2009-10 Women's Studies Topics Courses

The following descriptions provide information for courses which are not fully detailed in the departmental section of the Catalogue.

8-259. Topic: What Is Sexual Orientation?
This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to the question of what constitutes sexual orientation. Usually we think of sexual orientation as simply describing whether someone is attracted to men, women, or both. But is attraction to male bodies the same for a man as it is for a woman? Does the identity of "lesbian" indicate more than with whom one likes to have sex? Could pedophilia and sexual masochism and even asexuality be thought of as sexual orientations in and of themselves? And what do we make of the fact that foot fetishism seems to show up in many different cultures, but is mostly a sexual interest of men, regardless of culture? What do we make of the fact that the rate of various forms of transgenderism seems to vary from culture to culture? Can you choose to be queer? Can a doctor or a priest "cure" homosexuality? Should parents be allowed to try to engineer their children's sexual orientations? Why are scientists interested in the evolution of sexual orientation, and should scientific findings shape legislation which denies or protects the rights of sexual minorities? These are some of the topics we'll cover in this course as we explore the nature, history, and politics of human sexual orientation. This course will draw on work in women's and gender studies, history, philosophy, genetics, developmental biology, evolutionary biology, medicine, anthropology, and more. We will engage in open, respectful, and frank discussions of many different kinds of human sexuality. (If you are very squeamish learning and talking about sex, this would not be the course for you.) Students should prepare to leave this course far more educated but with many more questions about human sexuality. Taught by Dr. Alice Dreger, visiting Presidential Fellow.

2-305. Advanced Topic: Utopian Visions of Sex, Gender and Sexuality
Visions of future or alternative societies in which physical sex, gender arrangements, and/or sexualities are dramatically different from our own. Novels and short stories allow writers to invent freely social orders that challenge our preconceptions. Prerequisite: WST 171 or 271. (Humanities) CROWDER