"Bad Girls" is a multimedia and interdisciplinary event: as a special topics Women and Literature course it focuses on a specific group of representations and concerns pertinent to contemporary and historical issues of interest to the study of women in literature and other cultural texts; as a Women's Studies course it operates within basic assumptions of feminism and participates in feminist historiography, theory and critique; as an MIT course it includes the use of and criticism of new technologies and the representations and identities found therein, and the assignments emphasise the gathering and evaluation of information.  The course is designed to make the most of the varying backgrounds and skills of the members of the class while encouraging exploration and learning across disciplinary boundaries.

The agenda of "Bad Girls" is as follows:

- to participate in one small part of the larger project of the history of the present--to collect, analyse and assess a certain kind of prolific representation in contemporary popular culture--the hyper-sexualized and hyper-violent "bad girl" in order to better understand:

• the aesthetic, ethical and political values of contemporary popular culture

• potential revolutionary possibilities--is the "bad girl" a desired role model for contemporary girls and women?  does she provide an alternative and resistant script to mainstream narratives about women, femininity, gender roles and women's identity? or in the name of being resistant does this representation limit and determinine the desires, imaginations and bodies of women?

- to come to terms with "Postfeminist" as a term, an attitude, a movement:   as the mascot of "postfeminism," the "bad girl" provides an opportunity to analyse how  "postfeminism" circulates in contemporary culture and to assess its possibilities and drawbacks.

- to create an exciting, stimulating environment where pleasure and work, fun and thinking are not opposites but all part of the experience of what learning is about.

- to encourage the development and refinement of very practical skills: the ability to summarise and evaluate texts, to think and develop intelligent arguments about the culture we find ourselves in, to improve research and writing skills, to balance individual work with group work, and to learn how to work with new technologies. 

To this end, the atmosphere, attitude, pedagogy, and assignments are infused with a sense of urgency of purpose and are designed to encourage the combination of interests and strengths with new ideas and challenges, in order to provide the chance to share knowledge and skills in a co-operative environment as well as the opportunity to learn about new ideas, people, and to be stretched and above all challenged by the material and by one another.   Enjoyment of the texts themselves will no doubt be part of a large experience of the course and an important part of the atmosphere and yet it is the pleasures and excitement of the challenges afforded from thinking about these texts and learning about new things and the culture in which we find ourselves which will be emphasised.

Core texts and theoretical framework are set but there is a great deal of room for students to develop their own interests and to share their background, skills and knowledge.

Students are responsible for reading and watching all course material outside of the lecture hours.  You can borrow copies from UC 1 to view on the machines there, or you can rent them from any video store.  There will also be a screening of all films (most likely on selected Fridays.)  

If you want to get a head start, here are some suggestions:

1) If you don't already have one, get an e-mail account.

2) Browse the web for "bad girls."  See what kind of hits you get. Start bookmarking sites that interest you.  Also look at some of the links on the course page.

3) Start reading Naomi Woolf, Camille Paglia, Patricia Pearson and some of the articles on postfeminism. 

4) Start (or continue) watching "Xena: Warrior Princess"

5) Think about texts you already know that feature bad girls and start to keep track of the figure.  Begin to get a sense of what areas or even which girls and/or media you would like to concentrate on.

See you in January!

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