9:12Assignment Details
(SYD3800-0001.sp22) Sociology of Sex and Gender
Submission & Rubric
Description
As you’ll read later in the semester, women’s access to higher
education was limited until the second wave of feminism (in the
1960s and 1970s) led to legislation and judicial rulings giving
women equal access to colleges and universities. However, just
because coed campuses became the norm, women students
weren’t treated the same as men students. You’ll probably be
surprised to learn that colleges and universities had the legal right
to stand in as parents to the women students, through “in loco
parentis” regulations. These regulations were challenged through
feminist activism (and defeated, of course!). But before this
success, the majority of coed colleges and universities published
handbooks for women students, detailing their expected behavior
and punishments for violations. These weren’t just suggestions –
but were enforced! I have spoken with FSU alumnae from the
1960s who told me stories about these rules, their efforts to get
around them (like wearing raincoats and rolling up pants to hide
the fact they were wearing pants!), and the overwhelming sense
they had at the time that it was just “the way things were.” A copy
of FSU’s Handbook for Women Students from the 1960s is found in
this week’s module. Read the handbook and then address the
following questions in your discussion post:
1. How did the handbook restrict women’s behavior? Which
restrictions stood out the most to you? (20 points)
2. How do the restrictions reflect prevailing ideas about
women’s sexuality and about intimate relationships (for
example, which were acceptable and who had power in
them)? Why weren’t similar handbooks published for men
(with similar regulations and punishments)? (30 points)
3. Although FSU and other mainstream universities no longer
have such handbooks, would you conclude that the social
expectations regarding women’s behavior (especially
around sexuality) that they reflected have disappeared?
Why or why not? (30 points)
Your response to another discussion board participant (student or
instructor) is worth 20 points.
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