Fall, 2006 Dr. Elizabeth M.

Salter
Tues. & Thurs. 8:30 to 9:45 Office Address: GR 2.244
GR2.530 Telephone: 972-883-2484
School of General Studies
emsalter@utdallas.edu

ISGS 4306-001

The Human Female: Biology and Culture

This course will take a life cycle approach to the major biological and cultural landmarks in
a woman’s life, and the differing ways that various cultures react to these changes. Topics to be
discussed are: birth and gender identification, childhood/ education, adolescence, body image,
marriage/ non-marriage, sexuality, rape, reproduction, breast feeding, menopause, middle age, old
age, and disease. Traditional research in many fields has often focused on male subjects from the
perspective of a male researcher. When these same topics are examined by female researchers
looking at female subjects, the results can be very different. Medical, anthropological and
archaeological materials will be incorporated into the discussions, where appropriate.

Course Objectives:
1. To examine gender in terms of scientific and cultural research using biological, archaeological,
and cultural data.
2. To analyze cultural differences in regard to major milestones in a woman’s life such as “coming
of age”, childbirth, menopause, and old age.
3. To understand the impact of gender in terms of women’s health issues.

Prerequisites: None

Required Texts:
Belk and Borden The Second X – The Biology of Women
Goldberg - Women Are Not Small Men
Barbara Seaman – Exploding the Estrogen Myth -The Greatest Experiment Ever performed on
Women

ISGS 4306 Fall 2006

Human Female:Biology and Culture
Readings from
Belk & Borden
8 17 INTRODUCTION/ARCHAEOLOGY 2
8 22 PRIMATE STUDIES
8 24 THE BIOLOGY OF WOMEN 1,3
8 29 BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF SEX 4
8 31 CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF GENDER 5
9 5 ADOLESCENCE-BIOLOGICAL CHANGES 8
9 7 RITES OF PASSAGE/SOCIAL CHANGES
9 12 MOVIE - FEMALE CIRCUMCISION
9 14 WOMEN'S BODIES- STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION 6,7 Barbara Seaman's paper due
9 19 SEXUALITY AND
9 21 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN & "ONE NIGHT"
9 26 MARRIAGE/ NON MARRIAGE - CHOICES
9 28 MOVIE - SAHERI'S CHOICE
10 3 FERTILITY AND FAMILY PLANNING 9,12
 10 5 PREGNANCY 10
10 10 ABORTION
10 12 BIRTH
10 17 BREAST FEEDING
10 19 POSTPARTUM 11
10 24 BODY IMAGE/FAT Disease paper due
10 26 MOVIE - CULT OF THE BEAUTIFUL BODY
11 31 NUTRITION/EXERCISE
11 2 MENOPAUSE - BIOLOGY 14
11 7 MENOPAUSE - CULTURAL ATTITUDES
11 9 AGING - BIOLOGY
11 14 AGING - CULTURAL ATTITUDES
11 16 CANCERS 13
11 21 HEART DISEASE
11 23 Thanksgiving - no class
11 M27 final exam due today by noon Final examination

Method of Evaluation:
1. Review and Comment upon on the ideas presented in Barbara Seaman’s book. (10 pages) –
30%
2. Analytical Paper (10 pages) Take the premise from Goldberg’s Book and develop a paper on a
disease of your choice (other than heart attacks) explaining how women are not merely small men.
Refer to Goldberg’s book throughout your paper. (10 pages)– 30%
3. Final Take Home Examination (10 pages) - 30% due in my office (Green 2.244) by 12 noon on
last day of class.
4. Attendance and Participation-10% Please note that if you miss three or more classes, your final
mark will be lowered a letter grade. e.g. an earned B+ will be dropped to C+.

There is no make up work/additional work allowed in this class to improve a grade. In case of documented
illness, make-up work or an exam is allowed.

Students must submit their papers by the due date unless an extension has been granted prior to the due
date. I reserve the right to refuse to accept a paper after the due date.

Cell Phones are to be turned off during class time. Ringing phones will lead to a loss of an attendance point for that day

All assignments and the final exam must be submitted in written form to me and must also be submitted
to Turnitin.com – a plagiarism detection service. I do not accept on line submissions by email.
For more information on scholastic dishonesty see the following web page:
http://www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/dishonesty.html
Plagiarism/Cheating/ Academic Dishonesty, will not be tolerated. Please see UTD
Web Page under Scholastic Dishonesty for further information. It will result in a grade of 0
for the assignment involved, and the notification of the Dean of Students for further
appropriate disciplinary action. (You will not be allowed to withdraw from the course
if plagiarism is detected.)

Students who need special accommodations for note taking or test taking must contact
the Office of Disability Services in the Student Union, before any accommodation can
be provided.

Effective fall 2004, students will only be allowed to correspond with UTD Faculty and Staff using their UTD email
accounts. Students may go to http://netid.utdallas.edu to establish or maintain their official UTD computer account