Exam II

Posted: Mon, Apr 7, 2025

Logistics

  • Our second exam is Monday, April 14. It will be the same format as the first exam.
  • The second part of the course lexicon is due in hard copy at the end of the exam. This is the typed/cleaned-up version, which should include a list of terms with their definitions/explanations/illustrations.
  • The exam is closed book and closed notes, except that you are allowed to consult your own course lexicon.
  • The exam will consist of six short answer questions and an essay question.
  • If you need a quiet room, extended time, etc., please reach out!

Possible Essay Prompts

Two of the following prompts will be selected to appear on the exam, and you will be asked to answer one of the two. An excellent essay should (a) demonstrate a clear grasp of the relevant course materials, (b) develop a clear, thoughtful, reasoned, and structurally complete analysis, and (c) draw on but go beyond our class discussions in some way. Aim for 500–700 words.

  1. Beauvoir: the social constructivist or the existentialist?
  2. Biological sex: has there ever been one? (in what sense/way?)
  3. “Science seeks to contain and colonize the radical threat posed by a particular transgender strategy of resistance to the coerciveness of gender: physical alteration of the genitals” (Stryker 1994, 244). Explain and discuss.

Advice:

  • Imagine that you are writing to a friend not enrolled in the class, rather than to me as the instructor. Don’t presume familiarity with the readings. Explain your key terms. Use clear, direct, and simple prose. Don’t mistake obscurity for profundity.
  • Don’t be afraid to speak in your own voice. I want to hear it. Use the first-perron pronouns. Have an opinion. But don’t confuse assertions with arguments. Try to persuade your audience with reasons that are acceptable to not just yourself.
  • Don’t merely summarize/describe/report. Your aim is to show that you not only understand our materials and discussions well but have thought carefully and critically about them on your own. Refer to our texts, authors, and class discussions where appropriate (no citation style necessary).
  • Don’t repeat the prompt. Think about how you want to introduce your discussion.
  • Be organized. Have a plan. Make an outline. Write as legibly as you can.

Topics It Would Make Sense to Review

Beauvoir, The Second Sex

  • Why ask: “What is a woman anyway?”
  • Beauvoir’s argument against biological essentialism about womanhood
  • Woman as the Other
  • Woman as a social becoming: the social constructivist reading vs. the existentialist reading
  • What is woman’s situation like under patriarchy?
  • How do women respond to/resist this situation?
  • The significance of Beauvoir’s analysis

Feminist science studies & philosophy of science

  • The traditional medical management of intersex people
  • History of the sexing of steroid hormones
  • History of the sexing of the X chromosome
  • The one-sex model vs. the two-sex model
  • History of our understanding of the clitoris
  • Tiana’s idea of ignorance as an active production
  • How does this line of scholarship challenge the sex/gender distinction?

Trans studies

  • Trans studies vs. study of trans phenomenon
  • The traditional medical management of trans people
  • Ashley’s three arguments against medical gatekeeping
  • Stryker’s reclaiming of trans monstrosity
  • Stryker’s use of trans rage
  • [Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s chapter, if we get to it]
  • How does this line of scholarship challenge the sex/gender distinction?