Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Faculty: Associate Teaching Professors Class and Fryett, Co-Directors; Associate Professors Blanco, Clements, Sumerau; Assistant Professors Kanjilal, Menzies; Associate Teaching Professor Firestone; Assistant Teaching Professor Royal.
The Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program is dedicated to promoting research and scholarship through an approach that embraces the foundational notion that gender and sexuality are informed by various social categories, including those that are cultural, political, and economic. Through an interdisciplinary framework – including the fields of Art, Communication, History, Languages, Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology – we foster a critical space from which to examine the intersections of oppression, inequality, and discrimination in relation to race, class, age, nation, and ability. Supported by feminist and queer theories among other paradigms, this Program advocates for research and activism in the name of social justice while working to combat sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, racism, classicism, and ethnocentrism. Courses offered engage a variety of viewpoints (including authors of varying social classes, abilities, nationalities, genders, and sexual orientations) and a variety of focuses (including women film directors and the history of sexuality). We also look to broader elements such as global networks of women and transnational feminist movements.
Students who enroll in Women’s and Gender Studies courses will:
- Compare and challenge notions of gender, gender identity, and sexuality as they are informed by and as they function in various social, economic, cultural, and political contexts.
- Compare and challenge notions of gender, gender identity, and sexuality as they intersect with race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, and ability in these different contexts.
- Learn and employ intersectional frames of analysis in academic research, creative expression, collaborative scholarship, advocacy, and activism.