Course information contained within the Bulletin is accurate at the time of publication in July 2024 but is subject to change. For the most up-to-date course information, please refer to the Course Catalog.
GSWS 0801. Border Crossings: Gendered Dimensions of Globalization. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the ways in which gender manifests in a variety of cultural and national contexts and the impact of globalization on gendered social relationships. Gender indicates the ways in which our social lives are organized around gender categories - in relation to work, family, sexuality, immigration, crime, culture, and nation-state. Globalization indicates the transnational flow of capital, goods, people, ideas, militaries, cultures, media, diseases, ecologies, and more. Questions we will explore include: How does globalization relate to settler colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and racialized slavery? How do women, men, transgender, and non-binary people experience globalization differently? For example, how are their wages, compensation, and value negotiated in the global labor market? How different are experiences of women in the Global North from those of women in the Global South? We will explore these issues and others by reading scholarly studies, watching films/documentaries, and engaging in classroom discussion. The course will take an intersectional approach in considering the complex interactions between gender and other social categories such as race, religion, class, sexuality, age, ability, and nationhood in a range of geographic contexts. This intersectional approach to gender informs the course's exploration of global strategies for decolonization and collective liberation. NOTE: This course fulfills the World Society (GG) requirement for students under GenEd and International Studies (IS) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed LAWU 0801 or WMST 0801.
Course Attributes: GG, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 0824. Gender and World Societies. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the intersection between the concepts of gender, history, and global societies. Since gender is a social construct, gender roles have varied considerably in various times and places. We examine how ideas about gender and gender roles have changed over time and discover to what extent they have remained much the same in different geographic areas. We will be using different types of sources to examine these questions, including primary sources written by people of different genders, as well as secondary sources, novels, and films. Rather than trying to cover all of human history in one semester, the course focuses on a few main themes, such as The State, The Sacred, Work, The Family, The Body and Sexuality, and Revolutionary Movements. The course will also be organized around case studies from Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, West Africa, Victorian Britain, Modern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and/or Latin America. NOTE: This course fulfills the World Society (GG) requirement for students under GenEd and International Studies (IS) for students under Core. Duplicate Credit Warning: Students may take only one of the following courses for credit; all other instances will be deducted from their credit totals: Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies 0824; History 0824, 1708, C065; Women's Studies 0824, 1708, or C065.
Course Attributes: GG, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 0832. Politics of Identity in America. 3 Credit Hours.
Gay or straight. Black or white. Male or female. What do these different group identities mean to Americans? How do they influence our politics? Should we celebrate or downplay our diversity? This course explores how we think about others and ourselves as members of different groups and what consequences it has for how we treat one another. Our fundamental social identities can be a source of power or of powerlessness, a justification for inequality or for bold social reform. Students learn about the importance of race, class, gender and sexual orientation across a variety of important contexts, such as the family, workplace, schools, and popular culture and the implications these identities have on our daily lives. NOTE: This course fulfills the Race & Diversity (GD) requirement for students under GenEd and Studies in Race (RS) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies 0932, History 0832, Political Science 0832/0932, Sociology 0832 or Women's Studies 0832/0932.
Course Attributes: GD, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 0851. Gender in America. 3 Credit Hours.
Being a man or a woman means feeling like a man or a woman. People display gender by learning the routines and expectations associated with being male or female. How do people learn gender? How does living in a gendered society lead to differences in power and opportunities between men and women? How do race, ethnicity and sexuality affect the way gender is experienced for these different groups? How does gender acquire such important meaning in terms of identity and behavior? Using a variety of written materials including novels that explore gender identity construction, this course looks at how gender has become such a prominent feature of life in America. NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Duplicate Credit Warning: Students may take only one of the following courses for credit; all other instances will be deducted from their credit totals: Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies 0851; Sociology 0851, 1676, 1696, C081, X081; Women's Studies 0851, 1676, 1696, C081, X081.
Course Attributes: GU, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 0863. Living for Change: Autobiographies of Women in Radical Social Movements. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores women's involvement in, and influences on, political culture in the U.S. through autobiographical narratives of women in social movements from the mid-20th century to the present. Historically, women's roles in society have been restricted to the private, domestic sphere, where they have been expected to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers, tasked with imparting the values of their communities to the next generation of citizens. Broader social change, however, unfolds through political activism in the public sphere, which is traditionally considered the realm of men. Consequently, across the historical record and within today's political landscape, the most visible activists and change-makers tend to be men, while women's leadership is often overlooked. In this course, we will learn about how women have consistently served as radical agents of change. We will read and discuss women's accounts of their life stories, supplemented by scholarly studies on gender and social movements. The focus of the course will be on six movements that typically are not associated with women's political and cultural work: the Black Power Movement, the American Indian Movement, the Farmworkers Movement, student and anti-war movements, disability rights movements, and LGBTQ+ movements. Questions we will consider include: Why did these women get politically involved? How were their experiences in social movements shaped by their gender? What is their cultural and political legacy? Why did they write about their lives? Why do we read their narratives? And, most importantly, what can we learn from them about what it means to live an activist life? NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Duplicate Credit Warning: Students may take only one of the following courses for credit; all other instances will be deducted from their credit totals: GSWS 0863/0963; WMST 0863/0963.
