coldwarclass

[coldwarclass]

Crosslisted course: ACS 3000 / WS 3000 Sex, Gender, and the Cold War

This is a 3-credit accelerated summer session course and moves very quickly over 6 weeks between July 6th and August 14th 2020. 

This course examines issues surrounding gender and sexuality in postwar American society. Domesticity, consumerism and the invention of the nuclear family; McCarthyism, the Lavender Scare and “the closet”; bombshells, bikinis, and sex kittens; Queer femmes on screen and national identity.  Questions we explore include:

How were Cold War ideologies or rivalries gendered? How did American culture promote distinct gender ideals as nationalism? How did the Cold War serve to police sexuality? What were the roles of gender and same-sex desire in resisting Cold War imperatives? How did the Cold War affect 2nd wave feminist movements?

The cost for required materials in this course is approximately $40. If you need financial assistance because of the COVID 19 crisis, click here.

REQUIRED BOOKS

Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era 4th Edition by Elaine Tyler May, Basic Books. (I’m using the 2008 edition)

REQUIRED FILMS

The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit Marnie 

You are required to write critical  analyses of the following readings/films that demonstrate your comprehension of the assigned material as well as your comprehension of our course themes. Strong writing and analytical skills are required.  Critical analysis is not summary. If writing critical analyis is new to you, you should find this document very helpful. Scanned required readings Masked Voices: Gay Men and Lesbians in Cold War America by Craig Loftin Chapter 7. Family Anxieties: Parent and Family Responses to Homosexual Disclosures Chapter 8: Honosexuals and Marriage Under the Shadow of McCarthy Chapter 10. Unacceptable Mannerisms: Gender, Sexuality, and Swish in Postwar America Cold War Femme: Lesbianism, National Identity, and Hollywood Cinema by Robert J. Corber Introduction, Reclaiming the "Lost Sex": The Lesbian in Cold War Culture and Chapter 4. Joan Crawford's Padded Shoulders

Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall by James Polchin Chapter 5: The Homosexual Next Door: Kinsey and the Private Life of Sex in the Cold War The Trouble with Normal: Postwar Youth and the Making of Heterosexuality by Mary Louise Adams Introduction The Lavender Scare: Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government by David K. Johnson Introduction Chapter 5: The Hoey Investigation: Searching for a Homosexual Spy Homosexuality in Cold War America: Resistance and the Crisis of Masculinity by Robert J. Corber Chapter 1, Masculizing the American Dream: Discourses of Resistance in the Cold War Era The Cambridge Companion to American Gay and Lesbian Literature The Cold War Closet by Michael P. Bibler

Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America by Joanne Meyerowitz Chapter 1. Women and Gender in PostWar America Chapter 15. The Sexualized Woman: The Lesbian, The Prostitute and the Containment of Female Sexuality in PostWar America “Blond Queens, Red Spiders, and Neurotic Old Maids: Gender and Espionage in the Early Cold War” by Kathryn S. Olmsted  The Twilight Zone, Season 1: Episode 22, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (link forthcoming)