Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

811 Anderson Hall
215-204-1644
www.cla.temple.edu/gender-sexuality-and-womens-studies/

Heath Davis, Program Director
811 Anderson Hall
heath.davis@temple.edu

Rujuta Mandelia, Faculty Advisor
816 Anderson Hall
215-204-6953
rujuta@temple.edu

Stephanie Morawski, Administrator
1041 Anderson Hall
215-204-8516
morawski@temple.edu

Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies offers a cohesive framework of inquiry into gender and sexuality issues in the U.S. and around the world. The program's curriculum highlights the ways in which gender and sexuality relate to other social categories, such as race, class, disability, nationality, and ethnicity. As an interdisciplinary field, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies takes into account social, historical, economic, political, and cultural variables in its study of women's experience, the workings of gender as both an analytical category and identity, and the functioning of sexuality in social life. The field pays particular attention to inequality and discrimination based on gender and sexuality. Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies also seeks to transform traditional fields of study by incorporating new methodologies, data, theories, and frameworks developed by feminist scholars.

The Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program offers students an interdisciplinary curriculum taught by faculty from various departments across the university. Students learn to apply the methods and theories of social scientists, historians, philosophers, and literary critics to the study of women's experiences, as well as gender and sexual identities. They explore a growing body of feminist theories that revise our understanding of gender, society, and culture.

The Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program offers an undergraduate major and minor that can be taken by students in the College of Liberal Arts or by students in other colleges. In addition, the program also offers a minor in LGBT Studies that can be taken by students in the College of Liberal Arts or by students in other colleges and a certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies that is available only to students outside the College of Liberal Arts.  

Special Programs

Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies majors are required to take a Fieldwork course involving an internship which gives them the opportunity to get hands-on professional experience.

We encourage students to take advantage of university study abroad programs. Please contact our faculty advisor for more information.

Accelerated Degree Programs

Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies majors have three options for a 5 year BA/master's program. The master's degree programs are the Master of Arts in Sociology, the Master of Education in Adult and Organizational Development and the Master of Education in Urban Education. For more information on these programs see the Accelerated Programs section of this Bulletin as well as the department's web site.

Policies

We encourage students to take Foundations in Women's Studies (GSWS 1301), Critical Race Theory and Feminist Implications (GSWS 2051), Feminist Theory (GSWS 3097) and Field Work in Women's Studies (GSWS 4389) before taking the Research Seminar in Women's Studies (GSWS 4396).

Honors

Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies majors have the opportunity to graduate with distinction in the major if they have a GPA of 3.5 or better in the major, a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, and have successfully completed an honors thesis.

The Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program has the below five annual undergraduate awards that honor academic and creative excellence in our students:

  • Barbara Brownstein Prize
  • Sonia Sanchez Scholarship
  • Lucia Beck Weiss and Howard J. Weiss Prize
  • Audre Lorde Prize
  • Certificate of Excellence

Professional Development

After graduation, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies students enter professional schools in law, medicine and business; take graduate degrees in the humanities and social sciences; and pursue careers in health, counseling, teaching, public advocacy and many other fields.

Programs

Courses

GSWS 0801. Border Crossings: Gendered Dimensions of Globalization. 3 Credit Hours.

Explore the ways in which gender "works" in different cultural and national contexts, and the impact globalization has on gender relations. "Gender" indicates the ways in which our social lives are organized around categories of male and female - in relation to work, family, sexuality, culture, and nation. "Globalization" describes the transfer of economic and cultural goods between nations and peoples. Questions we will ask include: What is globalization and how do women and men experience it differently? Do women and men work the same jobs in the global labor market, and do they get paid the same wages? How does immigration affect families? Does a growing connectedness between cultures and nations change traditional gender roles? How different are experiences of women in the "Third World" from those of women in the "First World," and why? Investigate these issues together by reading critical writings as well as Internet blogs, watching films/documentaries, and analyzing popular media. 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

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 0824. Gender and World Societies. 3 Credit Hours.

Learn about the history of feminine and masculine gender roles from comparative and international perspectives. Using case studies from Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, West Africa, Victorian Britain, Modern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and/or Latin America, we will explore certain themes - The State, The Sacred, Work, The Family, The Body and Sexuality, Modern Revolutionary Movements - to investigate how gender and gender roles have changed over time, and their significance today. Readings include primary sources written both by men and by women, secondary sources, novels, and films. 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

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

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

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 class aims at broadening our understandings of women's involvement in and influences on American political culture by reading life narratives of women in social movements. The focus will be in particular on movements that usually are not associated with women's political and cultural work, such as Native American Rights, Black Power, anarchist and workers' movements, and the Religious Right. Autobiographical writings will also help us understand the role women's narrative tradition has played in the social, literary, and historical perspectives. Questions we will explore 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 life, and why do we read their narratives? 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 0863/0963; Women's Studies 0863/0963.