Course Attributes: GU, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 0963. Honors Living for Change: Autobiographies of Women in Radical Social Movements. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores women's involvement in, and influences on, political culture in the U.S. through autobiographical narratives of women in social movements from the mid-20th century to the present. Historically, women's roles in society have been restricted to the private, domestic sphere, where they have been expected to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers, tasked with imparting the values of their communities to the next generation of citizens. Broader social change, however, unfolds through political activism in the public sphere, which is traditionally considered the realm of men. Consequently, across the historical record and within today's political landscape, the most visible activists and change-makers tend to be men, while women's leadership is often overlooked. In this course, we will learn about how women have consistently served as radical agents of change. We will read and discuss women's accounts of their life stories, supplemented by scholarly studies on gender and social movements. The focus of the course will be on six movements that typically are not associated with women's political and cultural work: the Black Power Movement, the American Indian Movement, the Farmworkers Movement, student and anti-war movements, disability rights movements, and LGBTQ+ movements. Questions we will consider include: Why did these women get politically involved? How were their experiences in social movements shaped by their gender? What is their cultural and political legacy? Why did they write about their lives? Why do we read their narratives? And, most importantly, what can we learn from them about what it means to live an activist life? NOTE: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Duplicate Credit Warning: Students may take only one of the following courses for credit; all other instances will be deducted from their credit totals: GSWS 0863/0963; WMST 0863/0963.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: GU, HO, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 1006. Introduction to Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
Using an intersectional, multi-disciplinary approach, this gateway course for the Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies (GSWS) major, minor and certificate introduces students to historical and current approaches to the field of gender, sexuality and women's studies. Through readings and in-class activities and discussions, we will explore ways in which social and cultural constructions of gender and sexuality shape our public and private lives, our personal and professional relationships, and, more broadly, systems and institutions within and outside of the U.S. The aim of the course is for students to develop a framework for understanding and engaging with issues related to gender, sexuality and women's studies both historically and in our current sociocultural and political moment.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 1076. Introduction to Gender Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
An interdisciplinary course covering a variety of perspectives on gender and sexuality, and their intersections with race, gender identity, class and other identities in U.S. society. This course explores the institution of family, the sexual division of labor, the ideologies of femininity and masculinity, and the political, economic and cultural bases of these ideologies. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information. Note: Students who earned credit for "Introduction to Women's Studies" will not receive additional credits for taking "Introduction to Gender Studies."
Course Attributes: IN
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 1096. Introduction to Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
An interdisciplinary course covering a variety of perspectives on women and gender. Emphasis on women in American society with consideration of special conditions of women in third world societies. Studies the central institutions of gender-including family, sexuality and love, the sexual division of labor, the ideology of femininity, and the structural basis of this ideology - women's social roles, and symbolic representations of women in culture. Special emphasis on class and racial differences and similarities. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy a university Core Individual and Society (IN) and Writing Intensive (WI) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information.
Course Attributes: IN, SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 1301. Foundations in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the essential texts that define the history of Women's Studies and its evolution into the more expansive field of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies. The course will address how gender difference is constituted, the diversity of women's experiences in relation to class, race, sexuality, and gender identity providing the student with a common body of knowledge agreed upon by experts in the field of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies. The course functions as the foundation for future courses in Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies. Students will study the works of historical contributors to feminist thought such as Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Betty Friedan, Simone de Beauvoir, Kate Millet, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Judith Butler and others. Though this course is designed particularly with the needs of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies majors in mind, it will introduce to both majors and non-majors the intellectual issues, topics, and figures that embody the history of feminist struggle from its first wave in the 19th and early 20th centuries to the present day.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2000. Special Topics. 3 Credit Hours.
Specific cultural or social studies in gender and sexuality issues with an emphasis on interdisciplinary analyses. NOTE: A variable topics course.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
GSWS 2001. Women in Religion and Society. 3 Credit Hours.
Study of both the roles and the understanding of women in primitive and major modern religious traditions, particularly of the West, including an investigation of the authoritative writings and practices of the various traditions.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2002. Gender in the Cinema. 3 Credit Hours.
This course uses feminist and queer film theories to critically explore how gender, queer and trans identities are depicted in Hollywood, independent, documentary, international, and experimental films. The course examines feminism's relationship to racial, class, sexuality, gender identity and other differences through the medium of film. NOTE: Students who earned credit for "Sexual Differences in the Cinema" will not receive additional credits for "Gender in the Cinema."
