WGS 2100

This class was really interesting and I learned a lot. Before taking this class, I heard that it was an easy A, and I agree for the most part, but you still do have to work for it. The grade distribution is pretty nice so it isn't impossible to do well if you are a bad writer or have no interest in the class. I really enjoyed learning about the topics we discussed. Some weeks, we had a lot of reading and it was overwhelming with all the other work I had. But, Hagerman acknowledges that sometimes we cannot do every reading and that is okay. Skim before class if you can for background knowledge, and try to understand a part of it so that discussions make more sense. Hagerman can sometimes be intense and she talks really loudly and has strong opinions which are obvious to everyone in the class. I have no problem with them because I agree with her for the most part, but if you aren't like me, then you might not like her as much as I do. She is pretty nice to her students but can come off as intimidating. My TA was super awesome. Even though she replied slowly sometimes, she was still very helpful and easy to talk to. I highly recommend this course because it is very interesting and eye-opening and I think it is important to know about these topics.

#tCFF23

#tCFF23 . I had heard Hagerman had mixed reviews, but my class and I loved her. She has a hilarious personality and is very passionate about the content. A lot of my friends including myself have been inspired to pursue a WGS minor because of this course. The readings are really interesting and range in difficulty. Each week focuses on a new topic, which keeps the content fresh and varied. Hagerman encourages participation even during the lectures, and makes a great effort to learn everyone's name. Discussion sections vary based on your group, but are guided with questions by the TA. Assignments are sort of irrelevant to the lectures, but are based on book options and encourage a critical lens, which Hagerman emphasized often. Overall I recommend this class a lot.

I love love love Hagerman. If you want to take this intro course then take it in the Fall with her and not in the Spring with a diff. professor, because Hagerman is better tbh. She is super passionate and engaging!!! There is lots of class discussion despite it being a huge lecture. It is the perfect intro to WGS because you cover everything. Since I was interested in the subject matter, I thought the workload was fine because I enjoyed the readings. The final project is kind of a lot, but again not bad if you pick something you like, you just have to be creative. There are 2 book reports, but those each took me like 2 hours cause I liked the books I chose to read. Some people are saying this class is a lot of work, but it is easy to get an A, so idk why they're tweaking. When I first enrolled, I considered dropping cause the workload seemed intense, but it was honestly fine and I am so glad I stuck with it. You might not like this class if you aren't liberal because Hagerman is not going to be the most accepting of conservative viewpoints, but since I lowkey agreed with everything she says, I didn't find it a problem for me, but it could be for other people. I think all the topics covered are SUPER IMPORTANT for EVERY UVA student to be aware of. Hagerman covers a lot of topics I have never thought about super seriously as being problematic, but she really opened my eyes. I looked forward to this class every day and HIGHLY recommend it.

I thought this class was great. I am not sure who your TAs will be in the future, but I had Natalia Perez and the discussions were my favorite parts of class. Talking about so many topics that are somewhat taboo in broader society was super interesting and I wanted to be engaged in every class and discussion. There seems to be a lot of work for this class, but do not let that deter you. I did only a few of the many assigned readings, but ended up with an A+ in the class. Write two killer book reviews, take notes in class, show up, write in your journal, and jump in where you can during discussion. If you do these things, you are for sure going to do well in the class — it was one of my favorites of my year here so far!

I highly recommend this class!!! There are so many important topics and ideas that are addressed, although it is sad that we only get to spend a week on each topic in order to incorporate everything on the syllabus. This class is definitely reading heavy, but she alternates weeks with more dense reading or just more pages with easier reading weeks so it is not a constant pressure. I found it easy to get ahead on some of the readings as well or finish them early in the week because everything is available on Collab so you can start reading it whenever you want. Prof. Hagerman does an amazing job in making everyone feel welcome to share their opinions and perspectives. This was one of my favorite courses at UVA, even in an online semester. Prof. Hagerman is also super understanding so if you have something going on and need an extension on an assignment, she is more than happy to work with you. The grade breakdown was slightly stressful with 20% of the grade being a book review and 25% of the grade being the final exam. Both the TA and Prof. Hagerman are more than willing to work with you on the book review to make sure you are on the right track. Additionally, the final was fairly straightforward and if you do the readings and pay attention to the themes addressed each week, you will certainly do well. The rest of the grade is broken down to 15% for weekly reading response journals that were 300-450 words, 20% for weekly discussion posts that were only 100 words, and the remaining 20% was class participation. I highly recommend this class!!

