GWS 111 - Introduction to Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies

4 credits (Fall or Spring)

This course introduces students to key topics, concepts, approaches, and problems in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies as the field has developed over the past 45 years. We investigate the significance and meaning of gender at different periods in United States history and explore the development of United States feminism and feminist theory, adopting comparative and transnational perspectives throughout the semester. The ways in which race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, nationality, and age shape experience, culture, ideology, and politics are central areas of inquiry. We also address the means through which women have resisted inequality and affected social and political change. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach, and students are introduced to scholarship from a wide range of disciplines, including cultural studies, economics, history, philosophy, political theory, psychology, and sociology.

Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff