Courses
WGST-101C CC Women&Gender Studies (3)
Designed to introduce students to the academic study of the relationship between gender roles and power through an intersectional lens. Students develop a greater awareness of gender and its complex intersections with other social, cultural, and biological categories (sex, race, class, ability, age, nationality). By examining gender from a variety of disciplinary perspectives (social, literary, historical, and scientific), students gain an insight into the degree to which gender is a biological fact of human existence and the degree to which gender is socially constructed. In addition, students investigate the ways that gender functions in contemporary American society for women, men, transgender, nonbinary, and all people, as well as the ways in which our understanding of gender has changed over time.
Attributes: AMSS CC WGST YLIBWGST-120 Visions of Social Change (3)
This course will look at various writings that address the need for radical change in the struggle to achieve equality. Works by past and present activists will be read alongside fictional imaginings of a world without sexism and discrimination. While the primary focus will be gender, this course will also consider related categories of oppression such as race, ethnicity, religion, and ability. In reading a variety of genres including memoirs, novels and essays, students will explore how literature might be used to shape the world.
Attributes: WGST YLIBWGST-203P CC Intro to Queer Studies (3)
An introduction to queer studies from a wide range of orientation and gender perspectives. Relying upon theoretical, historical, and cultural studies texts, we will consider the representation and constructions of sexuality-based and gender-based identities as they have been formed within the contemporary United States. We will use Queer Theory to critically examine the way power works to institutionalize and legitimate certain forms and expressions of sexuality and gender while stigmatizing others. We will explore the idea of sexuality as a category of social identity and interrogate the ways that sexuality and gender interact, and how this interaction informs the meanings of each of these identity categories. We will also ask central questions: How do other social categories of identification (race, ethnicity, class, etc.)affect the ways in which we understand expressions of queerness? What does studying queerness tell us about the workings of contemporary political, cultural, and social life? What is normal and who/what is it that defines and controls normalcy?
Attributes: AMSS CC WGST YLIBWGST-214D P1 Reading Gender (3)
This course is an introduction to feminist literary theory. Students will learn some of the major schools of feminist thought over the centuries and learn to apply these perspectives to a number of literary works. Major issues will include concepts of authorship and voice, representations of gender roles, and ideas of identity and agency. In addition, students will develop skills in close reading and critical analysis. Cross-listed with ENGL 214D.
Attributes: ENLT P1 WGST YLIBWGST-216 P2 Feminist Theory (3)
This course explores historical foundations of American feminisms and charts three waves of feminist movements, discussing the evolution of feminist theories from 19th through 21st century America. We discuss how other social movements, such as the abolitionist movement, have informed and contributed to American feminisms. Contemporary themes include multicultural feminism, Black feminism, youth activism, and feminist teaching theories. Cross-listed with AMST 216.
Attributes: P2 WGST YLIBWGST-220 P1 Women and Film (3)
This course will examine film as art form in its cultural context, its formal features, and its many meanings, with consistent attention to gender. We will explore the concept of “women and film” in several ways throughout this course, including: (1) women looking behind the camera (as makers of film, such as directors, producers, writers, camera crew, etc.), (2) women in front of the camera (as subjects of film, such as actors, characters, featured persons in documentaries, etc.), and (3) women and men, looking at film as viewers and audience members. Throughout the semester, we will watch films made primarily by and about women, including award-nominated/winning films and documentaries as well as lesser-known independent features.
Attributes: P1 YLIBWGST-230 Special Topics in WGST (3)
This course offers special topics in Women and Gender Studies, not offered on a regular basis. Course content may vary with each offering and may be repeated for credit with different content. Spring 2019 Topic: Reproductive Politics This course examines the beliefs, practices and politics of reproduction and how they intersect with gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and nation. We will explore specific, and at times, controversial issues in reproduction such as abortion, contraception, sterilization, HIV/AIDS, assisted reproductive technologies, adoption and reproductive personhood. While much of our discussion will center on the right not to reproduce, we will also spend time examining the concept of the right to reproduce. Historically, which social groups have had the right to reproduce freely? Which groups have had their right to reproduce severely limited? Who gets to decide? While much of our enquiry focuses on reproductive practices and politics in the US context, we will deliberately engage specific questions and concerns at the global level.
