WGSS 2100 Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies:
This course offers an interdisciplinary exploration of historical and ideological conceptions of gender and sexuality. Students will be introduced to this academic field through analyses of various primary sources, literary and artistic depictions, media portrayals, and theoretical studies of gender and sexuality. Upon completion of this course, students will be more skilled at evaluating theories, as well as applying theoretical concepts to academic research and everyday life.
ARTS 2100 Women and Art:
This course will focus on the contributions to art made by female artists throughout history. We will consider artists ranging from the Middle Ages through today. We will study figures like Hildegard von Bingen, Artemisia Gentileschi, Judy Chicago, and Marina Abrarnovic, as well as addressing topics like public and private spaces, women’s changing roles, ideals of beauty across time and place, changing ideas regarding gender and sexuality within the context of social class, and the impact of religion on attitudes toward women. We will look at women’s artworks and when possible, their writing. We will also consider a variety of feminist approaches to the study of art and the intersections of theories of race, class, and gender.
SOCI 3230 Gender, Sexuality, and Society:
This course examines the role of sex, gender and sexuality in society. It explores the ways gender differences are culturally reproduced transforming male and female biology into masculinity and femininity. Current gender theory emphasizes the division of labor, power, social control, violence, and ideology as structural and interactional bases of inequalities among men and women of different social classes, racial/ethnic groups, and sexualities. Gender and sexuality are organizing principles of society and its institutions like the economy, media, and the family. How gender and sexuality are constructed varies across time and space.
