subclaims (a complete sentence for each one).
  

•          Submit completed claim and subclaims to ulearn before class on Tuesday 
  

                  (week 6 folder)

WEEK 6

T 2/11         Claims and Subclaims Due; PLANNING CONFERENCES

                     HOMEWORK (DUE 2/13):

•           Revise Claim and Subclaims
  

R 2/13        Drafting Midterm Essay; PLANNING CONFERENCES

                    HOMEWORK (DUE 2/18):

•           First Draft of Essay 1 due next class (essay, 4-6 page)
  

•           Submit Essays only to Tutor.com also
  

WEEK 7

T 2/18           First Draft of Midterm Essay Due (or presentation); Exchange for Peer 

                       Critique; CONFERENCES

                       HOMEWORK (DUE 2/20):

                       Complete typed critique of partner's paper; Upload steps 1 and 2 of Critique 

                       to Ulearn as ONE MS WORD document 

•              Peer Critique questions for ESSAYS 
  

•              Email completed critique to partner
  

•              Complete Tutor.com Report and Revision Plan (both parts) as 
  

                       explained in class and upload to ulearn.

R 2/20         Peer Critique; CONFERENCES

                      HOMEWORK (DUE 2/25):

•             Final Draft of Midterm Due with Reflection
  

WEEK 8​

T 2/25       Final Draft of Midterm Due with reflection; Watch Inside Her Sex doc (68 

                    ​  

                    HOMEWORK (DUE 2/27):

                    Read "The Changing Ideal of Womanhood During the Nineteenth Century

                   Woman Movement" by Susan Cruea

R 2/27         Discuss Cruea   

                     HOMEWORK (DUE 3/11):   

•            Read "The Storm" by Kate Chopin; listen to the story here.
  

•            Do Reader Response 6:  What does Chopin's story reveal about the changing
  

                     ideals of womanhood at the beginning of the 19th century? Use a minimum of

                     one quote from Cruea and one quote from Chopin; min. 600 2 FULL pages;

                     Upload to Ulearn.

2/28-3/9   NO CLASS, SPRING BREAK

WEEK 9

T 3/11         Discuss "The Storm" 

                     HOMEWORK (DUE 3/13):

•            Read "Social Purity" by Susan B. Anthony
  

•            Read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  

R 3/13         Discuss "The Yellow Wallpaper"

                      HOMEWORK (DUE 3/18):​

•             Read Act I of "In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play," pp. 1-65
  

•             Complete Reading Quiz in Ulearn.
  

•             Do Reader Response 7: What do you see as an emerging theme in this play                    and why? Identify something that a character does or says, or an object
  

                      closely associated with them, that reveals something about this theme.

                      Upload to Ulearn by class time.

•             Post Reader Response 7 to Ulearn Turnitin Assignment (Week 9 folder) 
  

WEEK 10

T 3/18          Discuss Act I

                      HOMEWORK (DUE 3/20):​ 

                       Read Act II of In the Next Room, pp. 67-144

•              Complete Reading Quiz in Ulearn.
  

R 3/20        Discuss Act II

                     HOMEWORK (DUE 3/25):

                     Read "The Uses of the Erotic: the Erotic as Power" by Audre Lorde

                     Read "Love Poem" by Audre Lorde and "A Soft Indentation" by Chrystos in

                     Ulearn (WEEK 10 folder)

WEEK 11

T  3/25        Discuss Lorde and Chrystos poems

                      HOMEWORK (DUE 3/27):

•             Read "Poetry is Not a Luxury" by Audre Lorde
  

•             Watch The Hours (2002, 1 hr. 54 min.; $2.99 @ Amazon)
  

•             Do Reader Response 8: In her essay, "Poetry is Not a Luxury," Lorde argues,
  

                     "As we learn to bear the intimacy of scrutiny, and to flourish within it, as 

                     we learn to use the products of that scrutiny for power within our living, 

                     those fears which rule our lives and form our silences begin to lose their 

                     control over us."  How can we connect this statement to the film The Hours, 

                     the documentary Inside Her Sex, and the poems by Lorde ("Love Poem") & 

                     Chrystos ("Soft Indentation")? Your response must be a minimum of 600 

                     words and include multiple examples and a minimum of two quotes.

R 3/27         Discuss The Hours and "Poetry is Not a Luxury" and connections to other texts

                      HOMEWORK (DUE 4/1): 

•             In Their Own Words:
  

                      "What Does It Mean to Be Genderqueer?"  (7 min.)

                      "Why I'm Genderqueer" (17 min.)

                      Watch ​"Non-Binary Vs. Gender Non-Conforming" (20 min.)

•             Read "i/dentity (packed) by Aimee Herman & "A Cut Won't Kill Me" by 
  

                     Bo Luengsuraswat (in Ulearn WEEK 11 folder)

WEEK 12

T 4/1             Discuss Poems

                       HOMEWORK (DUE 4/3):

•              Watch Trans (94 minutes)
  

•               Read "Boy with Flowers" by Ely Shipley & (in Ulearn, WEEK 12 folder)
  

•               Complete Reader Response 9:  In a min. of 450 words, respond to the
  

                        following question:  How did the documentary Trans aid you in better

                       understanding the poem?  What do you see as some important connections? 

                       Refer to specific examples from both the documentary and poem and include

                       a min. of one quote.

R 4/3          Discuss Poems Herman and Luengsuraswat 

                     HOMEWORK (DUE 4/8):

•             Watch Boys Don't Cry ($3.99 at Amazon; 2 hrs.)
  

•             Read "Cycle Undone" by Ahmisa Timoteo Bodhran (in Ulearn)
  

•             Do Reader Response 10:  What do you see as the central theme of this film and
  

                      why? What connections do you see between the film's theme and the content

                      of Bodhran's poem? Your response must be a min. of 600 words and refer to

                      specific examples from both the film and the poem.  Include a least one quote

                      from the poem in your response.

WEEK 13

T 4/8           Discuss Boys Don't Cry & Final Exam

                     HOMEWORK (DUE 4/10):

•            Claim and Sub-claims for Final Exam (Essay ) Due
  

R 4/10        Claim and Sub-Claims for Final Exam Due; Pair up for peer critique in class

                    HOMEWORK (DUE 4/15):

•           First draft of final exam due 
  

•           Submit essay first draft to Tutor.com
  

WEEK 14

T 4/15       First draft of Final Exam Due; Exchange drafts with a partner for critique; 

                   CONFERENCES

                    HOMEWORK (DUE 4/17):

•          Complete Typed Critique of Partner's Essay  (both parts) and submit to 
  

                   Ulearn

                   Complete Tutor.com Report and Revision Plan to ulearn

•          Continue to Revise Your Final Presentation or Essay
  

R 4/17     Share Critique in Class; CONFERENCES 

                 HOMEWORK (DUE 4/21):

                 Continue to Revise Presentation

WEEK 15

T 4/22     Reading Day (Work on Revisions)     

                  HOMEWORK (DUE 4/29):

•         Final Exam Due with Reflection
  

WEEK 16

T 4/29    Final Exam Due with Reflection by 12:30pm