Attributes: YLIBWGST-237P P3 Social Protests (3)
America has seen a rise in social protest movements on a host of issues. This course examines the theory and practice of resistance as they apply to three areas of identity: nation, race, and gender. We examine interlocking systems of power and investigate institutions that have historically oppressed the ?Other.? We read a range of texts (fiction, history, essays) on issues like the following: universality and difference, patriotism and nationalism, prison and torture, struggle and survival, hope and human spirit, language and culture, and writing and activism. Julia Alvarez calls fiction ?a way to travel through the human heart,? so we analyze how fiction creates space for us to re-imagine history and apply theory. Cross-listed with AMST 237P.
Attributes: AMHU P3 WGST YLIBWGST-243 Creating Families (3)
This course investigates the roles of law, culture and technology in creating families. It focuses on the ways in which systems of reproduction reinforce and/or challenge inequalities of class, race, gender and sexuality. We examine the issues of entitlement to parenthood, LBGTQ families, access to reproductive healthcare, international adoption, surrogacy, birthing and parenting for people in prison, and the uses, consequences and ethics of new reproductive technologies. The questions addressed included: How does a person’s status affect their relation to reproductive alternatives? What is the relationship between state reproductive policies and the actual practices (legal, contested, and clandestine) which develop around these policies? How are notions of family and parenting enacted and transformed in an arena that is transnational, interracial, intercultural, and cross-class? Students are required to write three analytical reflections, give an oral presentation, and write a final research essay based on independent research.
Attributes: YLIB ZCIVWGST-258 P1 Gender in Popular Media (3)
In this course students will learn a variety of cinematic techniques to analyze popular films, television programs, and internet videos. We will consider ways gender, race, and sexuality have been represented in various US and international media productions. Our investigation of popular media will include Hollywood and independent feature films, network and cable television programs, and internet webisodes and videos.
All works will be in English or subtitled in English. No prior experience with media studies is required.
Attributes: P1 YLIBWGST-260 CC TransIdentities&Activsm (3)
While transgender politics seem to be everywhere, what does this media attention mean for lived gender self–determination and liberation? Think about the visibility of trans celebrities like Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and Caitlyn Jenner; the success of TV series such as I am Jazz and Transparent; and national proposals to restrict bathroom usage for trans people. This class rethinks these cultural flash-points through a survey of topics central to contemporary trans identity and activism: media representations of trans lives; the politics of trans medical care; gender policing in public space; the relationship between trans liberation and feminist activism; and many other issues. A central part of the course will be on civic engagement both on and off campus. We will form partnerships with the college administration and with the Out Alliance, an organization that works to meet the needs of the Rochester queer community. Through these partnerships, students will gain connections between classroom readings and discussions of trans materials and their relevance for specific populations booth on campus and in the Rochester community.
Attributes: CC YLIBWGST-265 P3 Human Sexuality (3)
The study of human sexuality will certainly challenge your attitudes, beliefs and feelings. Sexuality pervades the world around us. It is difficult to turn on the television, open a newspaper or magazine, or peruse the internet without being confronted with sexuality in some form. During the course of the semester we will study many aspects of human sexuality including: physiology of the sexual response, sexual development, gender roles, sexual orientation, cultural differences in sexuality, the politics of sexuality, and atypical sexual behavior. We will discuss topics that some of you may find difficult to discuss. We will discuss topics that are controversial. We will discuss topics that may be amusing. Course material will be presented primarily through discussion and some lecture. You will get more out of this course if you do the work and are active in class. It is absolutely necessary that you come to class as material discussed in class may not be in your text. You will be held responsible for all material presented in class as well as material from the required readings. Cross listed with PSYC 265.
Attributes: P3 WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: PSYC-100C CWGST-270 P5 Gender & Culture (3)
This course is intended to provide students with an understanding of gender as a culturally variable creation and to broaden students’ understanding of genders and sexualities by focusing on specific cultures within the LGBTQIA+ communities. The course explores the ways in which cultures, Western as well as non-Western, construct and provide meanings to gender roles as they intersect with sexual orientation, race, class, ability, and other aspects of identity. Since gender is so often considered a stable and “natural” biological rather than cultural category, this course seeks to destabilize this perception and broaden students’ understanding of gender as a socially and culturally constructed category. A central goal of the course is to provide a greater level of respect and understanding for the specific cultural groups that are addressed.
