Black Women in America is an upper-division elective course for students majoring in African American or women's studies at California State University Fullerton (CSUF). The author has taught this course at CSUF at least once a year since 2002 and have changed the course readings, lectures, and assignments on a regular basis. In April 2007,…

For feminist literary critics and teachers writing about and teaching literature "after feminism," the path is potentially treacherous. Feminist literary criticism, if it is applied too narrowly and used to reject complex literary texts that do not uphold an imagined feminist standard of "positive images" of women, can end up undermining other…

It is confusing to be a feminist student. Deconstruction is "de rigueur"; reconstruction less so. Awareness rises while answers recede. Feminist students seek out learning experiences that disrupt, empower, and make them feminist students not only by what they learn, but also by how they learn, by the pedagogy in which they engage. Certainly there…

Most of the students who are taking the author's sport sociology courses can easily identify the problematic ways in which women's athletic events and bodies are covered within the sports sections of newspapers, magazines, Web sites, and television shows. These students are less able to understand how the heterosexual male sporting experience…

In recent years, "pre-code" films have been re-discovered and applauded by film scholars and feminists. The term refers to the period between 1929 and 1934 when many Hollywood studios openly disregarded the censorship restrictions of the Hays Code. Named after censorship czar William H. Hays, the Code forbade nudity, cursing, sexual innuendo,…

The ways in which both postfeminism and neoliberalism contest the legitimacy of traditional feminist dogma, which is to say second-wave principles and practices, becomes particularly acute in the classroom. Feminist pedagogies have largely been predicated on two socio-political givens that postfeminist and neoliberal logics disallow: (1) that…

Explores the reasons why higher education must incorporate gender and multicultural scholarship and perspectives into the curriculum. Argues for the type of multiculturalism that focuses on identifying and deconstructing privilege and hierarchy. Discusses teaching strategies for multiculturalism as critical thinking. (CMK)

Teaching students to think critically while integrating their personal experiences with feminist scholarship has become a very important objective in the Introduction to Women's Studies course. Women's studies introductory courses are designed to introduce students to feminist inquiry, using gender as the center of analysis while examining its…

The following essay is a discussion of the author's work of becoming a male feminist teacher in the face of conservative views of feminism as well as skepticism from female (and male) students. He examines how authority (of knowledge) and authenticity (of experience) inform and impact the feminist practice of a male writing teacher. He…

Given the emphasis on education and consciousness-raising that pervades many environmental justice movements, it seems inevitable to draw parallels between feminist pedagogy and environmental justice. Both environmental justice issues and feminist pedagogy address intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and nation; both combine…

How does an African American feminist psychologist develop and promote an interdisciplinary sexuality course placing the experiences of African American women at the center of analysis while simultaneously maintaining its relevance to all students? This article provides answers by explaining how a course's title, perspective, structure, and…

Discusses the benefits of marking sexual identities (as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual) in the classroom, exposing students' hetero-normativity, and alerting them to ways in which seemingly "personal" lives are shaped by the political. Relates the authors' classroom experiences in trying to illustrate the socially-constructed aspects of…

Describes reactions by college students to an antihomophobic classroom pedagogy. Asserts that homosexual and bisexual students need to see themselves represented in the classroom. Presents a 30-item selected bibliography addressing this issue. (CFR)

Maintains that effective Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) education cannot be separated from homophobia, and offers guidelines for dealing with homophobia in the classroom. Points out that AIDS misinformation often results from homophobic attitudes. Provides questions that educators can ask themselves to challenge their own attitudes,…

Maintains that sexism is the foundation on which all other forms of oppression are built. Discusses a classroom exercise in which 150 first-year students at Indiana University, Bloomington, write an essay describing a conversation with someone about homosexuality. Analyzes student essays in terms of what they reveal about the link between sexism…