Schedule · Phil 130: Sex, Gender, and Love

Date	Module	Readings	Due Dates
2025-01-15	Introduction	Course overview Greta Christina, “Are We Having Sex Now or What?” (1992)	Please complete the “Getting to Know You” survey on D2L by noon the day before our first day of class (or as soon as possible if you are joining late)
2025-01-20	Introduction	Martin Luther King Day (no class) Suggested: My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021), directed by Julie Cohen & Betsy West, 91 min
2025-01-22	Part I: Love	Love at the drinking party I Plato, Symposium, up to 194e (just before the start of Agathon’s speech)
2025-01-27	Part I: Love	Love at the drinking party II Plato, Symposium, 195a–212c (till the end of Socrates’ speech)
2025-01-29	Part I: Love	Love at the drinking party III Plato, Symposium, 212c to the end
2025-02-03	Part I: Love	“Happy ever after”? Carrie Jenkins, Sad Love: Romance and the Search for Meaning (2022), chap. 2
2025-02-05	Part I: Love	Love under patriarchy Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949), pp. 683–708, 432–36, 420–22 (in this order)	If you are honors student who would like to complete an honors contract with me, please meet with me by this day
2025-02-07	Part I: Love	FemPhilAZ 2025 (Day 1)
2025-02-08	Part I: Love	FemPhilAZ 2025 (Day 2)
2025-02-10	Part I: Love	Queer & trans love I Claudia Card, “Against Marriage and Motherhood” (1996)
2025-02-12	Part I: Love	Queer & trans love II Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” (1978) Julia Serano, Whipping Girl (2007), chap. 16 [if you prefer, audio ver] Amy Marvin, “Short-Circuited Trans Care, t4t, and Trans Scenes” (2022)
2025-02-17	Part I: Love	Polyamory Natasha McKeever, “Is the Requirement of Sexual Exclusivity Consistent with Romantic Love?” (2022)	FemPhilAZ extra credit assignment due in person in hard copy
2025-02-19	Part I: Love	Asexuality Luke Brunning & Natasha McKeever, “Asexuality” (2022)
2025-02-24	Part I: Love	Exam I (our usual time & classroom)	Part I of course lexicon due in person in hard copy
2025-02-26	Part II: Gender	The Beauvoirian Revolution I Beauvoir, The Second Sex, pp. xviii–xx, 3–17, 21–26, 44–48, 71–75
2025-03-03	Part II: Gender	The Beauvoirian Revolution II Beauvoir, The Second Sex, TBD (we will decide together)
2025-03-05	Part II: Gender	The Beauvoirian Revolution III Beauvoir, The Second Sex, TBD (we will decide together)
2025-03-10	Part II: Gender	Spring recess (no class)
2025-03-12	Part II: Gender	Spring recess (no class)
2025-03-17	Part II: Gender	Gendering Sex I (no class—please watch the documentary at home after doing the reading) Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality (2000), chap. 3 At-home screening: Every Body (2023), directed by Julie Cohen, 93 min
2025-03-19	Part II: Gender	Gendering Sex II Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body, chap. 7
2025-03-24	Part II: Gender	Gendering Sex III Nancy Tuana, “Coming to Understand: Orgasm and the Epistemology of Ignorance” (2004)
2025-03-26	Part II: Gender	Gendering Sex IV (guest lecture by Ella LaRose) Sarah S. Richardson, “Sexing the X: How the X Became the ‘Female Chromosome’ ” (2012)
2025-03-31	Part II: Gender	Sexing Gender I Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, Sixth Version (2001) In-class screening: Framing Agnes, directed by Chase Joynt, 75 min	Lesbian Looks extra credit assignment due in person in hard copy (TBD)
2025-04-02	Part II: Gender	Sexing Gender II Florence Ashley, “Gatekeeping Hormone Replacement Therapy for Transgender Patients Is Dehumanising” (2019)
2025-04-07	Part II: Gender	Sexing Gender III Serano, Whipping Girl, chaps. 5, 10 [audio ver here and here]
2025-04-09	Part II: Gender	Sexing Gender IV Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance, chap. 8
2025-04-14	Part II: Gender	Exam II (our usual time & classroom)	Part II of course lexicon due in person in hard copy
2025-04-16	Part III: Sex	Pregnancy I (no class—please watch the documentary at home after doing the reading) Lina-Maria Murillo, “Espanta Cigüeñas: Race and Abortion in the US-Mexico Borderlands” (2023), pp. 795–96, 799–809, 813–20 At-home screening: The Janes (2022), directed by Tia Lessin & Emma Pildes, 102 min
2025-04-21	Part III: Sex	Pregnancy II Amy Reed-Sandoval, Socially Undocumented: Identity and Immigration Justice (2020), chap. 4 Optional: Ding, “Pregnant Persons as a Gender Category: A Trans Feminist Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination” (2025)
2025-04-23	Part III: Sex	Rape I Catharine A. MacKinnon, “Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: Toward Feminist Jurisprudence” (1978)
2025-04-28	Part III: Sex	Rape II Angela Y. Davis, “Rape, Racism and the Capitalist Setting” (1978)
2025-04-30	Part III: Sex	Rape III Joss Greene, “The Insurgent Agency of Incarcerated Trans Women of Color” (2023) Optional: Ding, “Putting Gender Back into Transgender Equality: On Iglesias v. Federal Bureau of Prisons” (2023)
2025-05-05	Part III: Sex	Heterosexuality I Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” (1980)
2025-05-07	Part III: Sex	Heterosexuality II Gayle S. Rubin, “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality” (1984)
2025-05-15	Part III: Sex	Exam III (10:30–12:30, in our usual classroom)	Full course lexicon due in person in hard copy Final project due to D2L by midnight

