Tag Archive for "Women’s Studies"

Posts Tagged Women’s Studies

What Makes Women’s Studies?

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, Queer Studies, there are a host of names for the academic field built by a range of academics from Judith Butler to Eve Sedgwick. As a feminist writer, you would think that I would spend a lot of time parsing over the works of these scholars.

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, Queer Studies, there are a host of names for the academic field built by a range of academics from Judith Butler to ...

By Gwendolyn Beetham • 9 years ago

The Academic Feminist: Feminist Perspectives on Contingency in Academia

Welcome back, Academic Feminists! I’m excited to report that members of the Feministing team are on their way to the annual National Women’s Studies Association conference.

By Samhita • 12 years ago

Beyonce enters the women’s studies classroom

Women’s studies has for many decades centered itself around the study of popular culture and this trend continues as it was announced last week that there will be a class called “Politicizing Beyonce” offered by the Women’s Studies Departement at Rutgers.

Most people groan in dismay when I rigorously analyze pop culture through a gender studies lens (especially at dinner parties, my apparent super power)–but I think that shit is hot. I have two degrees in women’s studies and for both my MA and BA work, I was deeply fascinated by what popular culture tells us about the representation of women, race, class and sexuality. And the conclusions from feminists weren’t as negative, critical and narrow-minded as one might assume.

It ...

By Tara L. Conley • 12 years ago

There’s no crying in intramural basketball, but there is gender discrimination

When I was a kid, the first person who told me I can play basketball just as good as the boys was my dad. He, along with my mother and my brother, told me never to apologize for being the fastest girl on the basketball court or on the track. For the most part, I grew up with positive gender consciousness, and participating in sports, along with family support, made that possible.

At thirty-years-old, I continue to pride myself in the gender work that I do in academia and in the community. I teach two introductory women’s studies courses; one as an assistant instructor at Barnard, and the other at an urban after-school community center. I have a master’s degree in ...

When I was a kid, the first person who told me I can play basketball just as good as the boys was my dad. He, along with my mother and my brother, told me never to apologize ...

By Nicole • 13 years ago

Not Your Typical Lecture!

In the cold, West Michigan winter of 2009, the Women and Gender Studies program at Grand Valley State University introduced its students to the wonderful and intriguing world of Triota. Triota, also known as Iota Iota Iota (try saying that three times fast!) is the Women and Gender Studies National Honors Society that offers students the chance to excel in the areas of WGS by encouraging its members to strive for excellence in academics, giving back to the community through feminist activism and social advocacy, and to spark creativity in ways to engage the campus and community in the WGS program.

Since the birth of Triota on our campus there have been some extremely kick ass student initiated programs ...

By Courtney • 14 years ago

Guest post: tribute to a gender studies godmother

This is a guest post from Gwendolyn Beetham, free-lance researcher and MPhil/PhD candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her project on gender and international development seeks to bridge her long-time love of activism and academic research.
I want to honor feminist economist and founder of the National Council for Research on Women, Mariam K. Chamberlain.
After receiving her PhD in economics from Harvard (before women were allowed to attend!), and working as one of the few women economists hired by the U.S. government during WWII, she became a program officer at the Ford Foundation.
Arriving at Ford during the beginning of the second wave feminist movement, Mariam was able to direct nearly $5 ...

By Courtney • 14 years ago

Feminism in the Classroom

If you’re not hip to Ileana Jiménez’s amazing blog, Feminist Teacher, it’s time. Throughout her thirteen year career, Jiménez has been a leader in the field of social justice education for students of color, LGBT youth, women and girls. She’s also a major advocate of getting intersectional feminism in schools at all grade levels.
In a recent post, she writes about making an argument for getting gender education in the classroom, pre-college. There is so much talk about women’s studies at the university level, that we often lose track of the importance of gender education in the early years. Jiménez asked her students to write a letter to President Obama asking him to “examine the issue of gender and ...

By Samhita • 14 years ago

Quick Hit: Jessica on Elitist Feminism

Check out Jess’s awesome piece over at her blog about elitism and feminism and takes on critic to young feminists, Nina Power.

Power also takes issue with me being too “upbeat”, and suggesting that feminism can make women’s lives better. (We like our social justice movements dour, not joyful!) By ignoring how important and transformational it can be for women to see the world through a feminist lens and recognize everyday personal inequities, Power disregards how this kind of individual realization often leads to collective action and activism.
Are theory and political history important? Of course. But there’s more than one feminist project and accessibility, substance and radical thought aren’t mutually exclusive (something Power would know had ...

Check out Jess’s awesome piece over at her blog about elitism and feminism and takes on critic to young feminists, Nina Power.

Power also takes issue with me being too “upbeat”, and suggesting that feminism can make women’s ...