Assignment

Soc 215

Families

Read article to focus on in your paper. Pick two questions from the list under the article you chose and

discuss. Next pick an outside reference for your paper. Your paper should be no more than two-pages.

This paper MUST be uploaded to blackboard as a WORD document. You will need to do outside

research for this assignment. Please makes sure and state which article you are using in your

introduction.

You will need two sources for this paper. 1) The initial article you pick, 2) an outside source (Internet,

article, etc.). I have included some websites to check out at the end of this document.

Carolyn Herbst Lewis, "Waking Sleeping Beauty: The Premarital Pelvic Exam and

Heterosexuality during the Cold War"

1. What was involved in the 1950s and '60s premarital pelvic exam? Why did doctors view these

exams as necessary to "save" the nation, and why do you think this exam fell out of favor in

medical practice after this time period?

2. Why did doctors believe that pelvic exams were necessary? What are some of the ways in which

this exam is problematic (ex.: violating women's bodily autonomy, presumption of

heterosexuality, viewing clitoral orgasm as deviant)?

What was the definition of frigidity according to physicians in the 1950's and '60s? How does

this definition reinforce sexism?

3.

4.

What does the doctors' behavior towards their female patients of color reveal about racist

attitudes toward people of color, specifically women of color, during this era?

Here are some websites to check out.

Alternatives to Marriage Project

http://www.unmarried.org/

Asian Americans and Interracial Dating and Marriage

http://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml

Feminist Perspectives on Reproduction and the Family

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-family/

Human Rights Campaign (HRC): Marriage and Relationship Recognition

https://www.hrc.org/resources/parenting

Equally Wed

http://equallywed.com/