This class was a bit of a stresser. Our grade was comprised of a book review, reading journals, discussion posts, participation and a final. The reading journals and discussion posts were easy 100s as long as you submitted them on time and didn't put gibberish. The book review was a bit vague, so I recommend going to office hours with your TA (the person who will be grading it) and making sure it's good. As for the final, while I haven't gotten my grade back, it didn't go very well. The information we got about the format of the exam was also vague, so I pretty much went in blind. Take notes in discussion and lecture, but also on the readings themselves. I still recommend this class because I've learned so much (and it's so interesting!), I just wish I knew what was to be expected for the book review and final.
#tCF2020

I took this course online synchronously and it sounds like the workload was reduced in comparison to previous semesters. For a typical week, we were expected to complete the readings, write a 300 word reading response, and post a 150 word comment on the discussion board. The readings usually weren't bad, but there are a few that are very academic and dry. However, you only need to understand the gist to get by in discussion and for the final. In addition, we completed one 5 five page book review. The book review wasn't difficult to write, but Professor Hagerman is known for being a tough grader who will take tons of points off for small grammar mistakes. Some of the papers definitely seemed to be graded arbitrarily. The grade breakdown is: participation 20%, reading journals 15%, discussion posts 20%, book review 20%, and final exam 25% (there was no midterm this semester). In terms of structure, each week focuses on a different topic in the field of WGS (incarceration, sports, media, intersectionality, etc.). Professor Hagerman typically doesn't lecture a lot. Most classes consisted of her introducing the topic and asking the class for their opinion. Some people loved this aspect of the class and others hated it. Overall, I enjoyed this class, but you should know what you're getting into before signing up. You won't go into depth on one topic, but you examine a lot of different issues that relate to WGS. Overall, it's relatively easy to get an A if you do the work on time. I would ask the TAs to look over your book review because that seemed to be the thing that killed a lot of people's grades.

Bonnie Hagerman is one of the most amazing teachers I've ever had. She's super passionate about the subject matter, easy to talk to, funny, and great at relating topics to the class in a way we can understand. Somehow, in our class of 100 ish people, we manage to have discussions and she's even gone to the effort of learning all of our names! This class definitely emphasizes reading and writing and if you are not a strong or confident writer this class with either force you to become one or you will struggle in it. You do weekly responses to the (sometimes upwards of 50 pages) readings and all of your grades are written assignments: reactions to readings, weekly responses, book reviews, and a final written project. Discussion section in this course is always interesting, but our TA is often absent and sometimes rooted in her own opinions during our discussions. Overall, I would very strongly recommend taking this class. It'll change the way you see the world and be a wonderful break from the stressful outside world.

Take this class!!!! Professor Hagerman is the most amazing lecturer and she is so much fun! Lectures are very much like discussions, where she talks about things and asks students to react. I never skipped a class because I didn't want to...this class was the highlight of my day.
I went into the class knowing absolutely nothing about WGS, but I came out knowing SO much. Each week is a completely new topic. Some examples from the semester are women in the workplace, women in prison, masculinity, transgenders, transnational feminism, and violence against women. The class is a lot of work, because you have to read about 70 pages of articles and scholarly texts before each new week, and you have to write reflections for each week based on reading and your own research. There are also 2 book reviews throughout the semester where you have to read a book from the book list and write a long paper. This sounds like a lot, but I actually enjoyed doing the readings and work for this class because they are so interesting. TAKE THIS CLASS.

Hagerman has actually created the most fake woke class I've ever taken. I am extremely disappointed in what I thought would be an engaging course. Hagerman displays WASP qualities where she asks for class opinions, but will argue against them if they do not align with hers. She will also continue to harass the class for an answer to her questions until she finds one that she deems acceptable, which is incredibly counterintuitive to the point of having a discussion. The workload for this course is also an annoying amount - don't take this class without expecting to write and read at LEAST 3ish hours a week (and that is only with the bare minimum, since the writings really only require a thorough reading of one of the resources). Larger assignments (there are 3) will take much more time, and will be scrutinized for every grammatical error or formatting inconsistency. The worst part of this course was Hagerman. She is unsympathetic and runs this course as if her students are a bunch of 16 year old delinquents instead of trustworthy, young adults. You're also not allowed any absences by the way. Just take this class with someone else if you are really interested in the topic.