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2003. Gender in Classical Antiquity. 3 Credit Hours.
What can we learn about the lives of ancient Greek and Roman women from ancient literature - literature written primarily by men? Can we piece together the everyday lives of Greek or Roman women of any social class? Even if we believe in the equality of the sexes, would a word like "equality" have had any meaning to the ancients? In this class, we will find answers to these questions by reading Greek and Latin sources in translation as well as the works of modern Classicists. While focusing on women's lives, we will gain a greater understanding of what was expected of both genders in the ancient world.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2007. Creative Writing: Fiction: LGBTQ Lives. 3 Credit Hours.
In this course, students will grapple with all areas essential to the craft of writing fiction, especially as they are used to tell LGBTQ-centered stories. As LGBTQ identities have not always been accepted in the mainstream, we will also examine the use of subtext to inform plot and/or character development. Through the use of class discussion, individual and group writing activities, and workshopping peer drafts, students will hone their writing tools. By class' end, students will achieve stronger reading and writing skills as well as develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of how to apply elements of fiction to LGBTQ subject matter. Last: this classroom is a brave space, in which writers - regardless of how they identify in terms of gender or sexuality - should feel welcome to work with material that speaks their truth; as such, as peers, we will listen and respond without judgment to the various work we discuss. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for either GSWS 2007 or LGBT 2007.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2017. Gender, Sexuality and the Law. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will provide students with an overview of current laws and policies surrounding gender and sexuality in the United States. We will focus on how law and public policy have intersected to adversely affect the lives of marginalized sex and gender groups. Particular attention will be paid to how gender and race affect an individual's path through the justice system. Abortion, reproductive rights, and discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation will also be examined. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for either GSWS 2017 or LGBT 2017.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2022. Gender, Race, Class, and the City. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will focus on the ways that race, class, and gender significantly shape US cities and urban life. The course will explore how urban spaces reflect and perpetuate different relations of power, inequity, and identity. How do multiple and contradictory identities shape one's experience of the city? How are economic, social, and political processes interacting with public policy (or the lack thereof) to determine how resources and power are unequally distributed? How are contemporary urban sustainability initiatives imbued with racial, gender, and class politics? First, we explore critical geographic frameworks for urban analysis that help to explain the social and spatial organization of US cities. We will develop a framework for urban analysis that integrates race, class, and gender, and draws upon the geographic concepts of place and scale. Second, we will use qualitative methods to apply our integrated framework to contemporary metropolitan processes and problems in the Philadelphia area. Key topics that we will address include: everyday experiences of urban life in public and private spaces; environmental (in)justice; neoliberal urban governance; urban social movements; and urban policy and planning. NOTE: The following course numbers are cross-listed: GUS 2022, ENST 2022, or GSWS 2022; students may receive credit for only one of these instances.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2051. Critical Race Feminist Theory. 3 Credit Hours.
Building from the ground breaking critical race theory texts that emerged within legal academia during the early 1990s this course will consider the historical underpinnings of this literature and its implications for future feminist theory and practice. The course will investigate the limits of liberal legal remedies in addressing the severe social realities faced by many women, men, trans and non-binary people of color of various sexual identities. We will pay particular attention to the persistence of structural, institutional and everyday racism despite the rejection of race as a viable biological human concept, and its intersection with gender, gender identity and sexuality. The course will also consider how core concepts from critical race theory are deployed within transnational feminist thought and activism. Note: Students who earned credit for "Critical Race Theory and Feminist Implications" will not receive additional credits for "Critical Race Feminist Theory."
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
Pre-requisites: Minimum grade of C- in GSWS 1301.
GSWS 2128. Men and Masculinities. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines and interrogates masculinity by drawing upon the diverse voices and experiences of men and boys across age, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, ability and religion. This course will explore the social and personal meanings of "manhood" and its impact on relationships, institutions and in our public and private lives.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2152. Introduction to Feminist Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.
This course covers major themes in feminist philosophy through canonical and recent texts. Themes include the sex/gender distinction; oppression, equality and justice; work and family; feminist care ethics; pornography and prostitution; sex-positivity and sex-negativity; feminist epistemology and feminist critiques of science. Throughout the course, discussions will consider the intersection of gender with race, class, disability, global location, sexuality, and age.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2159. Sex/Gender/Film/History. 3 Credit Hours.
Students will analyze mainstream, popular films produced in the post-WWII 20th century U.S., treating them as cultural texts that shed light on the ongoing historical struggles over gender identity and appropriate sexual behaviors.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2160. Topics in Gender and Literature. 3 Credit Hours.
Variable-content course that focuses on texts written by women and/or queer and nonbinary writers in order to explore how gender operates in literature and culture. Note: Formerly known as "Topics in Women's Literature" (ENG 2160 and GSWS 2160) and as "Women in Literature" (WMST 2197 and ENG 2197). Students may earn up to 6 credits of coursework taken from the following courses: ENG 2160, ENG 2197, GSWS 2160, WMST 2160, WMST 2197.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for a total of 6 credit.
