WS101 Introduction to Women's Studies  (Course offered online)  (Cultural Literacy course)

Credits 3Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring

Registration Requirement: RD090 and WR090, or IECC201R and IECC201W, each with a grade of "C" or better; or placement above stated course levels. Recommended requisite: Placement into WR121, or completion of WR101 or WR115.

This course is intended to be an introduction to Women's Studies. It is designed to be an interdisciplinary exploration of the economic, political and social forces that shape women's lives. The course draws upon the methodologies of social sciences, history, literature and other fields. This course counts toward MHCC social science requirements (not Arts and Letters.)

This course fulfills: Cultural Literacy; Human Relations; Social Science

View Course Outcomes:

1. Analyze contemporary debates regarding women in history, the workplace, in laws, in government and in the family
2. Analyze the ideas that have shaped traditional American social expectations regarding women's behavior, image and other choices
3. Analyze the way gender is constructed in texts including advertisements, films, music videos and songs
4. Articulate possibilities for respectful relationships and sensitivity with people of other gender, other ethnicities, other social classes and other ages
5. Define basic women's studies terms as patriarchy, feminism, feminist and gender
6. Demonstrate knowledge of systemic male, heterosexual and white privilege in patriarchal societies
7. Demonstrate in writing or in class discussion the explicit links between student's life and course readings
8. Demonstrate recognition of the power dynamics in personal, sexual or genders relationships
9. Demonstrate the social and cultural construction of gender, sexuality, desire and romance
10. Demonstrate the way gender intersects with class, race and ethnicities
11. Discuss how the social and cultural ideals of female beauty and bodies affect the self-image of females
12. Examine how the idea of being a woman is portrayed in various media
13. Explain how women's personal choices relate to and affect the larger society's political and cultural and economic forces
14. Identify the major American feminist movements from first to third wave