Faculty

View the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Faculty. 

Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program

Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary academic program designed to acquaint students with current scholarship and theory on women, gender, and feminism. Each semester a wide variety of courses in humanities and social science departments as well as in Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies offers students the opportunity for cultural and cross-cultural studies of the effects of representations and assumptions about gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality on our lives. Courses generally of interest to Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies students and eligible for major credit are listed below; in addition, a separate flyer listing each semester’s eligible courses is available through the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies office (757) 221-2457 and on the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies web page (www.wm.edu/as/womensstudies/index.php). Students may declare an interdisciplinary major or a minor in Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies.

The Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies major prepares students who wish to gain a strong interdisciplinary perspective in advance of employment and/or graduate or professional study leading to careers in a wide variety of fields including law, education, politics, business, social action, the arts, medicine and so on. Graduates of Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies programs nationwide report reasons for choosing this field of study that range from lifelong interest in feminism, to discovering new intellectual challenges, to providing themselves with the confidence and freedom to “do whatever you choose to do.”

The following guidelines have been reviewed and approved by the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Curriculum Committee, the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Executive Committee and the Committee for Honors and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Additional Courses Eligible for Major or Minor

Following is a sample listing of courses that have been counted toward the major or minor. Not all of these courses are offered every semester, and additional courses may qualify for Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies credit. Check the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies flyer or web page or consult a program advisor for a list of each semesters approved courses. (Note: Courses in which topics vary should be selected according to the relevance of the topics offered that semester; sample titles are given. Students may request permission from Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies to count a particular course not listed in the flyer if the course’s relevance to the student’s program of study can be demonstrated.)

• Freshman Seminars: in topics related to Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies (most disciplines; check schedule)
• AMST 470 - Topics in American Studies
    (e.g., Multiculturalism in America; Masculinity in America)
• ANTH 370 - Evolutionary Perspectives on Gender
   
• AFST 205 - Introduction to Africana Studies
   
• Chinese 312: Special Issues in Chinese Poetic Tradition (e.g., Women in Classical Poetry)
• ENGL 465 - Topics in English
    (e.g., Love and the Novel: Lesbian Fictions)
• ENGL 475 - Research Seminar in English
    (e.g., Woolf; The Brontes; 20th Century American Women Writers)
• FREN 355 - Contemporary Women Writers and Movie Makers from the Francophone World
   
• German 405: 20th-Century German Women Writers
• GOVT 360 - The American Welfare State
   
• GOVT 390 ,
  GOVT 391 - Topics in Government
    (e.g., Varieties of Feminist Ideology)
• GOVT 406 - Seminar: Studies in Political Theory: Theorists and Movements 
• Government 472: The Courts, Constitutional Politics and Social Change
• HISP 484 - Gender Issues in Hispanic Culture
   
• HIST 211 ,
  HIST 212 - Topics in History
    (e.g., Southern Women)
• HIST 490 , HIST 491 - Topics in History  (e.g., Black Women in the Americas; Gender and the Civil War)
• International Studies 390: Topics
• KINE 460 - Topics in Kinesiology & Health Sciences
    (e.g., Sport, Body and Culture)
• LCST 201 - Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies
    (topics vary)
• LCST 301 - History and Theory of Cultural Studies
    (topics vary)
• LCST 351 - Special Topics in Literary and Cultural Studies
    (topics vary)
• LCST 401 - Seminar in Literary and Cultural Studies
    (topics vary)
• MUSC 365 - Topics in Music
    (e.g., Music and Gender)
• Psychology 373: Human Sexuality
• RELG 208 - Topics in Religious Studies
    (e.g., Women in the Christian Tradition)
• Religion 306: Sexuality, Women and Family in Judaism
• RELG 308 - Topics in Religious Studies
    (e.g., History of Adam and Eve; Women and Their Bible; Theologies of Liberation)
• RUSN 308 - Topics in Russian Literature and Culture (Taught in English)
    (e.g., Women in Russian Literature)
• RUSN 309 - Topics in Russian Cinema (Taught in English)
    (e.g., Women in Russian Film)
• SOCL 332 - Families and Kinship
   
• SOCL 313 - Globalization and International Development
   
• SOCL 364 - Sociology of Work
   
• SOCL 432 - Sociology of Sexualities
   
• SOCL 440 - Special Topics in Sociology
    (e.g., Race, Gender and Health; Gender and Sexuality in Cross Cultural Perspective)

Programs and Course Descriptions

Programs

• Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies, BA
• Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies, Minor

Courses

• GSWS 150W - Freshman Seminar
• GSWS 151W - Freshman Seminar: Gender in Non-Western Cultures
• GSWS 205 - Introduction to Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies
• GSWS 221 - U.S. Women’s History, 1600 to the Present
• GSWS 222 - U.S. Women’s History, 1600 to the Present
• GSWS 290 - Topics in Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies
• GSWS 304 - Gender in Society
• GSWS 305 - Feminist Women Activist for Developing India
• GSWS 306 - Women, Gender and Culture
• GSWS 312 - Comparative Sociology
• GSWS 313 - Gender and Postcoloniality
• GSWS 314 - Women and Love in Chinese Culture Literature. (In Translation
• GSWS 315 - Women in Antiquity
• GSWS 316 - 20th-Century Italian Women Writers
• GSWS 317 - Women in Islam
• GSWS 321 - Women in Africa and the Diaspora
• GSWS 331 - Feminist Theory and Contemporary Theatre
• GSWS 332 - Sex & Race in Plays & Films: Dramatizing Diversity
• GSWS 355 - Sport and Gender
• GSWS 375 - Feminist Research Methods
• GSWS 380 - Rhymes with Witch: Sexual Politics in Contemporary Culture
• GSWS 390 - Topics in Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies
• GSWS 390A - Topics in Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies-Humanities
• GSWS 390B - Topics in Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies-Social Sciences
• GSWS 405 - Feminist Theory
• GSWS 414 - Major African American Women Writers
• GSWS 416 - Literature and the Formation of Sexual Identity
• GSWS 420 - Topics in Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture
• GSWS 430 - Comparative Studies in Gender and Work
• GSWS 480 - Independent Study
• GSWS 490 - Senior Seminar
• GSWS 492 - Women and the Law
• † GSWS 495 - Honors
• † GSWS 496 - Honors
• GSWS 498 - Internship