GSWS 2202. Religion and Human Sexuality. 3 Credit Hours.
The goal of this course is to examine the attitudes and practices of the major world religions regarding human sexuality. Topics to be covered will include marriage and procreation, and such controversial issues as abortion, homosexuality and sexual activity outside of marriage. Note: Religion and Human Sexuality is taught as a cross-listed course in Religion; Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies; and LGBT Studies. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: REL 2002, LGBT 2002, GSWS 2202, WMST 2202.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2207. Creative Writing: Non-Fiction: Queer Lives. 3 Credit Hours.
For people who identify as members of the LGBTQIA community, queer stories carry a particular significance. In part, these stories allow members of the community to process how their sexuality has influenced their lives but also how these stories have influenced the degree to which they accept and express their sexuality. To people outside the LGBTQIA community, these stories offer a glimpse into what queer individuals have experienced. Because writing about queer lives is inherently political, these stories have often been fashioned into confining structures, such as the "coming out" story. And although this particular approach to telling these stories is important, queer lives often extend well beyond this particular moment in the development of their sexual identity - and some individuals even lack such a "moment" to serve as the core of their story. This course examines a variety of ways to approach telling these stories, for both people without and within the LGBTQIA community. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for either LGBT 2207 or GSWS 2207.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2305. LGBTQ Film: The Coming of Age Genre. 3 Credit Hours.
A number of films examine how queer youth do grapple with their LGBTQIA identity in their adolescent years, thus representing the typical sociological understanding of "coming-of-age." But a number of films instead explore how members of the LGBTQIA community explore their queer identity later in life. These films focus on the more psychological understanding of "coming-of-age", a point when people, mentally, fully accept who they are, inclusive of their sexual identity. Regardless of the timing in a person's life, this life stage focuses on a shift from innocence to a more "adult" or "realistic" take on the world around us. This course explores how the queer coming of age genre renders the often-unique approach queer individuals face as they come of age. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for either GSWS 2305 or LGBT 2305.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2306. LGBTQ Film: Queer Representation. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the way in which film has portrayed LGBTQ individuals. Drawing from a diverse slate of films, the class examines not just the various ways in which LGBTQ sexual expression has been rendered but also the political and sociological implications of this depiction over various decades. In addition, the class explores the ways in which those who have fought for LGBTQ visibility and equal rights have been framed through various films, whether they are recognizable figures in LGBTQ history or not. The class explores the ways in which these films have accomplished their goals and discusses the ways in which these films have been received. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for either GSWS 2306 or LGBT 2306.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2405. Queer Lives. 3 Credit Hours.
In this course we will read autobiographical accounts (memoirs, essays, diaries, and poems) in which a significant portion of the narrative focuses on same-sex erotic attraction and/or gender difference, identified in contemporary society by the label Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Intersex or the generic (and contested) Queer. The works were selected both to examine how gay and lesbian lives have been defined and altered over the course of the last sixty years and to provide a perspective of national, ethnic, religious, and racial diversity. Our main focus in the classroom will be discussion of these texts and their contexts. The classroom will be augmented by a research assignment focused on a gay or lesbian life we have not examined together in class. NOTE: This course was previously titled "Gay and Lesbian Lives." Students can earn credit only once for either "Queer Lives" or "Gay and Lesbian Lives."
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2406. LGBTQ Social Movements. 3 Credit Hours.
Starting in the 1950s forward, using a social science lens, this class examines the collective experience of LGBTQ-identifying lives. Focusing on various LGBTQ social movements, the course explores the various perspectives, targets, strategies, and goals of these various movements. The course also examines issues impacting the various factions within the LGBTQ community and how these factions have employed various tactics to effect social change. Starting with a basic foundation in social movement theory, class readings will explore the various targets addressed by social movements - such as science (medicine), culture, courts (legal), and states (not physical states, per se). The course will also address various ideologies (such as assimilation versus liberation). Students will leave the class with a clear sense of how to define a social movement, understand how it coalesces as a movement, how it operates, how it effects change, as the lasting impact of these various changes within society. Because not every moment that happens within the LGBTQ community happens as a consequence of one prior, the various movements we explore will not be examined chronologically. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for either GSWS 2406 or LGBT 2406.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 2815. Love, Marriage, and Family. 3 Credit Hours.
It is easy to assume that love, marriage, and family go together, but this has not always been the case. These concepts have a history. This course is a comparative examination of love, marriage, and family and the related themes of gender and sexuality in different historical periods and geographical areas. It includes ancient, medieval, and modern texts and materials and covers both western (European and American) and non-western (Asian, African, and perhaps Middle Eastern and Latin American) case studies. NOTE: Each instructor may place a different emphasis among those topics and regions.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3000. Special Topics. 3 Credit Hours.
