Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies B.A.

Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies B.A., Professor Elizabeth Hubble, Director of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies:

Students who choose the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) B.A. must register with the WGSS advisor, who will supervise their program. 

Bachelor of Arts - Women's, Gender & Sexuality St

College Humanities & Sciences

Catalog Year: 2015-2016

Degree Specific Credits: 33

Required Cumulative GPA: 2.0


Required Courses

Rule: Take all of the following courses.

Note: May Substitute LSH 152L for LSH 151L

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description LSH 151L - Humanities:Greeks,Bible,Roman
Offered autumn. Prereq., eligibility for WRIT 101 (ENEX 101) based on writing placement examination. General survey of the field of Humanities in Western civilization contrasting the Greco–Roman with the Jewish and Christian traditions.
0 To 4 Credits
Show Description WGSS 163L - Hist/Lit Persp Women
Offered spring. Formerly PHL 151H, LS 119H, WGS 119H, WGGS 163H. This is an introduction to the discipline and scope of Western thought from antiquity to the present focusing on women as the subject rather than men. The objective of the course is to provide an understanding and critical appreciation of seminal texts by and about women through readings, class discussion and written assignments.
3 Credits
Show Description WGSS 263S - Women, Men, and Sexuality
Offered autumn. Broad overview of gender and women's issues from a social science perspective. Relevant topics related to the sociological and psychological aspects of gender across culture are explored, including masculinity, femininity, violence, reproductive health, cultural diversity in the expression of gender, issues in sexual orientation, and media contributions to these issues.
3 Credits
Show Description WGSS 363 - Feminist Theory and Methods
Offered spring. In-depth exposure to feminist views and critique of the ethics and methods of scientific, social, and literary inquiry. Includes exposure to primary sources and current societal and global issues and movements, research finding, and literature exemplifying these methods of inquiry and the gendered dimensions of such inquiry.
3 Credits
Show Description WGSS 463 - WGS Capstone
Offered spring. Prereq., WGS 119H, WGS 263S, WS 275S. Capstone course for the Women's and Gender Studies minor.
2 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 15 Total Credits Required

Electives

Rule: Additional Elective WGSS Credits (18 credits (11 credits must be UD))

Note: Interdisciplinary courses and courses that appear on the WGSS curriculum list that do not fall within the Humanities and Social Science lists may be substituted with the approval of co-directors.

WGSS Internship/Independent Study (392, 398, 492) courses may count for either the Humanities Core or the Social Science Core, depending on the topic.

List of regularly offered courses that would fulfill the WGSS elective credits (unless indicated, all courses are 3 credits). (These courses are offered, in general, every one, two, or three years. Students are advised to check with the WGSS Office for individual semester course listings.)

Humanities Core

Rule: Must complete 9 credits from the following:

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description COMX 380 - Gender and Communication
Offered yearly. Not open to PCOM. The meaning of gender in our culture. Examines how gender is displayed and perpetuated through social institutions such as the media and through our private and public verbal and nonverbal interactions.
3 Credits
Show Description COMX 447 - Rhetorical Constrctn of Woman
Offered every other year. Not open to PCOM. Explores the rhetoric surrounding contemporary women's social "activism" in the U.S. Topics include women's rights, women's liberation, consciousness raising as a rhetorical form, reproductive rights, sexuality, and intersections between gender, race, and class.
3 Credits
Show Description COMX 449 - Rhetoric of Women's Activism
Offered every other year. Not open to PCOM. Explores the rhetoric surrounding contemporary women's social "activism" in the U.S. Topics include women's rights, women's liberation, consciousness raising as a rhetorical form, reproductive rights, sexuality, and intersections between gender, race, and class.
3 Credits
Show Description HSTA 370H - Wmn Amer Colonial to Civil War
Offered autumn.  Interpretive overview of major themes and events in U.S. womens history to 1865. Same as WGS 370H.
3 Credits
Show Description HSTA 371H - Wmn Amer Civil War to Present
Offered spring. Interpretive overview of major themes and events in U.S. women’s history from 1865 to the present. Same as WGS 371.
3 Credits
Show Description HSTA 385 - Families & Children in America
(AM) Offered intermittently.  Historical overview of families and children in the United States from the colonial era to the present.  Topics include changing patterns of family life, the evolution of attitudes toward children and youth, the relationship between the American family and the nation-state, and debates over "family values" from the nation's founding to the present.
3 Credits
Show Description LIT 379L - Gender & Sexuality in Eng. Fic
Offered alternate years. Same as LSH 327L. Major 20th century novels and short stories written in English in different parts of the world and how these texts explore changing concepts of gender and sexuality.
3 Credits
Show Description LS 320 - Women in Antiquity
Offered intermittently. Same as MCLG and WS 320. Examination of varied sources from ancient Greece, the Hellenistic world, and republican and imperial Rome to clarify the place of women in various communities.  Women’s contribution to community and the mechanisms by which communities attempted to socialize female populations.
3 Credits
Show Description LSH 329 - Fathers & Daughters in Lit
Same as WGS 329. Prereq., WRIT 101. Examines how relationships between fathers and daughters have been represented, celebrated and critiqued in literature in the Western world, from antiquity to the present.
3 Credits
Show Description RLST 370 - Mysticism
(R-6) An inquiry into the literature and interpretation of mysticism in the major religious traditions. Each offering will focus on a specific tradition or period.
3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 9 Total Credits Required

