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

Offered yearly. 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.

Offered every other year. 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.

Offered every other year. 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.

Offered autumn.  Interpretive overview of major themes and events in U.S. womens history to 1865. Same as WGS 370H.

Offered spring. Interpretive overview of major themes and events in U.S. women’s history from 1865 to the present. Same as WGS 371.

(AM) 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.

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.

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. Includes discussion of changing patriarchal formations, symbolic and adoptive fatherhood, incestuous rape, homosexuality and role reversals. Texts include Greek tragedy, Shakespeare, romantic poetry, novel, and graphic novel. Both male and female authors.

(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.

Offered spring. Comparative study of the history and significance of gender in social life.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Offered spring. Exploration of the social construction of gender, especially in western, post-industrial societies such as the U.S.; gender ideologies affect the social definition and position of gendered individuals in work, family, sexual relationships, gendered divisions of labor, and social movements.

Offered autumn. Prereq., SOCI 101S. Historical, cross-cultural, and analytical study of the family. Emphasis on ideology, social structures, and agency affecting family composition and roles.

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 advanced writing expectation.

Offered autumn. Prereq. junior or senior standing or consent of instr. An examination of the roots, prevalence, and social characteristics of poverty. Analysis of policies intended to end poverty.

Offered every other year. Prereq., SOCI 270 or consent of instructor. Advanced perspectives on the relationships between gender and colonization, international development, and globalization.

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.