Introduces students to some key & controversial theoretical texts that make up the emerging field of queer theory. The approach will be interdisciplinary, w/ an emphasis on literary, social, & aesthetic criticisms that may shift according the instructor's areas of expertise. Active reading & informed discussion will be emphasized for the often unseen, or submerged, aspects of sexuality embedded in cultural texts, contexts, & litterateurs.

Explores major debates, key ideas, and historical developments in women, gender, & sexuality theory. Students will gain familiarity with queer, trans, and feminist theory, including Black, Native, socialist, crip, and other approaches. Will consider the different methods that gender & sexuality scholars have used to explain the social world, and why such explanations are vital to WGS. Course emphasizes reading, discussion,and critical writing.

This course places women, feminism, and activism in a transnational perspective, and offers students the opportunity to examine how issues considered critical to the field of gender studies are impacting women's lives globally in contemporary national contexts. We will look closely at how violence, economic marginality, intersections of race and gender, and varied strategies for development are affecting women in specific geographical locations.

The course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of women, gender & sexuality

This course critically examines key ideas, issues, and debates in contemporary Black feminist thought. With a particular focus on Black feminist understandings of intersectionality and womanism, the course examines how Black feminist thinkers interrogate specific concepts including Black womanhood, sexual mythologies and vulnerabilities, class distinctions, colorism, leadership, crime and punishment, and popular culture.

The history of white supremacy & the heteropatriarchy includes denying sexual pleasure of marginalized communities. A major benefit of pleasure is empowerment, which threatens power structures & leads to restrictive practices & laws. This course focuses on queer activists & feminists of color who examine pleasure, systemic oppression, & the connection of inner desires & needs -physical, mental, & emotional -as a part of enacting social change.

This course will examine the portrayal of sex and sexuality in a variety of shows on television streaming platforms through the lens of media studies and intersectional, feminist and queer theory. The analysis will address the ideologies, narratives, values and ethics the shows impart. Topics include: the interdisciplinary meaning and representation of sexual orientation, queerness, sexual health, sexual harm, and notions of joy and pleasure.

"What is understood as ""masculine"" has varied throughout time as well as across cultural contexts and distinct social groupings, it is equally true that most historical periods, cultures, groups, etc. believe their own understandings of masculinity to be universal. In this course, we will deconstruct this. From this class, you should be able to think critically about where men and masculinity have been, where they are going, and what this might mean more generally for gender relations and gender inequality."

Independent Study

Examines human sexuality from psychological, biological, behavioral, social, and historical perspectives. Topics include sexual research and theoretical perspectives, sexual anatomy and physiology, sexual health, intimacy, communication, patterns of sexual response and pleasure and sexual problems and therapies. Course will also include examination of the development of sexuality and the intersections of other identities, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexuality and the law, sexual assault, and other social issues in sexuality.