2025-01-15

Introduction

Course overview

Greta Christina, “Are We Having Sex Now or What?” (1992)

Please complete the “Getting to Know You” survey on D2L by noon the day before our first day of class (or as soon as possible if you are joining late)

2025-01-20

Introduction

Martin Luther King Day (no class)

Suggested: My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021), directed by Julie Cohen & Betsy West, 91 min

2025-01-22

Part I: Love

Love at the drinking party I

Plato, Symposium, up to 194e (just before the start of Agathon’s speech)

2025-01-27

Part I: Love

Love at the drinking party II

Plato, Symposium, 195a–212c (till the end of Socrates’ speech)

2025-01-29

Part I: Love

Love at the drinking party III

Plato, Symposium, 212c to the end

2025-02-03

Part I: Love

“Happy ever after”?

Carrie Jenkins, Sad Love: Romance and the Search for Meaning (2022), chap. 2

2025-02-05

Part I: Love

Love under patriarchy

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949), pp. 683–708, 432–36, 420–22 (in this order)

If you are honors student who would like to complete an honors contract with me, please meet with me by this day

2025-02-07

Part I: Love

FemPhilAZ 2025 (Day 1)

2025-02-08

Part I: Love

FemPhilAZ 2025 (Day 2)

2025-02-10

Part I: Love

Queer & trans love I

Claudia Card, “Against Marriage and Motherhood” (1996)

2025-02-12

Part I: Love

Queer & trans love II

Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” (1978)
Julia Serano, Whipping Girl (2007), chap. 16 [if you prefer, audio ver]
Amy Marvin, “Short-Circuited Trans Care, t4t, and Trans Scenes” (2022)

2025-02-17

Part I: Love

Polyamory

Natasha McKeever, “Is the Requirement of Sexual Exclusivity Consistent with Romantic Love?” (2022)

FemPhilAZ extra credit assignment due in person in hard copy

2025-02-19

Part I: Love

Asexuality

Luke Brunning & Natasha McKeever, “Asexuality” (2022)

2025-02-24

Part I: Love

Exam I (our usual time & classroom)

Part I of course lexicon due in person in hard copy

2025-02-26

Part II: Gender

The Beauvoirian Revolution I

Beauvoir, The Second Sex, pp. xviii–xx, 3–17, 21–26, 44–48, 71–75

2025-03-03

Part II: Gender

The Beauvoirian Revolution II

Beauvoir, The Second Sex, TBD (we will decide together)

2025-03-05

Part II: Gender

The Beauvoirian Revolution III

Beauvoir, The Second Sex, TBD (we will decide together)

2025-03-10

Part II: Gender

Spring recess (no class)

2025-03-12

Part II: Gender

Spring recess (no class)

2025-03-17

Part II: Gender

Gendering Sex I (no class—please watch the documentary at home after doing the reading)

Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality (2000), chap. 3
At-home screening: Every Body (2023), directed by Julie Cohen, 93 min

2025-03-19

Part II: Gender

Gendering Sex II

Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body, chap. 7

2025-03-24

Part II: Gender

Gendering Sex III

Nancy Tuana, “Coming to Understand: Orgasm and the Epistemology of Ignorance” (2004)

2025-03-26

Part II: Gender

Gendering Sex IV (guest lecture by Ella LaRose)

Sarah S. Richardson, “Sexing the X: How the X Became the ‘Female Chromosome’ ” (2012)

2025-03-31

Part II: Gender

Sexing Gender I

Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, Sixth Version (2001)
In-class screening: Framing Agnes, directed by Chase Joynt, 75 min

Lesbian Looks extra credit assignment due in person in hard copy (TBD)

2025-04-02

Part II: Gender

Sexing Gender II

Florence Ashley, “Gatekeeping Hormone Replacement Therapy for Transgender Patients Is Dehumanising” (2019)

2025-04-07

Part II: Gender

Sexing Gender III

Serano, Whipping Girl, chaps. 5, 10 [audio ver here and here]

2025-04-09

Part II: Gender

Sexing Gender IV

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance, chap. 8

2025-04-14

Part II: Gender

Exam II (our usual time & classroom)

Part II of course lexicon due in person in hard copy

2025-04-16

Part III: Sex

Pregnancy I (no class—please watch the documentary at home after doing the reading)

Lina-Maria Murillo, “Espanta Cigüeñas: Race and Abortion in the US-Mexico Borderlands” (2023), pp. 795–96, 799–809, 813–20
At-home screening: The Janes (2022), directed by Tia Lessin & Emma Pildes, 102 min

2025-04-21

Part III: Sex

Pregnancy II