Attributes: P5 WGST YLIBWGST-272 P2 Digital Feminisms (3)
Reliance on technologies is, and has been for some time, an essential component of daily life in contemporary America. However, while we frequently treat the technological artifacts around us as simple tools, doing so ignores the complex cultural forces that shape our technologies. This course will use feminist theory to explore the co-production of identity and technology, examining how each helps to shape the other. Indeed, first-wave feminism emerged at a time of great technological upheaval, and as technology has continued to change rapidly over time, so to has feminism.
Cross-listed with ENGL 272.
Attributes: ENWR P2 WGST YLIBWGST-275 P5 IndigenousWomenGlobally (3)
This course is designed to expose the students to the richness of the culture and literatures of women from indigenous communities, such as Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, and Dalit women from India. We will consider the systemic oppression that they have been and continue to be subject to due to race, caste, gender, and class. The traditional and historical status of these women in relation to their social, economic and political status today will be discussed. These silenced voices will be presented and analyzed in the individual stories, memoirs, songs, poetry, and fiction of women from specific indigenous communities.
Attributes: P5 WGST YLIB ZCIVWGST-280 CC Gender&Identity S Asia (3)
This course will focus on specifications of identities related to gender norms and gender roles in South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Heterogeneity within these countries will be discussed within social, cultural and religious realms. The various historical, political and cultural effects on ideologies that surround notions of gender due to colonialism and post-colonialism will be discussed. We will look at the various images of women as culturally symbolic embodiments of rigid efforts in preserving tradition and nation. Three major identities of religion, caste, and politics will be focused upon as major forces that inform experiences related to gender, sexuality, class, and caste, which in turn form identities. The realities that surround gender identities and representations of those identities among fast-changing cultural nodes will be examined in a South Asia that is radically changing, economically, culturally, politically, and spiritually. Explorations on women and gender will be made through exposure to South Asian histories, literatures, politics, economics, and media.
Attributes: CC WGST YLIBWGST-295 P2 Gender, Sci & Society (3)
This course examines the relationship between gender, science and society in historical and contemporary contexts. Drawing on the ethical philosophical traditions of feminist studies, queer studies, and critical race studies, this examination will highlight how the making of scientific knowledge in bound up with societal norms about gender, race, class and sexuality. We will ask such questions as: How do societal norms about gender, sexuality, race and class influence how scientists conduct their work, make knowledge, and develop a community of scientists? How have women and minorities engaged with science and its mostly male-dominated traditions? We will engage topics such as the historical and contemporary positions of women and minorities in science and engineering; the ethics involved in the relationship between science and the social construction of gender and race; the feminist critique of sexist science; scientific representation of sexual difference and identity; representations of science and scientists in popular culture; and ethical issues raised by medical science and new reproductive technologies.
Attributes: P2 WGST YLIBWGST-299P CC Sex & the Body Politic (3)
Introduction to feminist theories about politics. Topics include gender and citizenship; gender, race, class and the state; sexual identity and political identity; and gender, theories of knowledge, and political power. Cross-listed with POSC 299P.
Attributes: CC YLIBWGST-400P Senior Seminar in WGST (3)
Spring 2011 Topic: Gender and the Media The capstone class this semester will explore media representations of gender identity and the effects of media images on identity construction. Through reading and discussion we will consider the idea that, although our understandings of the ideas “masculine” and “feminine” have come to seem natural and unchanging, these concepts may alternatively be understood as flexible and as socially created, in part through media influence. We will examine some of the ways in which this creation of ideas about gender is accomplished through various media genres (these might include films, advertisements, children?s cartoons, soap operas, music videos, video games, talk shows, and reality television). We will explore the complex relationships among media images, cultural values, and the development of identities and self-images, debating the extent to which our sense of self is impacted by popular media images. A central goal of the course will be to recognize how our own communicative practices can condone, contribute to, or resist the cultural construction of gender stereotypes in the media. The course will utilize a number of theoretical approaches to media criticism, including feminist analysis, masculinity studies, audience reception theory, textual analysis, and queer theory.
