While following this discussion, a book I read recently came to mind. Susan Douglas' "Where the Girls Are?" is not really a book that summarizes feminist theory, but it does trace its historical/cultural roots in a very simple straightforward fashion by analyzing how females interact with and are portrayed by the mass media as a whole. The inside flap describes the book as "a romp through the confusing and contradictory images of women in American pop culture." It's a book most of your students should be able to read and digest within a few weeks or so. Even better, it will not bog your students down in the theoretical aspects of feminism you seem be trying to avoid. On the downside, it is not limited to discussions of film. In fact, these discussion play a comparatively small role within the text. I'd also second Baker's recommendation of the Kaplan essay from "Channels of Discourse" for a comprehensible yet more theoretical perspective. -chad ------------------------------------------------------------------- Chandler Harriss PhD Candidate University of Alabama ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu