This file was prepared for electronic distribution by the inforM staff. Questions or comments should be directed to inform-editor@umail.umd.edu. TEACHING ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESOURCE GUIDE WS400: Issues in Feminist Theory and Method Tonia Trodahl Jennifer Sayles Jean Potuchek Jennifer McMahon Denise Maynard Lisa Kaugher Valerie Hoffman Christina Cammarata Katharine Burke Gettysburg College Gettysburg, Pennsylvania May, 1993 Contents Introduction Jean L. Potuchek Female Genital Mutilation Incorporating the Issue of Female Genital Mutilation in a Course on Contemporary Moral Issues Jennifer McMahon Incorporating the Issue of Female Genital Mutilation in a Course on African American Women Writers Denise Maynard Wife Abuse Incorporating the Issue of Wife Beating into a Sociology of Deviance Course Tonia Trodahl Incorporating Material on Wife Abuse in a Contemporary Women Writers Course Lisa Kaugher Rape Incorporating the Issue of Rape in a Core Liberal Arts Course Valerie Hoffman Incorporating the Issue of Rape into an Introductory Psychology Course Christina D. Cammarata Pornography Incorporating the Issue of Pornography into an Introductory Sociology Course Katharine F. Burke Incorporating the Issue of Pornography into a Sociology Course on Mass Media and Popular Culture Jennifer C. Sayles INTRODUCTION Jean L. Potuchek Gettysburg College is a small (2000 students) liberal arts college located in south central Pennsylvania. As is true in many places, concern has been growing here about violence against women and especially about sexual coercion and sexual violence on campus. The development during the past five years of a Women's Studies Program and a campus Women's Center have contributed to the increased visibility of and discussion about these issues. A "Take Back the Night" rally organized on campus during 1989 drew only a handful of people. A similar effort in 1992 attracted a large crowd of students, faculty and staff. This concern about sexual violence has included discussions about how to improve the climate for women on campus. About two years ago, as part of those discussions, the Women's Studies Program Advisory Council began to consider a project to educate students (and faculty) by incorporating material about sexual violence in courses across the curriculum. Such an educational initiative would be designed to problematize forms of violence and coercion that might be accepted as "normal" and thereby decrease the level of tolerance for such behavior, to bring hidden forms of violence to light, and to challenge myths about violence against women. This resource guide is a major component of that larger effort. This guide was produced by a group of senior Women's Studies students as a class project for Women's Studies 400: Issues in Feminist Theory and Methods, the required capstone course for the Women's Studies minor at Gettysburg College. This course helps students to integrate their knowledge of women's studies by systematically examining the variety of feminist perspectives on a particular topic. In 1992-93, the topic was "Violence Against Women." The purview of the course went beyond concerns with sexual violence on campus to consider a broader range of forms of violence and to examine them from a global perspective. We focused particularly on four topics: female genital mutilation, wife abuse, rape, and the question of whether pornography is a form of violence against women. Each of the eight students in the course developed an expert knowledge of feminist approaches to one of these four violence issues. Each student also identified a course already being offered at Gettysburg College which could appropriately include material about this form of violence, but which did not currently do so. Their task was to develop a resource guide for incorporating this material into these courses. The students who developed this guide come from a broad range of majors in the humanities and social sciences, including English, Music, Spanish, Psychology and Sociology, and the courses they chose to work on reflect the breadth of their interests. This guide has eight sections, each of which focuses on incorporating material on a particular form of violence against women into a particular course. In each section of the resource guide, we first provide an overview of the course, follow it with a detailed discussion of how material on sexual violence could be incorporated into the course, include an annotated bibliography of suggested readings for students and resources for faculty, and end with concrete examples of how to use this material in the classroom. This guide is intended for not only the instructors of these particular courses, but for faculty who teach related courses both at Gettysburg College and at other institutions, and for anyone who is interested in teaching about violence against women. A Project like this one cannot go forward without the help of many people. We would like to acknowledge several to whom we owe a special debt. Thanks go, first of all, to the members of the Women's Studies Program Advisory Council, who first developed the idea of incorporating material about rape across the curriculum. Two members of that group, Professors Sandra Gill and Helenmarie Hofman, were especially helpful in discussing ideas and providing suggestions during the early planning of this project. Kim Breighner, Chuck Mulleady and Gail Rankin of the Gettysburg College Computer Services provided timely help with several computer problems. Joyce Sprague, Administrative Assistant for the Women's Studies Program, gave her usual careful attention to the logistics of reproducing, binding and distributing this resource guide. Finally, we owe our greatest thanks to the Gettysburg College faculty members whose courses were used as the basis of this guide. They are Deborah Barnes, Neil Beach, Kathy Cain, Charles Emmons, Sandra Gill, Don Hinrichs, Jean Kuebler and Jan Powers. Without their gracious help and cooperation, this project would not have been possible.