Specific cultural, social, or political studies in gender and sexuality issues with an emphasis on interdisciplinary analyses.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
GSWS 3003. Women Writers In Black Literature. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines the concerns of black women writers: philosophical overtones, universal statements, literary structures, dominant themes. Will be taught from a comparative perspective by examining representative black women writers in the United States, the Caribbean and Africa. Will include the poetry, drama, short stories and the novels of major writers including Zora Neale Hurston, Buchi Emecheta, Lorraine Hansberry, Efua Sutherland, Sonia Sanchez, and many others. The readings will attempt to demonstrate that, notwithstanding the diversity in cultural, historical, and political backgrounds of the writers, a common thread runs through the works of black women writers.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3006. The American Woman: Visions and Revisions. 3 Credit Hours.
An examination of images and roles of women in American culture. Using fiction, poetry, and autobiography, we develop an understanding of stereotypes and myths and we relate these images to the real-life experiences of American women. The readings include all classes and many ethnic groups, and focus primarily on the 20th century. NOTE: Students will receive credit only once for either AMST 3096, AMST 3006, GSWS 3096, or GSWS 3006.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3015. Sexuality and Disability. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores the relationship between sexuality and disability, both visible and invisible. It focuses on gender identity, sexual orientation, wellness, pleasure, technology, inequality, and sexual and erotic agency in relation to the sexual lives of persons living with disabilities. Drawing on critical disability and critical sexuality studies, the course examines historical and modern approaches to understanding how sexuality and disability intersect to impact everyone, both disabled and able-bodied.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3016. Sexuality Education. 3 Credit Hours.
When, where and how do we learn about sex? How does what we know about sex shape the way we understand ourselves and our relationship with others? This course explores current and historical approaches to sexuality education and its impact on constructing individual and societal sociosexual and gendered scripts and norms. We will analyze and critique formal K-12 and adult sex education programs as well as the informal ways we learn about sexuality from family, friends and the media. Students will have the opportunity to examine a range of sexuality education curricula that are in use within and outside of the United States as well as to develop their own sexuality education curriculum.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3017. Social Perspectives on Digital Pornography: The Other Sex Ed. 3 Credit Hours.
In the 2003 hit Broadway musical, Avenue Q, characters excitedly sing, "The Internet is for Porn!" Over the last 20 years, despite the proliferation and increasing availability of digital pornography, or pornography accessed via the internet, little is known about its impact on sociosexual and gender scripts, gender-based violence, relationships, and sexual pleasure. Using an intersectional, feminist framework, this course explores how and what pornography teaches us about, for example, gender, sexual orientation, consent, and sexual behavior. Additionally, it examines and critiques the newly emerging fields of pornography literacy and pornography studies as well as the rapidly changing legal landscape of digital privacy and censorship and their effect on consumers, creators, and distributors. Note: This course is regularly cross-listed with LGBT 3017; please be advised students can receive credit only one time for either LGBT 3017 or GSWS 3017.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3031. Women in Chinese Literature. 3 Credit Hours.
This course focuses on women writers and women as characters in premodern, modern, and contemporary Chinese literature. Texts will include poetry, novels, short stories, and drama. Gender, representation, and women's roles in the history of Chinese literature are among the topics that will be covered. Knowledge of Chinese is not required. The class will be conducted in English, and all readings will be in English translation. Note: This course is cross-listed with Chinese 3031 and Asian Studies 3031. Students may only receive credit once for these courses: ASST 3031, CHI 3031, or GSWS 3031.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3040. Special Topics. 4 Credit Hours.
Specific cultural, social, or political topics in gender and sexuality issues with an emphasis on interdisciplinary analyses.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
GSWS 3082. Independent Study. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.
For students who would like to pursue topics on gender and sexuality not offered within existing courses. Original research and projects encouraged. Students will work closely with faculty in designing and carrying out the independent study. NOTE: Students must have selected a faculty advisor and submitted a formal proposal approved by their faculty advisor before registering for the course.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
GSWS 3097. Feminist Theory. 3 Credit Hours.
An examination of contemporary feminist theory as it applies to various fields of academic and social discourse. The course encourages critical analysis of the foundation of knowledge. NOTE: Students will earn credit only one time for either ENG 3097 or GSWS 3097.
Class Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Classes: Freshman 0 to 29 Credits.
Course Attributes: SI, WI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3101. Themes and Genres in Women's Literature. 3 Credit Hours.
