Introduction To Gender Studies

Catalog description

An interdisciplinary course introducing students to the study of gender as a category for social and cultural analysis. Examines how ideas about sexual and gender differences have shaped experiences in a global society. Explores construction of gender roles and sexuality; biological arguments about gender and sexuality; the interplay of gender with sexuality, class, race/ethnicity, and nationality; the ways gender shapes families, workplaces, and other institutions. Assists students in learning about theories of gender and methods of analysis in order to formulate questions about gender as it relates to their on-going work in various disciplines across the curriculum. Typically offered Fall Spring Summer. Course Learning Outcomes 1. Explain the differences between sex and gender. 2. Understand the construction of gender as it relates to definitions of femininity and masculinity in various cultures and to expressions of sexuality. 3. Describe the ways gender shapes the lives of men and women in a patriarchal society. 4. Articulate how gender structures social institutions (families, workplaces, schools, religious institutions). 5. Explain how gender as a category of analysis interacts with race-ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, class caste. 6. Use theories and feminist analysis to examine key gender issues. 7. Understand and be able to explain the varieties of sexual orientations and matters essential to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender/transsexual identities. View Class Schedule