Course Attributes: GU

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 0932. Honors 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 0832, History 0832, Political Science 0832/0932, Sociology 0832 or Women's Studies 0832/0932.

Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.

Course Attributes: GD, HO

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 class aims at broadening our understandings of women's involvement in and influences on American political culture by reading life narratives of women in social movements. The focus will be in particular on movements that usually are not associated with women's political and cultural work, such as Native American Rights, Black Power, anarchist and workers' movements, and the Religious Right. Autobiographical writings will also help us understand the role women's narrative tradition has played in the social, literary, and historical perspectives. Questions we will explore 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 life, and why do we read their narratives? 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 0863/0963; Women's Studies 0863/0963.

Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.

Course Attributes: GU, HO

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 1076. 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 the university Core Individual and Society (IN) 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

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

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 1101. American Women's Lives. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will look at American women's autobiographical writings, diaries, journals, and book length accounts, to understand the role women's narrative tradition has played in the development of American culture. The writings will be approached from social, literary, and historical perspectives. Subjects may include slave narratives, social reformers, social movements, pioneers, and literary figures. Issues of gender, race, and class will be highlighted. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core American Culture (AC) 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: AC

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 1197. American Women's Lives. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will look at American women's autobiographical writings, diaries, journals, and book length accounts, to understand the role women's narrative tradition has played in the development of American culture. The writings will be approached from social, literary, and historical perspectives. Subjects may include slave narratives, social reformers, social movements, pioneers, and literary figures. Issues of gender, race, and class will be highlighted. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy a university Core American Culture (AC) 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: AC

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 1201. International Women's Writing. 3 Credit Hours.

Reading and discussion of fiction, diaries, memoirs, and personal essays written by women in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Will examine the ways in which such "universal" themes as love, family, work, and personal identity are shaped by cultural contexts. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core International Studies (IS) 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. In addition to meeting the university Core International Studies requirement, this course meets the Non-Western/Third World IS requirement for Communication Sciences majors. Please note the recent update to the Core IS requirement at www.temple.edu/vpus/resources/coreupdates.htm#coreisupdate.

Course Attributes: IS

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 1301. Foundations in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

The purpose of this overarching course is to have the student explore the essential texts that define the history of Women's Studies. The course will address how gender difference is constituted, the diversity of women's experiences in relation to class, race, and sexuality, providing the student with a common body of knowledge agreed upon by experts in the field of Women's Studies. The course functions as the foundation for future courses in Women's Studies. The 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, and others. Though this course is designed particularly with the needs of 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 1676. Men and Women in American Society. 3 Credit Hours.

The course examines gender roles in the United States. It includes how children learn to be boys and girls within their families, through play, from the media, and in schools. It includes the way men and women learn to interact together in personal relationships and work. It examines the benefits of being a man in our society and attempts to understand how and why this advantage works. The focus is on how society shapes the lives of children and adults in gendered ways, how we all participate in creating gendered differences, and how we can bring about change. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core American Culture (AC) 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: AC

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 1696. Men and Women in American Society. 3 Credit Hours.

The course examines gender roles in the United States. It includes how children learn to be boys and girls within their families, through play, from the media, and in schools. It includes the way men and women learn to interact together in personal relationships and work. It examines the benefits of being a man in our society and attempts to understand how and why this advantage works. The focus is on how society shapes the lives of children and adults in gendered ways, how we all participate in creating gendered differences, and how we can bring about change. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy a university Core American Culture (AC) 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: AC

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 1700. Special Topics in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

Specific cultural or social studies in gender issues with an emphasis on interdisciplinary analyses. NOTE: A variable topics course.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

GSWS 1708. Gender and History. 3 Credit Hours.

A thematic introduction to the history of feminine and masculine roles from a comparative international perspective. The course will focus on topics such as The State, The Sacred, The Family, The Body, Work, and Modern Social Movements, using case studies from Ancient Greece or Rome, Medieval Europe, Africa, China, Japan, Modern Europe, and the Americas. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy the university Core International Studies (IS) 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: IS

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 2000. Topics in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

Specific cultural or social studies in gender 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. Sexual Differences in the Cinema. 3 Credit Hours.

Women and film introductory course foregrounding various feminist film theories (Mulvey, Kaplan, Thornham), their construction of the term "woman" and feminism's relationship to "difference" based in categories such as race, class, and sexuality. Possible readings of both Hollywood films, independent films, international films, and more marginal cinemas such as documentary and the experimental are discussed.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 2051. Critical Race Theory and Feminist Implications. 3 Credit Hours.