In-depth study of ideas, languages, and cultural stances in literature written by women. Students who have earned credit for GSWS 3197, WMST 3197, or ENG 3101 will not earn additional credit for this course.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3124. Politics of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines the emergence and development of the movement to secure rights for gays, lesbians and bisexuals; how gays, lesbians and bisexuals are socially constructed and the influence this has on political discourse; how political issues that are relevant to the lives of gays and lesbians reach the political agenda; and the patterns of conflict and cooperation that exist among actors in and outside of government over issues such as employment discrimination, marriage, child adoption, and military service. Note: Prior to Summer 2019, this course was offered as "Politics, Rights, and Sexual Orientation." Students who earned credit for this course number under that title will not earn additional credits under the new title "Politics of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity." This course is cross-listed with Political Science and LGBT Studies; students may only receive credit for one of the following course numbers: POLS 3124, GSWS 3124, LGBT 3124.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3205. Queer Novels of the 20th Century. 3 Credit Hours.
In this course, we will investigate what LGBT-themed novels of the 20th century convey about gender identity, how individuals form this identity, how an understanding (both conscious and unconscious) of this identity impacts individuals, and how the expression of sexuality dictates behavior, particularly in the LGBTQIA community. Beginning with a foundation in queer theory and various literary devices, students will build a theoretical vocabulary and lens through which to analyze a series of novels from both the US and International. The chosen novels reflect authors or works considered part of the literary LGBT "cannon." Note: Students can receive credit only once for either GSWS 3205 or LGBT 3205.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3206. Queer Novels of the 21st Century. 3 Credit Hours.
In this course, we will investigate what various LGBTQ-themed novels tell us about LGBTQ life in the 21st Century. Starting with a historical approach of how LGBTQ novels were shaped by attitudes about LGBTQ life in the 20th century, we will determine how the representation of LGBTQ lives have evolved in novels. Our novels will explore the lives of people from across the LGBTQ spectrum. A number of the protagonists' identities also represent important intersectional identities as well, such as nationality, religion, and race. Beginning with a foundation in LGBTQ theory and various literary devices, students will build a theoretical vocabulary and lens through which to analyze a series of contemporary LGBTQ novels. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for ENG 3206, GSWS 3206, or LGBT 3206.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3225. Women in U.S. History. 3 Credit Hours.
Explores the ways in which women have both been affected by, and helped to shape, this nation's history. Emphasis will be on how women of different socio-economic backgrounds, races, and ethnic groups have experienced colonization, American expansion, sectionalism, the industrial revolution, urbanization, immigration, war, economic depression, cultural transformations and political change. Commonalities and differences among women, as well as conflicts between them, in a society based on male supremacy will be explored. Issues on how race, ethnicity, and class affect the experience of gender will be highlighted. NOTE: Students will receive credit only once for either GSWS 3225 or HIST 3225.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3231. German Minority Identities: Gendered and Cultural Dimensions (in English). 3 Credit Hours.
Germany has vibrant migrant communities with ethnic and racial groups from places as diverse as Turkey, Italy, Greece, Morocco, East Africa, and Russia. This course looks at the presence of minority communities in Germany today, their history and cultural influences as well as economic contributions. Our main analytical lens will be gender - how the German host culture is shaped by concepts of femininity and masculinity, sexuality, family, and a gendered division of labor and how these concepts are challenged (and/or shored up) by the various ethnic communities. We will look at both the perception of migrants by white/native Germans (how are they portrayed in the media, film, and politics?) and we will explore the voice of the "other," i.e. the experience of minority communities living in Germany and how this influences their own cultural identities. Questions we will ask include: How does the experience of immigration affect the identity of minorities living in Germany? What does "Deutsche Kultur" (German culture) mean today? Our focus will be on how gender shapes and underlies much of these discussions on minorities in Germany as well as their negotiations of conflicting expectations of community and larger "German" culture. Course material will include critical readings, films, and other cultural texts. Taught in English. Note: Students who earned credit for "German Minorities and Cultural Identities: Gendered Dimensions" will not receive additional credits for "German Minority Identities: Gendered and Cultural Dimensions."
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3235. Weimar Culture: Race, Gender, Sexuality and Nation (in English). 3 Credit Hours.
This class explores the contradictions in German culture during the Weimar Republic (1918-33), with particular attention to its urban centers. Berlin was considered the European capital of artistic and experimental subcultures as well as the hotbed for radical politics, whose decadent Bohemian culture of sexual experimentation, drug use, women's liberation and cabaret existed side by side with abject poverty and street violence. We will ask questions such as how Hitler could come to power in a Germany that was considered to have the most advanced science, technology, literature, philosophy and art of its time, and whose Jewish citizens contributed to all areas of society? How did a new consumerism contribute to the complacency of many Germans in the face of a violent fascism? Thereby we will pay attention to how concepts of race, gender, sexuality and nation shaped the debates of the time. We will watch movies, read literature and graphic novels, and learn about the Weimar Republic's political landscape and history. This course is conducted in English. All films are subtitled and readings are in English. Note: Students who earned credit for "Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Nation in Weimar Culture" will not receive additional credits for "Weimar Culture: Race, Gender, Sexuality and Nation."
