Feminist Philosophy Fall 2007 Dr. Cynthia Freeland

Paper Topics for Take-Home 2 on Units Three and Four

Readings covered in this take-home:

Tong Chapters 2, 3, 4, 7

Irigaray, essays in This Sex Which Is Not One and excerpts on handouts
Brison, Aftermath, Chapters Three and Four

Various essays in Colonize This

Austin, Sethi, Dill, Riley, Horn-Miller, Mody

E-book readings: Heidi Hartmann, Catharine MacKinnon, Iris Young

Directions: Answer two questions. Each question is worth 15 points or 15% of your final grade.  Essays will be graded on the basis of content as well as style and the correct use of grammar, punctuation, etc. All essays must be typed, double-spaced. The length guide is roughly 2 pages per essay, or four pages total, for undergraduates, and longer for graduate students (use your discretion). Be sure to incorporate references to the readings! You do not need formal footnotes to refer to material from the assigned texts or in-class handouts. You do need footnotes for all other material that is cited. I do not have a preferred format for the paper layout or footnotes.

1. Explain the difference between radical libertarian feminist and radical cultural feminist views on sexuality and pornography. Whose view do you consider preferable, and why? OPTION: Contrast one of these positions on pornography with a Marxist or socialist view. OR, explain how MacKinnon combines her radical cultural feminism with a Marxist orientation in forming her position against pornography.

2. Discuss the role of the body in feminism. Explain using writings of Brison, Irigaray, and/or Young. What are some problems or limitations for feminist theorizing in this emphasis on the body? What are the advantages for feminist theory of such an emphasis? (You may also draw on any of the relevant essays from Colonize This!).

3. Use one or more of the essays from Colonize This to illustrate some problems brought up for mainstream American feminism by representatives of multicultural and/or global feminism. (You might focus on issues of women in India, for example, using the articles by Sethi and Modi as well as material from Tong Chapter 7.) What are the complaints, and why are they made? Are they justified? What, if anything, is the response from mainstream feminists?

Due in Class November 14, 2007

Late papers will be marked down one half-grade (2 pts) per class day late. Be sure to put your name and the topic on the top of each of your essays. Use a separate page for your second essay.

Plagiarism

Remember, plagiarism is a serious offense against the university’s academic honesty policy. Plagiarism includes paraphrasing. Every effort will be made to detect plagiarized material (this includes material copied from websites!). And yes, even one sentence is enough to make a paper count as a violation. Papers must represent the student’s own work and ideas. There’s no point in grading them (or in writing them!) otherwise. Any papers found to be in violation of the academic honesty policy will receive a grade of “0” points.

E-Mail: If you submit essays by e-mail. please entitle them as follows: JaneDoeEssay1.doc, JamesBlueEssay2.doc, etc. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the professor receives e-mailed essays on time and also that they are readable and virus-free! Do not send essays written in Word Perfect, as I cannot read it.