Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Courses

This course will focus on LGBTQ+ activism and resistance today, mostly in the US, across a variety of sectors. Each week will bring an in person or online activist speaker one day and provide active discussion in the following class exploring the presentation and readings assigned from that week. Course topics will vary year to year due to presenters but topics likely to include Art/Performance, QTPOC & BLM, Trans resilience, Asexual, Muslim/Faith, Fundraising, Intersex, Bisexual+, Bridging Movements, Running for Office etc. Presenters will be invited to speak in person but will also take place on zoom or pre-recording for accessibility and travel purposes. Students will gain awareness of the breadth and depth of LGBTQ+ activism and resistance in formal and informal organizations. 

This interdisciplinary course is both cross-listed and a shared resource. As a seminar, we will explore the history and wide-reaching influence of Black feminisms and its impact on sexual politics, both here in the U.S. and beyond. We will also pay some attention to its theories and practices within the African Diaspora (including the African continent, the Caribbean and Latin America, Europe, and other locations) and examine the subject through cultural works, aesthetics, and political movements. 

This course explores the concept of gender and the lived experiences of individuals along the gender spectrum. Gender will be analyzed as both a social construct holding individuals to rigid gender norms and as an avenue for self-expression and exploration. Students will examine how people have made sense of their gender identity, current terminology, and challenges faced by those living outside of traditional notions of gender. Analysis will occur through an intersectional lens, which considers how race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other social identities affect understandings of gender. While the course focuses on personal narratives, literatures from gender and queer studies will be considered to trace the progression of traditional views on biology and gender to current day understandings, including discussions on terms such as “queer”, “trans”, and “gender queer”, which problematize essential notions of gender identity. Special consideration will be given to the global context, analyzing the various cultural differences in gender expression and non-binary gender identities.