Building from the ground breaking critical race theory texts that emerged within legal academia during the early 1990's 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 of color. We will pay particular attention to the persistence of structural, institutional and everyday racism despite the rejection of race as a viable biological concept with regards to the human species. The experiences of women and men, and sexual identity will be discussed alongside feminist theories of intersectionality. The course will consider how core concepts from critical race theory are deployed within transnational feminist thought and activism.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

Pre-requisites:
GSWS 1301|Minimum Grade of C-|May not be taken concurrently.

GSWS 2082. Independent Study. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.

For students who would like to pursue topics on women and sex roles not offered within regular college courses. Original research and projects encouraged. Close faculty supervision both in designing and carrying out the independent study. NOTE: Students must have selected a faculty advisor and submitted a formal proposal before registering for the course.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

GSWS 2096. The Politics of Diversity. 3 Credit Hours.

What does cultural diversity mean to you? To some of us, it is an attempt to forge a new definition of pluralism and community in American culture. To others, it is an opportunity to re-examine American life based on new concepts about race, gender, and class. To others it implies the abandonment of the Western intellectual tradition. Some see it as a way to avoid dealing with racism in the United States by focusing attention on women, gays, the disabled, and white ethnic and religious minorities. This course will examine the current debate about diversity. We will focus our attention on cases that have been part of the controversy. NOTE: This course can be used to satisfy a university Core Studies in Race and Writing Intensive (WR) 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: WR

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 2108. Women's Voices in Russian Culture. 3 Credit Hours.

In this course we will study the depiction of women's voices in Russian culture (memoirs, fiction, feature and documentary films, research in both anthropology and sociology), by female and male authors, researchers, and filmmakers in the context of a larger study of women in Russian culture. Our course will start with an historical survey, but focus most closely on Russian women in the 20th century. Note: This course is equivalent to RUS 2108; students may receive credit for either GSWS 2108 or RUS 2108.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 2109. Sexuality and Gender in American History. 3 Credit Hours.

This course takes us from the beginning of the 20th century (actually, from the tail end of the 19th) to the present, exploring the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the public and private roles of women and men in the United States. It examines changing cultural values and social norms of masculinity and femininity as well as actual behavior of women and men in the family, at work and at play, in love, and in the life of the nation. It also probes the ways in which race, social class, and sexual orientation have affected the experience of gender.

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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 2160. Topics in Women's Literature. 3 Credit Hours.

Variable content course which examines the representation of women and the literature created by English, American, or other countries' women writers. This course has been offered with many specific topics combining biography and literary texts; neglected masterpieces of American literature by black and white women; woman as hero/woman as heroine; the questions of love, marriage, and vocation for women from 1850 to 1940 and other thematic motifs of 20th and 21st century women's literature. Note: Formerly known 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.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for a total of 6 credit.

GSWS 2202. Religion and Human Sexuality East & West. 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 2405. Gay and Lesbian 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.

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 2816. Gender, Class, and Nation. 3 Credit Hours.

This course explores the social and economic roles of women and men in modern Europe. Comparison of the impact of gender, class and nationality on middle-class, working class and peasant women and men in England, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. The effects of industrialization, nationalism, war, fascism, communism and the welfare state on women and men's lives. Covers the evolution of the role of girls and women in the family and the changing status of single and married women in the home and the workplace.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 2817. Gender, War, and Society. 3 Credit Hours.

In wartime, the traditional organization of society is often radically altered to meet the pragmatic and ideological needs of triumphing in the ongoing conflict. Ideas about gender - i.e., how masculinity and femininity are defined - are frequently subject to radical revision in the context of a society at war. This course examines the European and, to a lesser extent, the American experiences of war during the two World Wars and the intervening twenty-year period, to understand how war and ideas of gender are related. Using both primary and secondary source materials, as well as films about World Wars I and II, the course looks at the experiences of men and women on the front lines and on the home front, those who participated in the wars and those who resisted them, those who benefited from war and those who participated in the wars and those who resisted them, those who benefited from war and those who were its victims. The course examines not only how wartime experiences construct and revise ideas about gender, but also how the rhetoric of gender is often used to further wartime aims.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 2900. Honors Topics in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

Specific cultural or social studies in gender issues with an emphasis on interdisciplinary analyses. NOTE: A variable topics course.

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 2996. Honors The Politics of Diversity. 3 Credit Hours.

What does cultural diversity mean to you? To some of us, it is an attempt to forge a new definition of pluralism and community in American culture. To others, it is an opportunity to re-examine American life based on new concepts about race, gender, and class. To others it implies the abandonment of the Western intellectual tradition. Some see it as a way to avoid dealing with racism in the United States by focusing attention on women, gays, the disabled, and white ethnic and religious minorities. This course will examine the current debate about diversity. We will focus our attention on cases that have been part of the controversy.

Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.

Course Attributes: HO, WI

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3000. Topics in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

Specific cultural or social studies in gender issues with an emphasis on interdisciplinary analyses. NOTE: A variable topics course.

