Gender Studies Minor

GEST 2050 - Introduction to Gender Studies (3 credits)

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of gender studies. It is designed to help students develop a critical framework for thinking about questions relating to gender and the ways that gender is constructed and institutionalized. Attention is paid to ongoing debates concerning public and private, the politics of embodiment and sexuality, equality and difference, the intersection of gender with other axes of subordination, identity politics and essentialism. Prerequisite: COMP 1500 or COMP 1500H.

Select 6 credits from the following courses:

ARTS 3020 - Women in the Arts (3 credits)

A study of the particular contributions of women in art, music, theatre, and dance. Prerequisites: One ARTS course and COMP 2000 or COMP 2010 or COMP 2020 or COMP 2000H. 

COMM 3100 - Gendered Images in Popular Culture (3 credits)

This course examines gendered images in popular media other than literature, including film, music videos, television, and comic books, and their impact on mainstream America. Prerequisites: one GEST or COMM course; and COMP 2000 or COMP 2010 or COMP 2020 or COMP 2000H. 

FILM 3040 - Women and Film (3 credits)

This course focuses on the application of film to examine how gendered images construct and marginalize women in both mainstream and independent cinema. Prerequisite: one FILM course; and COMP 2000 or 2010 or 2020 or COMP 2000H.

GEST 4900 - Special Topics in Gender Studies (3 credits)

This course serves as a capstone to gender studies and provides the opportunity for treatment of special topics and/or internships combined with independent research projects. Prerequisites: GEST 2050; and COMP 2000 or COMP 2010, or COMP 2020 or COMP 2000H.

LITR 3040 - Women and Literature (3 credits)

Works will be studied to acquaint students with the rich and extensive contributions of women to the various literary genres (autobiography, poetry, fiction). Prerequisites: one LITR course; and COMP 2000, COMP 2010, or COMP 2020.

LITR 4060 - Critical Theories and Gender (3 credits)

This course introduces students to contemporary feminist criticism and gender theory from Simone de Beauvoir to the present and explores the potential usefulness of theoretical constructs in examining literature. Prerequisites: one LITR course; and COMP 2000, COMP 2010, or COMP 2020 or COMP 2000H or LITR 2010H or LITR 2011H or LITR 2020H or LITR 2021H or LITR 2030H. 

SOCL 4010 - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Cultures (3 credits)

This course examines topics in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender cultures from theoretical, historical and political perspectives. Topics might include an examination of the essentialist versus constructionist debates and their respective implications, sex policing, political resistance, and the politics of AIDS. Prerequisite: SOCL 1020. 

HONR 2000N - The "F" Word: Feminism and Culture (3 credits)

This course will examine the role of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wave feminisms in women's cultural history. By exploring the social and political contexts of the struggle for equal rights for women, students will learn to separate the myths (images of feminism) from the reality (contributions of feminism) in the lived experience of women. Although it will focus primarily on American feminist history, the course will consider its European roots. Satisfies general education requirements in Arts and Humanities. Prerequisite: Honors students only.

HONR 2010W - War Stories: Gender and Soldiering in Contemporary America (3 credits)

With an emphasis on the late 20th-and early 21st century, "War Stories: Gender and Soldiering in War-time America" will use a combination of fiction and non-fiction readings as well as narrative and documentary films to look at the ways in which gender informs, shapes and is impacted by soldiers’ experiences of war on the battlefield and on the home front in contemporary America. Veterans and campus professionals who are familiar with social, psychological and physiological problems associated with war trauma may be invited as guest speakers. Prerequisite: Honors students only.