Attributes: WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: WGST-101C D-WGST-470 Senior Research Seminar (3)
This capstone course is a research-intensive seminar in which students will engage in research projects of their own choosing. The beginning of the semester includes exercises in research methodology and identification of appropriate research topics. The second half of the semester includes class presentations and research paper workshop exercises. Cross-listed AMST WGST 470.
Attributes: WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: AMST-370 D-WGST-496 Independent Study (1 TO 3)
An opportunity for in-depth study of an area not regularly offered. Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required.
Attributes: WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: WGST-101C D-
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Junior, SeniorWGST-1011 Gender In Media (3)
In this course, students learn a variety of cinematic techniques to analyze popular films, television programs, and internet videos. We consider ways gender, race, and sexuality have been represented in various US and international media productions. Our investigation of popular media includes Hollywood and independent feature films, network and cable television programs, and internet webisodes and videos. All works are subtitled in English. No prior experience with media studies in required.
Attributes: LC YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman -Attribute: New Core 20-21WGST-1140 The Nature of Human Diversity (3)
Race, gender identification, sexuality, intelligence, athletic ability – all traits that vary among human beings and all that have been used to sort, reward, punish, and judge. Having a clear understanding of what we know – and what we don’t know – about the nature of these human traits is essential for ethically navigating our diverse world. This course examines the history and current state of our understanding of the biological underpinnings of human diversity, and discusses the ethical challenges posed by searching for the science of human difference.
Attributes: DA YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Attribute: New Core 20-21WGST-1299 Research-based Writing (3)
Students study and practice skills central to academic and professional research through the development of independent, inquiry-based projects. In their projects, student assert, support, and integrate their own positions into scholarly conversation based in research.. Students develop competency in the location, evaluation, analysis and documentation of sources that represent a range of different perspectives on important issues.
Attributes: RW YLIB ZRES
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman, Sophomore -Attribute: New Core 20-21WGST-2121 Queering Film (3)
Students in this class build civic awareness, understanding, and support for the LGBTQ+ community on the Fisher campus as well as in the larger Rochester community by studying LGBTQ+ and mainstream films and by attending and participating in LGBTQ+ and feminist fall film festivals and venues held in the Rochester area including at the ImageOut Film Festival, the High Falls Film Festival, The Out Alliance, the Dryden and the Little. Students then share their learning, insights and experience by collaboratively working on an online class magazine that contains film reviews and analyses. Interviews with film organizers and participants, photo essays, editorials, and reports on the history and importance of LGBTQ+ and feminist film festivals around the world. A new issue of this publication is created every year and is made available to the Fisher community as well as the Rochester film community at large, through links with partner websites.
Attributes: CCE YLIB ZCIVWGST-2122 Gender, Art, & Citizenship (3)
This course provides an in-depth exploration of gender portrayed in the major works of art throughout history. Students work with the Memorial Art Gallery’s permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions to get a better sense of the range of art the MAG has on view and to give them access to new and exciting works. We use gender as a critical lens to examine some of the social, cultural, economic, scientific, and political practices represented in various works of art. We explore a multitude of feminist and queer perspectives on the intersections of sex, sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, class, and other categories of identity and the long-term effects these constructs have had on our society. We begin with an overview of art movements, artistic background, style, history, techniques regarding perspective, themes, and a discussion on the evolution of representation through art. After becoming acquainted with these, we examine personal meanings and examinations of art with a focus on gender and identity. Discussions include a close reading of works of art as well as an examination of gender in its historical and cultural contexts and how contemporary art seeks to deconstruct traditional representations of gender.
The course initially poses the following questions: What is art? What is the meaning of a painting? What is the male gaze? What is the female gaze? How does art represent identity? How do different lenses change the way we perceive art? Once definitions are established, we reflect on the following: What does art do for us? What does art do for a community? How does art fit into ideas of citizenship? What does civic engagement in the arts look like? How has this changed throughout the years? We explore many themes, such as identity and gender in art, old and new art traditions and styles, and art’s impact on citizenship and community over time. At the course’s end, students should have a clear understanding of what art is and how it lends itself to a focus on citizenship. Readings are drawn principally from the disciplines of art history, women and gender studies, anthropology, cultural studies, and art criticism.