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3236. Technology in Popular Culture: A Gender Analysis. 3 Credit Hours.
The wider context of this seminar is how science and technology influence and shape the world we live in. The focus is on gender related approaches - in what way does technology and its representations shape gender identity - and how this is reflected in popular culture, such as in the science fiction novel and film. Some points of discussion will be feminist critiques of technology, reproductive technologies, virtual reality, and alternative technologies as they are developed as theoretical concepts on the one hand, and are mirrored in science fiction, on the other. Note: Students who earned credit for "Gender and Technology in Popular Culture" will not receive additional credits for "Technology in Popular Culture: A Gender Analysis."
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3259. Women and Poverty. 3 Credit Hours.
This course focuses on women's poverty in the U.S. and the social welfare policies designed to address it. We begin with an overview of poverty in the U.S., ways to measure poverty, and how to read census tables on poverty and income. We then dive into the history of the welfare state in America, starting with the Poorhouse Era and moving through 1996's welfare reform legislation. The second part of the course addresses major issues and themes in poverty scholarship: the culture of poverty thesis, low-wage work, teenage motherhood effects, marriage and single motherhood, social capital, and neighborhood effects. We conclude with a comparative analysis of U.S. and international welfare states.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3325. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Representation in Popular Media. 3 Credit Hours.
This class investigates the history of LBGT representation in a range of popular media since the 1960s - in news, film, television, marketing, comics, video games, and on the Internet. How have LGBT people been represented in popular media? What negative - and positive - stereotypes have characterized them? How have these images changed over time in different media? How can we account for these changes? This course introduces students to some of the major debates about LGBT representation in the United States, including how gender, race, class, and economic factors shape how we understand sexuality and its representation. We will look at both mainstream and alternative media to consider the role of LGBT producers and audiences in shaping queer images. We will consider on-going debates about visibility, stereotypes, camp, and the value and limits of "positive images." The class includes a strong emphasis on independent research: students will learn how to develop and carry out an original qualitative research project throughout the semester. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for LGBT 3325, GSWS 3325, or MSP 4425.
Class Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Classes: Sophomore 30 to 59 Credits, Junior 60 to 89 Credits, Senior 90 to 119 Credits, Senior/Fifth Year 120+ Credits.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3431. Women's Lives Modern Europe. 3 Credit Hours.
This course treats issues related to women's status and power in modern European history from the 18th century to the present. The emphasis of the course will be on the experiences of women in England, France, Germany, and Russia where many economic and political changes have occurred in the last few centuries. The purpose of this course is to discuss important issues that women have confronted in the past, and that continue to influence problems that women face today such as: personal, economic, and political power, education, sexuality, psychology, and social esteem, women's position in the home and the workplace plus the continuing question of conventional versus unconventional gender roles in Western societies. To supplement a general text and several published sources in European history, students will be reading memoirs and essays written by women on economic, political, and social issues pertaining to women, work, and the family during the past two centuries.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3542. Women and Society in Japan. 3 Credit Hours.
This course analyzes the changing position of women in Japanese society from ancient times to the present. Through discussions, lectures, and audiovisual materials, students learn about goddesses, female diviners, empresses, the classical female writers, women in warrior culture, women in industrializing Japan, and Japanese women's movements. NOTE: Students will receive credit only once for either GSWS 3542, ASST 3542, ASST 3942, or HIST 3542.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3546. Sexuality and Gender. 3 Credit Hours.
This is a historically oriented course focused on competing views of sexuality, in particular, essentialist theories and those which take a social constructionist approach. The first part of the course will lay the groundwork for the analysis of particular areas of sexuality by focusing on the transition from 19th century views of sexuality to the 20th century and on the learning of sexual scripts. The second part of the course will apply these perspectives to a variety of issues including rape, pornography, abortion, and prostitution.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3548. Intimate Partner Violence: Gender and Social Justice. 3 Credit Hours.
This course addresses gender-based violence, in particular, intimate partner violence. We will use intersectionality as a feminist tool in understanding how violence is mediated through the nexus of social power and control in which race, ability, sexuality, class, and other variables play a big part. Students will learn the impact of this gender-based violence on young girls, immigrants, women of color, elderly women, trans populations, lesbians and other marginalized groups within the U.S. NOTE: Students can receive credit only once for either LGBT 3548 or GSWS 3548.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3551. Critical Race Feminist Theory. 3 Credit Hours.
