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Professors Shaw (Chair), Bailey, Burleigh, Caballero, Delgado, Giardini, Oliver, Riess

Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies is a program in the Interdisciplinary Studies Area of Study.

Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies (WGSS) examines how gender and sexuality are central social, political, economic, and cultural formations and exist in relation to race, ethnicity, dis/abilities, socioeconomic status, religion, and/or nationality across humanistic thought, artistic expression, social institutions, and scientific inquiry. Drawing on courses from departments across campus, WGSS provides tools for thinking critically and creatively about pressing historical and contemporary issues that shape people’s everyday lives, such as but not limited to: work & family; politics of reproduction; climate change, sustainability & justice; LGBTQAI+, disability, and racialized justice; access to health, education & care; representations of women and LGBTQAI+ people in (social) media; art & literature; gendered violence; and creating loving worlds and mutual aid. The cornerstones of an undergraduate education in women’s, gender & sexuality studies–social justice, intersectionality, transnationality, and the politics of knowledge production–run through department courses and program electives in areas such as media & cultural studies, political science, community & justice studies, history, literature, health, education, psychology, critical scientific inquiry, and visual, performing & creative arts. Students most often begin with Introduction to Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and the major and minor have been developed so that all 200-level classes are gateways into the field. The major and minor requirements (excluding WGSS 580 , WGSS 600 , and WGSS 610 ) as well as many of the elective courses do not have prerequisites.

Courses

To see the courses offered in this department or program, please use the “Course Search” link from the menu at the right of this page.

Programs

• Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Major

• Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Minor

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