Attributes: CCE YLIB ZCIVWGST-2160 Trans identities (3)
In 2019 alone, the Human Rights Campaign has recorded at least 26 deaths of trans people in the United States due to fatal violence, making it among the most violent years against trans people to date. It is also clear that trans violence and oppression disproportionately affects trans women of color, and that racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and homophobia intersect with transphobia in ways that shorten the lives of trans people (Spade 2015). Additionally, trans people experience social, economic, and political marginalization due to the lack of legal representation, barriers to gender-affirming healthcare, legal name and gender changes, physical spaces, and other seemingly neutral administrative systems that enforce narrow binary categories of gender and force people into them to get their basic needs met. While transgender politics seem to be everywhere, what does this media attention mean for lived gender self-determination and liberation? Think about the visibility of trans celebrities like Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and Caitlyn Jenner; the success of TV series such as I am Jazz and Transparent; and national proposals to restrict military service and bathroom usage for trans people. This class rethinks these cultural flash-points through a survey of topics central to contemporary trans identity and activism; media representation of trans lives; the politics of trans medical care; gender policing in public space; the relationship between trans liberation and feminist activism; and many other issues.
Attributes: CCE YLIB ZCIVWGST-2258 Identity and Popular Media (3)
In this class, students explore how popular culture generates and articulates our understanding of gender and sexuality and their intersections with race and class. How does popular culture reinforce and/or challenge race, gender, and sexuality norms? What messages do we receive from popular culture about the presumed correct ways to live our lives in the U.S.? For whom are these presumably correct lives attainable? Who is left out? In other words, what do popular culture representations say about the lived realities of race, gender, sexuality (along with race and ability) in the U.S.? How does popular culture discipline and/or offer new possibilities for how we live?
Attributes: CIA YLIBWGST-2303 Queer Studies (3)
This course introduces students to literature, theory, and films from a wide range of orientation perspectives and gender identities often referenced collectively as queer. The queer community is a pluralistic one inclusive of many distinctive identities that the texts in this course explore. Distinguishing among these identities is important to not only appreciate the individual richness of experience and varying perspectives each offers, but also to understand the unique challenges each faces. The belief that sex, gender, and even orientation are binary and oppositional still dominates much of contemporary American culture. The literature and theory we study deconstructs such normative binary categories and demonstrates the variety of orientation and gender identities and the fluid aspects of gender and orientation.
Relying upon theoretical, historical and cultural studies texts, we consider the representation and constructions of sexuality-based and gender-based identities as they have been formed within the contemporary US. We use Queer Theory to critically examine the way power works to institutionalize and legitimize certain forms and expressions of sexuality and gender while stigmatizing others. We explore the idea of sexuality as a category of social identity and interrogate the ways that sexuality and gender interact, and how this interaction informs the meaning of each of these identity categories. We also ask central questions: How do other social categories of identification (race, ethnicity, class, etc.) affect the ways in which we understand expressions of queerness? What does studying queerness tell us about the workings of contemporary political, cultural and social life? What is normal and who/what is it that defines and controls normalcy? This course focuses on works from the 20th and 21st centuries with an emphasis on the historical context of each piece.
Attributes: DEI YLIBWGST-2419 Disability & Social Justice (3)
Disability Studies is a multidisciplinary field that has arisen to address the widespread individual, cultural, and institutional oppression faced by people with disabilities, as well as to create positive community and activism within this population. Historically, disability has been framed as, among other things, a punishment by God, a medical defect in need of a cure, a particular impairment that prevents one from work, a condition that requires institutionalization or outright murder, and a reason to prevent birth either through sterilization or genetic testing. this course provides an ethical framework through which to examine such historical and contemporary responses to disability, particularly through feminist disability theory. with the rise of the Disability Rights Movement, negative frames have been challenged and subverted by disability activists and scholars who have fought for the right to self-define as well as for self-direction, social equity, and cultural integration. We emphasize disability identities through an intersectional lens and through a variety of disciplines and institutions that have defined it in both restrictive and liberatory ways: from literature, film, and politics, to media, economics, and the legal system. The assignments for the course allow you to explore your won understanding of disability as you strengthen your use of theory and analysis to determine what disability means in America today.
Attributes: ER YLIB