Gender and Sexuality Studies

Gender and sexuality studies looks at the ways by which United States and global cultures define and practice masculinity and femininity. We are interested in understanding the rules of gender and sexuality, the many ways women and men live those rules, and the many ways men and women resist and work to change those rules. Students may minor in gender and sexuality studies or pursue a multifield major with gender and sexuality studies as one of their fields. Our program draws on core faculty as well as faculty from English, history, government, modern languages and literatures, fine arts, performance and communication arts, and sociology. The introductory course for the minor is GNDR 103: Gender and Society (DIV). First-year students may also be interested in GNDR 280: Sexuality, Society, and Culture (DIV) or GNDR/PCA 127: Introduction to Communication Studies (HUM). Please note that PCA 127 does not have any seats available for first-year students for this fall but is taught almost every semester. GNDR 280 examines the ways in which we have come to think about gender, sexuality and sexual diversity in our contemporary culture through the study of literature, sociology, anthropology and history. Students in this course will use the knowledge they have gained to analyze dominant ideas about sexuality and create Sex-Positive Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for the SLU community with iMovie (workshops to learn iMovie are part of the course). Both GNDR 103 and GNDR 280 have slots reserved for first-year students. Courses in gender and sexuality studies are discussion-based and get students out of the desks and into the community. Courses this fall appropriate for first-year students, subject to the availability of seats, are:

• GNDR 103: Gender and Society (DIV)
• GNDR 201: Gender in a Global Context
• GNDR 280: Sexuality, Society and Culture (DIV)