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 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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3040. Special Topics. 4 Credit Hours.

Specific cultural or social studies in gender issues with an emphasis on interdisciplinary analyses. NOTE: A variable topics course.

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 women and sex roles not offered within regular college courses. Original research and projects encouraged. Close faculty supervision both in designing and carrying out the independent study. NOTE: Students must have selected a faculty advisor and submitted a formal proposal 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: WI

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3197. Themes/Genres in Women's Literature. 3 Credit Hours.

A variable content course in which students examine in depth the ideas, languages, and cultural stances in literature written by women. A specific theme or genre will be taken up each semester. (Courses previously taught under our general [nondisciplinary] Special Topics number have included Women and Poetry, Women's Worlds in Science Fiction and Utopian Literature, and Women's Autobiographical Narratives.) NOTE: A variable topics course.

Course Attributes: WI

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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3231. German Minorities and Cultural Identities: Gendered 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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3235. Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Nation in Weimar Culture (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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3236. Gender and Technology in Popular Culture. 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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3241. Getting Medieval: Gender, Sex, Power. 3 Credit Hours.

Does Europe have a sex? Can everyday gender normativity be politically constitutive and also the occasion of excessive violence? To answer these questions we will study what bodies mattered in pre-modern Christian Europe and think about the fate of bodies that did not matter. This course explores different strategies of constructing masculinities and femininities in pre-modern Christian Europe and asks who/what had the power to universalize and discipline such fabrications. We will study how the papacy and medieval monarchies regulated gender and sexuality among Christians and also between Christians, Jews, Muslims and so-called "pagans" from c 500 CE to 1500 CE and in so doing creating a powerful political notion of a territorial "inside" called Europe.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3258. Women and Work. 3 Credit Hours.

Women's work will be defined in the fullest sense. We shall examine the division of labor between the sexes and changes in women's production in the labor force and in the home from both a historical and a cross-cultural perspective. We shall discuss trends in the employment of women by race, age, and marital status as well as trends in the distribution and nature of household work.

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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3277. Women in the Economy. 3 Credit Hours.

Explores five major themes: unpaid work performed by women in the home; why so many women work for pay; why so many women are clerical workers; why so many women earn substantially less than men (wage differentials). Consideration of these topics and women workers in the Third World - requires understanding alternative economic theories of the labor market and economic approaches to discrimination as well as historical changes in the nature of unpaid and paid work. We shall discuss these theories and apply them to the economic situation of women here and in other societies.

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 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 3721. Women in Pre-Industrial Societies. 3 Credit Hours.

Women's experience in the pre-industrial period varied greatly across different regions of the globe, yet there were also important commonalities. This course examines comparatively, in various traditional European and third world societies, some important themes in women's history: work, sexuality, marriage, social control, science and medicine, and religion. It also discusses ways of studying the history of people who were for the most part not literate and left few traces of their own thoughts and experiences.

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 between the feminist definition of women's political strategies as "naturally" non-violent and the conscious employment of political violence by women.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 3900. Honors Topics in Women's Studies. 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 3997. Honors: 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.

Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.

Course Attributes: HO, WI

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 4000. Seminar in 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 4097. Gender, Race, Class and The City. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will focus on the relationships among gender, race, class, and urban spaces of the 20th century U.S. cities. The course will explore how urban spaces reflect and perpetuate different relations of power, inequality, and identity. How does urban space reflect and reinforce unequal power relations? How do multiple and contradictory identities shape one's experience of the city? How are contemporary debates about the city imbued with racialized, gendered and classed meanings? Focus will be on housing (suburbanization, gentrification, and homelessness), economic restructuring and poverty, welfare policy, and urban social movements.

Course Attributes: WI

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 4121. Women and Politics. 3 Credit Hours.

The women's movement and its implications for public policy. The role of politics and political philosophy in restraining women's opportunities; an examination of the ideological roots of feminism; present discrimination in the workplace; and women as political activists.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 4389. Field Work in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

The opportunity to work in a public or private agency whose mission includes women's advocacy. Available to students majoring in Women's Studies and students throughout the College of Liberal Arts. A paper or project related to the area of the field study is also required. NOTE: Placement and faculty advisors arranged prior to registration. (Call 215-204-6953.) Requires a designated supervisor at the field placement (minimum of 7 1/2 hours per week) and a faculty advisor within the College.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

GSWS 4396. Research Seminar in Women's Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

This course serves as the capstone for the Women's Studies major. Students write a substantial research paper (20-25 pages) either drawn from and expanding upon their 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 theory and methodology. NOTE: Capstone writing course. For majors only.

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.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 4696. 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.

Course Attributes: WI

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

GSWS 4999. Honors Thesis Independent Study. 3 Credit Hours.

Individually supervised research and writing, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduating with Honors in 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.