SEX, GENDER, AND POWER IN NINETIES AMERICA

Summary: Today we will examine the gender and sexual accents of 1990s American culture. We will begin by considering early-decade responses to women's increasing visibility and power in the workplace.We will then consider the sexual and gender implications of the Clinton presidency in anticipation of this week's screening of Barry Levinson's 1997 film Wag the Dog. We will look more closely at the workplace and 1990s American culture on Wednesday.

I. Introduction -- The "Morning After": Sex, Fear, and Feminism in 1990s America

A. Women's changing economic and social roles

B. Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, 1991

C. "Post-feminist" texts:

1. Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae (1991)

2. Katie Roiphe, The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism on Campus (1993)

D. Sex, Fear, and Popular Film:

1. Paul Verhoeven, Basic Instinct (1992)

2. Barry Levinson, Disclosure (1994)

E. Countervailing cultural forces:

1. televisual celebration of sexually liberated female characters: Roseanne, Sex and the City, Seinfeld

2. Edward Zwick, Courage Under Fire (1996)

2. Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (1989) and postmodern feminism

II. The Clinton White House

A. Democrats and the Persian Gulf War (1990-91)

B. Clinton, the New Democrat

1. economic centrism

2. social liberalism

a. pro-affirmative action, women and people of color appointed to cabinet and subcabinet positions

b. gays in the military: "don't ask, don't tell"

c. health care reform -- a failed issue

C. Allegations of sexual impropriety and "the Comeback Kid"

D. Whitewater, 1993-94 and the appointment of an Independent Counsel

E. Backlash: 1994 Congressional elections and "the Contract with America"

F. 1996 Clinton victory

1. economic prosperity wins the day

2. poor voter turnout

III. Sex, Lies, and Clinton

A. Monica Lewinsky affair enters the headlines, January 1998

B. Clinton misleads the American public on television

C. Lewinsky testifies before a grand jury in August 1998

D. Clinton apologizes for misleading the public and hurting his family, but insists on legal accuracy of his denials

E. Starr Report becomes public in October 1998

E. House votes to impeach Clinton, Senate does not (highly partisan vote)

F. Clinton loyalists come to his defense: Lewinsky affair was a private affair between consenting adults

G. Democrats gain 5 seats in Congress in 1998 elections; Gingrich leaves office under a cloud of impropriety

H. Polls indicate that Americans overwhelmingly believed Clinton to be guilty but the vast majority did not want him removed from office

IV. Conclusion: Wag the Dog, Sex, and Postmodern Politics at the End of the Twentieth Century