Dr. Virginia Brown                  Dr. Janet Moore Lindman                     Dr. Maria Tahamont
Robinson Hall, ext. 3780         Robinson Hall, ext. 3995                      Bosshart Hall, ext. 3584
brown@rowan.edu                 lindman@rowan.edu                            tahamont@rowan.edu

Rationale:

This interdisciplinary course critically examines issues in women's health.  Biological, socio-cultural, psychological, historical, and political processes that shape and define women's health and healthcare experiences will be explored, including ways in which medical knowledge has been constructed and applied to women's bodies.

Both normal physiology and pathophysiology will be presented within the broader context of social, cultural, and historical interpretations.  It is a primary goal to explore these significant questions:  How has the physical functioning of the human female body been interpreted by the scientific community?  How have these interpretations shaped the type and quality of medical treatment available to women?  What has been done to change ideas about women's bodies and the health care offered to women?  What are the links between cultural perceptions of women, women's status, and the management of women's bodies?

The Objectives of the Course:

1. to examine the physiology underlying women's health and illness experiences
2. to examine the methodology used by scientific research in the study of women's health
3. to examine women's health issues in their social, cultural, and historical contexts
4. to expose hidden issues in women's health, for example:  "What questions have not been asked?"

Goals for the Students:

Upon completion of the course the students will be able:
1. to interpret statistical data related to women's health issues
2. to examine data using contextual analysis
3. to demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural, and historical factors that effect the ways that women's bodies are conceptualized and women's health issues are viewed
4. to assess the strengths and limitations of research in the field of women's health
5. to critically analyze policy issues and decisions made about women's health and healthcare
6. to understand the link between gender relations and women's status in contemporary society and medical treatment and research

Student Responsibilities:

· Group Project - oral presentation and written self-assessment
· Journal (to be handed in twice during semester)
· Reaction Papers (3-4 pages, 3 per semester)
· Class Participation, small group work, and email discussions

These student responsibilities are aimed at having the students accept responsibility for their learning and to allow them to take ownership of the material covered during the course.  Oral presentations, journal writing, and class participation are ways to provide students with a voice in the course.

Group Presentations:

Possible Topics:  teenage pregnancy; sexually transmitted diseases; breast cancer; cardiovascular disease and treatment; alcoholism; exercise; abortion; Lamaze and natural childbirth; women with disabilities; cosmetic surgery; female genital mutilation; environmental racism.

Grading:

The grade for this course will be based on participation in class, the group project, and writing assignments.  The breakdown for the final grade is as follows:

30% Participation (includes journal entries, individual and group discussions, email participation)
40% Group Project (includes the group presentation and self-assessment)
30% Reaction Papers (3 papers during the semester with each counting 10%)

Course Topics and Readings:

1/23    Introduction

· Who are we as a class?
· What do the students want out of this class?
· What are the goals and interests of the students?
· Body image exercise
 

1/30    The Medical Model

· How is Gender Relevant to Science?
· Is Medicine/Science Sexist?
· What is the Impact of a Person's Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Class and Sexual Orientation on the
  Quality of the Health Care They Receive?

Readings:

Lisa Collier Cool, "Forgotten Women:  How Minorities are Under Served by our Health Care System."
Diane Hales, "What Doctors Don't Know About Women's Bodies."
Emily Martin, "The Egg and the Sperm:  How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles."
Cheryl Brown Travis and Jill D. Compton, “Feminism and Health in the Decade of Behavior.”
Anne Metcalf, "Old Woes, Old Ways, New Dawn: Native American Women's Health Issues."
Jocelyn White and Wendy Levinson, "Primary Care of Lesbian Patients."

2/6    Body Image I

· Fat as a Feminist Issue
· Thinness as Chic
· Media Images of the Female Body

Readings:

Susan Bordo, "The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity."
Jcqueline Urla and Alan C. Swedlund, "The Anthropometry of Barbie: Unsettling Ideas of the Femine Body in Popular Culture."
Susie Orbach, "Fat is a Feminist Issue."
Christine Smith, "Women, Weight and Body Image."

