Introduction to Gender Studies

Catalog description

IThis course offers an introduction to the study of gender and the ways it shapes our experiences in the social world. With interdisciplinary readings both foundational and contemporary, the class will combine literature, film, and other cultural artifacts with legal texts, public policies, and feminist theory. We will read critically and discuss openly. This class will challenge you to consider new perspectives, engage with a variety of diverse content, and consider how your opinions have been shaped in the world around you. You will discuss and explore these concepts through writing, reading, and discussion with your peers. While we will often reflect on our personal lives and honor the feminist dictum that "the personal is political," we will above all seek to connect those experiences to scholarly works on the broad topic on gender studies. We will read works by writers such as Audre Lorde, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, Patricia Hill-Collins, Judith Butler, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sandra Bartky, Jack Halberstam, Eve Sedgewick, James Baldwin, Catherine D'Ignazio, and others. Prerequisites: 76-101 or 76-102 or ( 76-106 and 76-107 ) or ( 76-106 and 76-108 ) or ( 76-107 and 76-108 )