Sex & Gender

Course Description

This course introduces students to some of the main ideas and concepts in women and gender studies. We explore questions about the meaning of gender in our society. In particular, we look critically at how gender/sex is a “role” that is socially constructed / performed and requires perpetual reinforcement. We ask how the construction of gender norms intersects with larger social spheres such as law, culture, education, work, family, and global capital. 

Throughout the semester, we will "question gender", meaning we ask such questions as:

• • Why has gender been a primary organizing principle of society?

  • How do "gendered scripts" for dress, appearance and behavior emerge among different social groups and in different societies and historical periods?

  • How do we explain the sexual division of labor and the unequal status of women and girls and those activities and roles deemed "feminine" in society?

  • How does gender intersect with race and ethnicity?

  • How do gendered structures of power and authority operate?

  • What factors contribute to the formation and success of movements for and against gender equality and fluidity?

  • Can we imagine a future in which we largely ignore gender or envision gender in more expansive or egalitarian ways?

During this term you will become acquainted with many of the critical questions, concepts, and tools that feminist scholars have developed for thinking about gendered experience. In addition, we will explore the complex ways in which gender intersects with class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and age within various spheres and institutions of society. 

Course topics include: the background history of the women's rights movement in the US including the first and second waves of American women's/gender rights activism, and gender issues in relation to the law, socialization, education, work, health and reproduction, sexuality, families, and globalization.