Major in Gender, Sexuality and society (BA)

The Major in Gender, Sexuality and Society offers students a coherent and comparative study of gender and sexuality within the social sciences and the humanities. Drawing from psychology, feminism, literary theory, sociology, politics, visual culture and other fields of inquiry, students develop an informed understanding of the fundamental concepts, theories, issues and debates regarding gender and sexuality from a range of disciplinary perspectives. The core involves two introductory courses: one emphasizing the social science perspective, and one representing the humanities perspective. Laying the foundation for a comparative investigation of disciplinary epistemologies, the twin complementary core prepares students to undertake more focused topical, theoretical and region-specific explorations within three fields of specialization:

• Politics of gender & sexuality: representations, rights and social justice
• Psychological and psychoanalytic foundations of gender and sexuality
• Constructions of gender and sexuality: global and historical perspectives

Through a choice of specializations, students will examine and engage larger social, cultural and political explorations involving: the development of sexual orientation, the representation and construction of gender, the teaching of sexuality in schools, feminist rights within the workplace, gender and sexuality within colonial and post-colonial studies, women in developmental contexts, sexual pluralities, queer studies, LGBT activism, masculinity studies, sex-trafficking and sex work etc. Students engages in a comprehensive and intensive study of gender and sexuality which prepares them to interpret and critically analyze the scientific, biological, artistic and poetic articulations of gender and sexuality at the center of contemporary social, cultural and political debates.