Trauma Porn to Title IX: Gender Based Violence at Penn

Catalog description

What does it mean to center survivors? Do safe spaces exist? How do institutions like Penn perpetuate gender based violence? How do we encounter and *counter* violence inside and outside the academic space? This course will explore these questions through the various lenses of academic research, literature, art, popular culture, and media, allowing for a nuanced and historically contextualized understanding of the challenging and enduring issue of gender based violence on college campuses, its prevalence, its causes, and its potential solutions. Students will participate in weekly guided discussions and the course will feature regular guest speakers who are involved in anti-violence work at Penn and in the broader community. Creative practices will be encouraged and centered each week, and course assignments will reflect this priority. Previous experience with Gender Studies is welcome but not required.