Building from the ground breaking critical race theory texts that emerged within legal academia during the early 1990s this course will consider the historical underpinnings of this literature and its implications for future feminist theory and practice. The course will investigate the limits of liberal legal remedies in addressing the severe social realities faced by many women, men, trans and non-binary people of color of various sexual identities. We will pay particular attention to the persistence of structural, institutional and everyday racism despite the rejection of race as a viable biological human concept, and its intersection with gender, gender identity and sexuality. The course will also consider how core concepts from critical race theory are deployed within transnational feminist thought and activism. Note: Students who earned credit for GSWS 2051 "Critical Race Theory and Feminist Implications", GSWS 2051 "Critical Race Feminist Theory" or SOC 3551 "Critical Race Feminist Theory" will not receive additional credits for GSWS 3551 "Critical Race Feminist Theory."
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3559. Health and Reproduction. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will focus on health and human reproduction in the United States. We will view reproduction as both a biological and social event and will be particularly concerned with the medical and health aspects of reproduction. Decisions about child bearing, the medicalization of child bearing, fecundity, birth control, fetal and neonatal health, maternal health and new reproductive technologies are among the topics that will be considered in the research-intensive course. The course will also cover technical, methodological and statistical issues arising in the study of reproduction. NOTE: This is a research-intensive course.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3606. Asian Women in Transition. 3 Credit Hours.
This course introduces and compares the experiences of women in Asia and Asian women in migration to the United States in the modern period, including rural and urban women, and ordinary and elite women in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include women in households, women and work, and women's activism. Duplicate credit warning: Students may only receive credit for one of the following: ASST 3696, HIST 3696, GSWS 4696, HIST 3606, GSWS 3606, or ASST 3606.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3722. Women and Political Violence. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines debates on gender and political violence that usually present violence as masculine, while femininity is associated with non-violence. Particular focus is on the participation of women in left terrorist and other militant groups in the U.S. and Europe between the 1960s and 1980s, and in the Middle East in the 2000s. Female terrorists and militants in various cultural settings are generally demonized as being more dangerous and violent than their male counterparts or their roles are de-politicized as misguided, seduced lovers of the "real" male terrorist. In this course we examine gendered cultural assumptions about women's "natural" role as mothers and peacemakers and how these cultural beliefs have been translated into a feminist definition of women's political activism as non-violent. We will discuss this contradiction.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 3900. Honors: Special Topics. 3 Credit Hours.
A variable topics course. Additional work arranged by the instructor.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
GSWS 4000. Seminar in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
A variable content course which selects one of the topics necessary for a comprehensive understanding of women in society and studies it in depth. The course may focus on a particular group of women, the study of women from a specific perspective, or the position of women in a particular institution.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
GSWS 4004. Women and Criminal Justice. 3 Credit Hours.
The aims are to develop an understanding of the status of women in the Criminal Justice System as offenders, victims, and workers. We will examine the extent to which status is a reflection of stereotypes of women currently in vogue or a reflection of social structural arrangements in society. Patterns of female crime, treatment within the criminal justice system, victimization, and career opportunities will be studied and compared with those of males, as well as within other societies, where data is available.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 4389. Field Work. 3 Credit Hours.
An internship in a public or private organization or company whose mission includes advocacy on the basis of gender, sexuality and/or gender identity. This course is required for Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies majors, but is also open to non-majors in the College of Liberal Arts. Students must write a paper or create a project related to their internship. NOTE: Placement and faculty advisors arranged prior to registration. Requires a designated supervisor at the field placement, a minimum of 7.5 internship hours per week, and a faculty advisor.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
GSWS 4396. Research Seminar. 3 Credit Hours.
This course serves as the capstone for the Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies major. Students write a substantial research paper (5000-6250 words) either drawn from and expanding upon their Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies internship, or on another selected topic. They work closely with the instructor and each other in increasing and applying their understanding of the writing process, scholarly research, and feminist and queer methodologies. NOTE: Capstone writing course. For majors only. Note: Students who earned credit for "Research Seminar in Women's Studies" will not receive additional credits for "Research Seminar."
Field of Study Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Fields of study: Gender/Sexuality/Womens St, Lesbian Gay Bi and Transgender.
Course Attributes: WI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 4411. Secularism: Jewish and Muslim Women. 3 Credit Hours.
In its three-hundred-year history as a Western concept, secularism is often defined as the opposite of religion. Religious women have alternately found western secularism to be a source of liberation (as it grants them greater civil rights) and a source of oppression (as it putatively shrinks the religious sphere). In creating feminisms through Jewish and Muslim experience, feminisms that are both secular and religious, these religious women have complicated the meanings of secularism. They have also challenged the notion that feminism is necessarily secular. This course looks at examples of Jewish and Muslim women's lives and feminist thought in the US, Europe, and the Middle East. The course will compare and contrast the feminism of these two groups of religious women, in order to more fully understand the role of concepts like secularism, feminism, and religion. NOTE: Students will earn credit only one time for either GSWS 4411, REL 4411, or JST 4411.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
GSWS 4999. Honors Thesis. 3 Credit Hours.
Individually supervised research and writing, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduating with Honors in Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies. NOTE: Permission of program director required.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.