This course wasn't difficult, it was just time consuming. There are quite a few readings assigned each week and most of them are pretty lengthy. That being said, you only really have to read one of them thoroughly (in order to write your 500 work response) and the others you can just skim. Professor Hagerman is super nice, and very engaging. Most of the topics covered were really interesting, and a lot of the readings were too. Each week, there are readings and a 500 word response to one of them. There are two 5 page book reviews, which aren't hard, but can definitely be time consuming. The final is a research project where you create your own lecture on a topic that wasn't discussed in class. Again, it wasn't hard, but it was super time consuming. Overall, I would recommend this course, as it is not that difficult to get an A- or A if you put in the effort! And it is interesting.

Bonnie Hagerman is great and super relatable. Her lectures are super engaging and she constantly encourages that all students question and participate. We get multiple readings per week that are sometimes tough to get through; however, you can still manage to get through discussion by just skimming the readings. The book reviews sneak up on you and you have weekly journal responses but it's not as overwhelming as you think.

Professor Hagerman is an excellent professor and a very passionate lecturer. She is very knowledgeable on the subject and she deconstructs complicated concepts for her students. A really interesting and fairly easy class

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HAGERMAN.

I don't really know what the person below me is talking about. Professor Hagerman was really understanding and sweet. She did grade essays harshly, but it was a good class. I would recommend it for sure. You learn about a wide variety of different topics related to gender which is awesome. I knew some coming into the class, but I definitely came out knowing a lot more. The week on gender in the media was really interesting. The grades consist of participation, 2 book reports and a research paper, a group project, and weekly reading responses. The reading responses are pretty easy and the group project, which is a presentation, isn't that bad. Ended up being providing some basic information and then asking questions to facilitate class discussion. Didn't seem biased to me either, we discussed issues facing men and women as well as intersectionality which was nice. Overall good informative class.

It is definitely a shame because I found the material very interesting in this class but this teacher is terrible and completely ruins it. I STRONGLY advise if you want to take this class and are interested in gender studies and sexuality that you take it with another teacher. Bonnie Hagermann entirely ruined this experience for me and made coming to class each day something I would dread. A lot of this class is an in class discussion when you are SUPPOSED to voice your opinion on the readings or the topic of the week; however, if you do not agree with her opinions she shuts you down and is not open to listening to any other opinion. A lot of the topics covered in the class are sensitive topics and very controversial topics and it is very wrong for her to teach them in a one sided way and to not respect the ideas her students can have. The workload is also ridiculous. Every single week you have to read nearly 100 pages and then write a 500 page response to what you read AS WELL as finding a current event article and relating it to that week's reading. You also have two book reports and a final research paper which she grades so meticulously as if you are an English major. She doesn't care if the content of your paper is perfect and you brought up thorough and interesting points, she will take you down an entire grade for stupid grammatical mistakes. Lastly, she is the most non sympathetic person I have ever met and is such a stickler about absences. You are allowed 3 absences and after that every absence takes off 1/3 of a letter grade. She only excuses absences if you tell her very far in advance which doesn't make much logical sense because you cannot plan in advance if you are sick. Even if you are throwing up and have a doctors note from the health center, she will not excuse the absence because you didnt "tell her in advance." Overall I was so disappointed by this class because the topic really interested me and this teacher really ruined the class for me. I recommend this topic because it is very interesting however do NOT take it with this teacher or you will regret it.

I really enjoyed this course. Worried that it would be too basic of an introduction to the field, but after the first month the class really picked up and got way more interesting. Hagerman's a great teacher - super knowledgeable and interesting while still approachable. Her lectures were some of the highlights of the course, though the in-class student discussions were also good. Readings can sometimes be very dry and academic, but the reading responses are quick and easy, and the 2 book reviews weren't too difficult. The final is a research paper that's harder, but still not too bad. I would definitely recommend this course, especially for those not really looking to major in WGS but who just want to know a bit more about the field.