History of Sexuality in the United States

Catalog description

In this course, students will study changing constructions and expressions of sexuality in what is now the United States. Considering the evolving spectrum of behaviors and identities that society has defined as normal and deviant, we will challenge notions of human reproduction and desire as timeless, unchanging, and universal. By embedding our analysis of sexuality with that of class, race, gender, age, ability, and other identities, we will examine how sexual experience and expression has varied, defied, reinforced, repressed, and liberated. Informed by the critical consideration of theory and comprehensive reading in the secondary literature, we will engage in primary source analysis of materials created by and about those who lived in our community in the past. Students will share their research via a web-based project we will build together. Satisfies History major and minor requirement. Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement. Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.