Sex, Gender, and Biology

Catalog description

This intermediate level, interdisciplinary course is unlike most other gender studies or other science courses, incorporating health science research and biology research, as well as social science and humanistic perspectives on health, medicine, and biology. This class carries the expectation that students will work on course learning activities (reading, writing, studying, etc.) for about 4 hours out of classroom per week. This course explores biological notions of sex, gender, and sexuality, while examining how androcentric and cisheteronormative biases shape the production of scientific knowledge: How have biology and medicine been influenced by a focus on men and masculinity? How have biology and medicine been influenced by heteronormativity and assumptions of heterosexuality? How have biology and medicine been influenced by cisnormativity and assumptions that everyone is cisgender (rather than transgender) and endosex (i.e. not intersex)? Pathologization of sex, gender, and sexuality are directly examined and critiqued throughout the semester. This course utilizes feminist approaches to methods in the health sciences and biological sciences. This course, which requires students to examine the historical and contemporary societal factors that shape science and medicine, addresses diversity, equity, and justice in science and medicine. Students will develop a vision for the future of biological and medical research. This course applies transdisciplinary perspectives to consider work from a range of academic fields and topics in order to critique issues of epistemology, methodology, methods, interpretation, and writing. This course utilizes and examines both peer-reviewed and popular articles, websites, podcasts, and documentaries.