FILM:  Slim Hopes:  Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness

2/13    Body Image II

·  Metabolism: the Story behind Fat
· The Culture of Diet
· The History of Obesity and Anorexia

Readings:

Sara Hare, "You're Not Fat, You're Living in the Wrong Country."
Anne Fausto-Sterling, "Gender, Race and Nation: The Comparative Anatomy of 'Hottentot' Women in Europe, 1815-1817."
Marini, Bartholomew, and Welch, "Nutrition and Metabolism."
Kathleen Pike and Ruth Striegel-Moore, "Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders."

First Reaction Paper Due

2/20    Female Hormones and the Myth of PMS

· Menstrual Cycle/Ovarian Cycle
· Why Do Only American Women Experience PMS?
· Medicalizing Natural Body Changes into "Symptoms"
· The Culture of Menopause

SELECT GROUP PROJECTS

Readings:

Natalie Angier, "Suckers and Horns:  The Prodigal Uterus."
Joan Jacobs Brumberg, "The Body's New Timetable:  How the Life Course of American Girls Has Changed."
Carol Tavris, "Misdiagnosing the Body:  Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, Post-Menstrual Syndrome, and Other 'Normal' Diseases."
Emily Martin, "Medical Metaphors of Women's Bodies:  Menstruation and Menopause."

FILM: Period Piece

2/27    Social Politics I

· Midwives and Women Healers
· Scientific Motherhood
· Childbirth and Science

Readings:

Rima Apple, "Constructing Mothers:  Scientific Motherhood in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries."
Judith Walzer Leavitt, "Birthing and Anesthesia:  The Debate Over Twilight Sleep."
Emily Martin, “Medical Metaphors of Women’s Bodies:  Birth.”
Dorothy Roberts, "Reproduction in Bondage."
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "'The Living Mother of a Living Child':  Midwifery and Mortality in Post-Revolutionary New England."

FILM:  A Midwife’s Tale

 3/6    Social Politics II

· Birth Control and Abortion
· Reproductive Rights
· Women and Welfare

Readings:

Harry Blackmun, segment of "Roe v. Wade, 1973."
Linda Gordon, "Voluntary Motherhood:  The Beginnings of Feminist Birth Control Ideas in the United States."
Dorothy Roberts, "The Welfare Debate: Who pays for Procreation?"
_______“About Welfare:  Myths, Facts, Challenges, and Solutions.”

FILM: The Pill

Second Reaction Paper Due

3/13    Sexual Health and Sexual Disease

· AIDS
· Racism, Sexism, Classism, Heterosexism in AIDS
· International Issues and AIDS

Readings:

Kathryn Anastos and Carola Marte, "Women--The Missing Persons in the AIDS Epidemic."
Cindy Patton, "Between Innocence and Safety: Epidemiologic and Popular Constructions of Young People's Need for Safe Sex."
Paula Treichler, "AIDS, Gender, and Biomedical Discourses:  Current Contests for Meaning."
African-American Women Respond to AIDS/HIV.
______"Addressing Africa's Agony," Time article.

FILM:  AIDS:  The Women Speak

Journals Due

3/18-22    Spring Break

3/27    Biological and Social Constructions of Mental Health

· Depression: Biological or Cultural?
· Impact of Gender, Race, Class and Culture on Mental Health Care

Readings:

Ellen Abelson, "The Invention of Kleptomania."
Ellen Leibenluft, "Why Are So Many Women Depressed?"
Carol Tavris, "Misdiagnosing the Mind:  Why Women are Sick, and Men Have Problems."
Lynn Weber, Tina Hancock and Elizabeth Higginbotham, "Women, Power and Mental Health."

Third Reaction Paper Due

4/3    Genderand Disabilities

Readings:

Carol Gill, "The Last Sisters: Health Issues of Women with Disabilities."
Billy Golfus, "Sex and the Single Gimp."
Susan Wendell, "Toward a Feminist Theory of Disability."

4/10    Open Topic

4/17    Project Presentations

4/24    Project Presentations

5/1      Closing Comments

Journal Due

5/8    FINAL EXPERIENCE (2:45 - 4:45 pm)