Science of Sex & Sexuality

Catalog description

While sexual and gender diversity have been consisten features in most cultures throughout history, how such gender and sexual based discussion have been articulated, understood, condoned, or condemned has varied. If medical historians and queer theorists have paid most obsessive attention to these subjects, bioethicists have intervened to a lesser degree and on only a handful of relevant subjects. Bearing in mind the social and medical legacies related to sexual and gender identities, this course will consider a range of historical and contemporary topics which speak to the intersection of bioethical dilemmas on medicine, sexuality and gender identity, including: the gay adolescent, the intersex person, gay-conversion therapies, the prospect of gay gene studies, sex addiction, queer blood/organ donation policies, and the wake of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Specifically, we will focus on literary sources (memoirs, diaries, and films) as well as non-literary accounts (medical texts, bioethical scholarship, and historical records) that explore the emotional and somatic aspects of matters related to sexuality, gender identity, and bioethics.