Our aim is to provide you witha coherent and comparative study of gender and sexuality within the social sciences and the humanities. Drawing from psychology, feminism, literary theory, sociology, politics, visual culture, and other fields of inquiry, you willdevelop an informed understanding of the fundamental concepts, theories, issues, and debatesthat surroundgender and sexuality from a range ofinterdisciplinary perspectives.This will lay the foundation fora comparative investigation ofinterdisciplinary epistemologies and will prepare you formore focused topical, theoretical, and region-specific explorations within three fields of specialization.
The educational goals for this major are as follows:
No matter your specialization,you will examine larger social, cultural, and political explorations that involve subjectslikethe representation and construction of gender, the teaching of sexuality in schools, feminist rights within the workplace, gender and sexuality within colonial and post-colonial studies,andLGBT activism. Your studieswill prepare you to interpret and critically analyze the scientific, biological, artistic, and poetic articulations of gender and sexuality at the center of contemporary social, cultural, and political debates.
With every single one of our majors, you’ll find a carefully curated medley of core courses and electives, which will provide you with the tools you need to establish an unshakeable foundation in the principles and concepts fundamental to your growth within your disciplines of choice. Many majors also enable you to specialize further within the broader area of study.
We aim to help you develop a range of skills, capacities, and modes of inquiry that will be crucial for your future since employers and graduate schools are looking for the critical thinking and innovative problem-solving skills that are associated with a liberal arts education, including sophisticated writing abilities, willingness to pose difficult questions, and an understanding of the historical and cultural contexts surrounding a topic or decision.
You will be required to take at least six elective courses from within the GSSmajor, including at least three coursesfrom the specialization you choose and two coursesfrom a differentspecialization, in order to ensure you a well-rounded base fromwhich to pursue your own path.
The Gender, Sexuality and Society major offers courses in thefollowing three specializations:
The Gender,Sexuality and Societycore courses, which you must take as part of the major requirements, will provide you with the tools you’ll need to ground your present and future studies. Your introduction to the fundamentals of Gender,Sexuality and Society will help pave the way for your successful completion of other GSS courses.
Introduces the methodology of Gender Studies and the theory upon which it is based. Examines contemporary debates across a range of issues now felt to be of world-wide feminist interest: sexuality, reproduction, production, writing, representation, culture, race, and politics. Encourages responsible theorizing across disciplines and cultures.
Surveys major issues concerning gender and the science of psychology in an attempt to answer the question: why is there such a gender gap when women and men share more psychological similarities than differences? Topics include: developmental processes and gender; gender roles and stereotypes, biology and gender; cross-cultural perspectives of gender; social-cultural theories of gender; language and gender, emotions and gender, health and gender.
Interrogates the concepts of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ from a comparative, global perspective, drawing from multiple disciplines such as anthropology, ethnography, philosophy, sociology and history. Engages with questions of inequality, social justice and diversity as they are mapped onto gender and played out in institutional, political and socio-cultural power relations.
This class is uniquely tailored to the interdisciplinary focus of students majoring in Psychology and/or Gender, Sexuality, and Society. Juxtaposing different forms of writing, evidence, and rhetorical practices in psychology, the social sciences, and the humanities, students will reflect on methods and writing practices in order to develop an authentic disciplinary voice. Prerequisites: Sophomore standing, EN 1010, and PY 1000 or GS 2006
A Senior Project is an independent study representing a Major Capstone Project that needs to be registered using the Senior Project registration form. (Download: https://aupforms.formstack.com/workflows/senior_project)