Social Science Core

Rule: Must complete 9 credits from the following:

Show All Course Descriptions Course Credits
Show Description ANTY 427 - Anthropology of Gender
Offered spring. Comparative study of the history and significance of gender in social life.
3 Credits
Show Description BIOL 265 - Human Sexuality
Offered autumn.  Same as ANTY 227. Biological, behavioral, cross-cultural aspects of human sexuality to help students place their own sexuality and that of others in a broader perspective. Includes sexual anatomy, physiology, development, reproduction, diseases, determination, as well as gender development and current issues.
3 Credits
Show Description COUN 242S - Intimate Relationships
Offered autumn and spring semester. This course covers the fascinating, multi-faceted world of intimate relationships and explores the topic from empirical and theoretical perspectives. The examination of intimate relationships in this course will look at the subject through cultural, biological, social and developmental lenses and will explore specific topics such as attraction, communication, friendship, sexuality, love, conflict, power and violence, loss, social cognition, and repairing relationships.
3 Credits
Show Description COUN 485 - Counseling Theories
Offered autumn.  Prereq., PSYX 100S.  Same as PSYX 442 and SW 485. Introduction to the primary theories that constitute the intellectual foundation for common counseling and psychotherapy techniques, with a special focus on gender, interpersonal influence strategies, and diversity issues.
3 Credits
Show Description PSYX 348 - Psychology of Family Violence
Offered spring. Prereq., PSYX 100S. Same as WGS 385. Exploration of theoretical explanations for the presence of violence in American families; research and interventions in such areas as child physical and sexual abuse, battering of women, marital rape, spousal homicide, etc.
3 Credits
Show Description S W 323 - Women & Soc Action Amer
Offered intermittently. Prereq., one of SW 100, SOCI 101S, or ANTY 101H or consent of instr. Same as WS 323. Focus on women’s experiences of and contributions to social change in North, South and Central America in the mid to late-20th century. Through case studies, testimonials, discussions with activists and Internet connections examine social constructions of gender, compare forms of social action in diverse cultural, political and historical contexts, link practice to theories of social participation, and reflect on lessons learned from women’s experiences.
3 Credits
Show Description SOCI 220S - Race, Gender & Class
Offered autumn. Same as WGS 220S. Analysis of the intersecting structure and dynamics of race, gender and class. Focus on power relationships, intergroup conflict and minority-group status.
3 Credits
Show Description SOCI 275S - Gender and Society
Offered spring. Same as WGS 275S. Exploration of the social construction of gender, especially in western, post-industrial societies such as the U.S. How gender ideologies affect the social definition and position of men and women in work, family, sexual relationships, sexual divisions of labor, and social movements.
3 Credits
Show Description SOCI 332 - Sociology of the Family
Offered autumn. Prereq., SOCI 101S. Same as WGS 300. Historical, cross-cultural, and analytical study of the family. Emphasis on ideology, social structures, and agency affecting family composition and roles.
3 Credits
Show Description SOCI 371 - Gender and Global Development
Offered every other year. Prereq., SOCI 270 or consent of instructor. Intermediate level perspectives on colonization, international development, and globalization, with an emphasis on gender issues and impacts.
3 Credits
Show Description SOCI 441 - Capstone: Inequal and Soc Just
Offered spring. SOCI 101S and two inequality and social justice courses and consent of instr. Research and writing on Inequity and Social Justice. Students bring together readings from other inequality content courses and/or independent readings, research methods training, and data and/or internship experience to write a final research paper on a topic of their choice within the ISJ area. Meets upper-division writing expectation for sociology majors only.
3 Credits
Show Description SOCI 443 - Sociology of Poverty
Offered autumn. Prereq. SOCI 101S, or consent of instr. An examination of the roots, prevalence, and social characteristics of poverty. Analysis of policies intended to end poverty.
3 Credits
Show Description WGSS 250 - Media Representations
Offered autumn in even-numbered years. This course is designed as a survey introduction to a variety of issues related to gender and sexuality in the mass media and pop culture. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with the breadth of these issues while at the same time providing them tools to critically analyze and engage with modern media. The course focuses largely on mass mediated forms such as television, film, music, sports, news, advertising and new media. An underlying understanding within the course is a recognition of the inextricable interconnections between gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation and so forth. Therefore, the course is invested in exploring the ways in which differences in identity produce different mediated representations and experiences of media. The course is comprised of class discussions based on readings, class presentations, and viewing and interpreting various mediated texts and documentaries. The course readings are both practical and theoretical, and while many of them focus on specific case studies, they are intended to provoke thoughtfulness in each student such that it can be applied to a variety of media.
3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 9 Total Credits Required