Topics in Gender and Sexuality Studies (390-0-20)

Topic

Sex, Gender, Sexuality

Instructors

Mark Griffith

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-410: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

The following are claims that tend to go undisputed, and that you have probably heard before: sex is a biological fact, there are only two genders, and sexual orientation is a result of someone being "born this way." In this course, none of these claims will go unchallenged. In this upper division undergraduate seminar, we will explore the interconnected nexus of sex, gender, and sexuality. The course will explore where consequential gender and sexuality binaries come from, how they generate inequality, how they are reproduced, why they are increasingly politicized, and how we can change them. Students will be exposed to a range of theoretical approaches to sex, gender, and sexuality from sociology and other disciplines. The course will also provide students with practice applying these theories to a number real-life topics, such as dating & relationships, sexual intercourse, marriage, the workplace, and sports. Additionally, students will develop the skills to perform content analysis, a key method for qualitative sociologists, in NVivo—a free and powerful program for analyzing qualitative data. By the end of the course, students will have written a research paper that explored a research question of their choice related to sex, gender, and/or sexuality.

Learning Objectives

1. Gain familiarity with sociological theories of sex, gender, and sexuality, and understand the evidence in which these theories are grounded.
2. Practice applying these theories to real world social issues, including one's own lived experiences.
3. Understand the explicit and implicit ways in which sex, gender, and sexuality profoundly shape social inequality, especially as they intersect with race, ethnicity, and class.
4. Develop proficiency in qualitative coding and qualitatively coding data in NVivo.
5. Identify a research question related to sex, gender, and/or sexuality and answer it with sociological data.

Teaching Method

- Class participation
- Discussion
- Lecture
- Readings
- Research project

Evaluation Method

- Canvas discussion posts
- Class participation
- Project proposal
- Literature review
- Coding scheme
- Final paper

Class Materials (Required)

Provided in Canvas

Class Attributes

Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area