Women's Studies

[myxd]

Hi, just say you fancied a women's studies online MA module or whole course - what kinds of topics would you like to study? Modules looking at women in different cultures? religion? popular culture? body image? girl studies? gendered childhoods? friendships? war and conflict? violence? sexuality? motherhood and fatherhood? ..? ..?

When I was a younger mother I found feminist ideas really helpful (about my own life) and fascinating (about the lives of others).

I now teach women' studies and really want to open up the field with online short and long courses. Would people be interested? And, though I wish money wasn't so important, what kind of price might you be willing to pay? Thanks.

As I've just said, my brother is studying Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at college in the US, and he's taking a course this semester called 'Gender and Sports'.

Part of the course requires self-directed research in a chosen area, and he's decided to compare the amount of coverage women's sports get compared to men's, which I know isn't the most crucial area of equality but it's definitely an interesting one. I'm really looking forward to seeing his final essay.

TBE: cheers. I think once of the reasons I still like the term 'women's studies' is that it's political. Shocked at £8000, btw -- the one at York (where I work) is £4,600 for UK/EU students - still v expensive, but not £8000. (i don't know how much an online module/ course would be).
ButterPecanMuffin: one of our PhD students is just finishing her project on this exact topic, and I am sure would be happy to share some useful refs. Let me know . . .

I've thought about doing the MA in Women's Studies at Oxford (mainly because it's geographically near where I live!) but incredibly they don't offer it part time ... ?! Very unapologetic about it too - don't think whoever it was that replied to my inquiry even got the irony..

Sorry, OP - I know that wasn't what you actually asked! I guess I would expect the fees for something offered on-line to be something similar to the OU? I quite like the look of those pick-and-mix courses (LSE style) where you have a lot of freedom to choose the areas that interest you, even if fairly tenuously connected... one of the things that attracts me to Women's Studies is the cross-curricular opportunities (my first degree is in Art History, second Midwifery Practice)

"I'd want to do an accredited course with a radical feminist ethos informing it - not 'wheeeeeeeeee - look at all the feminisms - being a woman is a feeling'.

I would not want to write essays on 'choices' such as prostitution - I would want a focus on women's oppression by men."

I'd find a course which focuses on only one political stance instead of critically evaluating it (and therefore also looking at other arguments) would have not much academic value. So I'd go for the opposite of what TBE asks for.

Maybe you should try to understand the difference between "criticising" and "critically evaluating" before going all upset.

I would reintroduce the history of the women's movement and how it was hijacked post 70s by the porn movement. The same movement that introduced 'sexual empowerment' to women. Gak. And we fell for it and many still do.

When I studied history many many years ago, one of the seminars I had was about mobile socially marginal groups in the middle ages ( sorry, my English vocab fails me here, I vagrant minstrels etc) and I did a paper for that course concentrating on women in that group, and how they were even further marginalised than their male peers, pressed into prostitution etc. I found that really interesting.

I don't see why what TBE describes would like academic value - but what would I know.

I agree part time and lower cost would be good. I think (realistically) something with 'impact' would be good, as it would be more likely to secure funding and I also think lots of women would enjoy studying something that was both theoretical and had practical implications - so maybe a course that ended with a dissertation that let students do some fieldwork about women in their own community, or work with a refuge, or similar? I've no idea how one would work out the logistics but something that would appeal to me would be finding a way to study the real-life implications of political theories. Could that be done?

I think other than that I would be most interested in gender and childhood, of thte topiccs you give.

• in the first line, 'would lack academic value'.

It would be great, wouldn't it - I agree, a module teaching participatory action would be great. And also maybe covering/crossing over into some aspects of the emotional support women need (ie. targeted to women), that sort of thing?

I know this government is big on academic stuff with 'real life impact' and I would love to see them funding places on women's studies courses.

What is participatory action research?