Gender, Health, and Medicine (320-0-20)
Instructors
Rebecca Ewert
Dr. Rebecca Ewert is an Instructional Professor in the Sociology department. Her teaching and research interests include gender — especially masculinity — inequality, culture, mental health, environmental disasters, and qualitative methods. She received her BA from the University of California, Davis and her MA and PhD from the University of Chicago.
Meeting Info
University Hall 122: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
In this course, we will examine how the Western medical system and accompanying health practices impact people of different genders, as well as how healthcare as an institution and practice produces gender categories. Using interdisciplinary research with a focus on sociological studies, we will interrogate the social, institutional, and biological links between gender and health. We will discuss health inequalities between women, men, and trans* people from different race, ethnic, and class backgrounds, using sociological research to understand why these inequalities and forms of difference emerge and are sustained. We will explore how modern Western medicine views male and female bodies and defines their health and illnesses accordingly. Students will complete two short research projects over the term in which they use different data sources (interviews and media content) to examine gendered perceptions of health, health behaviors, help-seeking behaviors, and experiences with medical institutions.
This course is taught with GNDR_ST 332-0-20.
Learning Objectives
Course-Specific Goals:
1. Understand key concepts and sociological theories about gender, health, and medicine.
2. Engage with scholarship describing the historical and contemporary structures, processes, human-environment relationships, and practices that shape how health inequalities are produced and maintained in the United States
3. Understand, critique, and apply key analytical concepts that often define individuals and groups and influences treatment within the health and medical system. These include but are not limited to ability, diagnosis, age, education, environmental location, ethnicity, gender, indigeneity, language, nationality, race, religion, politics, sexuality, and social status.
4. Analyze media reports and public discourse around a gendered health concern.
5. Conduct a 45-minute interview, transcribe the audio, and analyze the transcription for course themes.
6. Create a persuasive argument about how gender informs health and illness experiences.
Academic Development Goals:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Effectively communicate with classmates and instructors in a respectful manner conducive of learning and collaboration.
2. Engage in critical, analytical thinking and writing.
3. Identify components of academic argument.
Teaching Method
Lecture and discussion
Evaluation Method
Papers (midterm and final), in-class participation, group presentations
Class Materials (Required)
All materials for this course will be made available on Canvas - no purchase necessary.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area