Fall 2020

Exploration of identity development in terms of social, political, and cultural constructs; examination of collegiate athletics and the contributions of women of color.

Multidisciplinary survey of gender assumptions in relation to sexuality, mental health, social and political relations, and artistic expression.

Emergence of feminist thought from the Enlightenment to the present; historical development of female subjectivity; advancement of womens rights; feminisms from alternative ideological perspectives.

Contemporary debates and research in three areas: health bodies, science technologies; feminist/queer analytics in media and representation; critical approaches to race, culture and power.

Exploration of the ways in which developments and policies, including neoliberalism, the carceral state, and economic precarity, are connected and gendered.

Intensive experience with gender-focused community organizations; analysis of relationships between organizations and feminist and queer theory.

Discussion of the relationship between women and the law in light of feminist jurisprudence, U.S. Supreme Court decisions and cross-cultural perspectives.

Analysis of transgender behaviors, from androgyny and transvestism to transexuality. Discussion of changing laws, representations, medical standards, and social attitudes towards transgender and intersex people.

Comparative examination of family and kinship in tribal, peasant, and complex societies, emphasizing non-Western cultures, societal and normative consequences of forms and functions in family.

Psychological and physiological base of sexuality; gender identity, childbearing, birth control, venereal diseases; dysfunctions and treatments.

Literary representations and theories of gender difference. Examines questions of gendered voice in writing and the cultural construction of gender in various periods and cultures.

Issues of gender in communication, including: mediarepresentations of femininity and masculinity; and gender's rolein communication at the interpersonal, public, and cultural levels.

Application of gender and sexuality research methods to individual student projects with an emphasis on feminist, queer and post-colonial scholarship.

Examines how gender and sexuality are figured in cinema and television with an emphasis on the development of feminist media theory.

Interdisciplinary study of queer Los Angeles through examination of histories, memoirs, essays, fiction, poetry, documentaries, narrative films and local archives.

Problems and resources of the middle-aged and older woman in a changing society; including discrimination, stereotypes, employment, social interaction, etc.

Methods for studying patterns of spatial differentiation of women throughout history from home to city, embodied in gender specific language and gendered spaces.

Independent research and readings. Not available for graduate credit.

The principal methods and assumptions by which race, class and gender have been studied in reference to literary and cultural discourse.

Interdisciplinary investigation of concepts, theories, and debates in the study of race and its intersection with gay, lesbian, trans, heterosexual and other sexualities/genders.

History of feminist theory and major perspectives of current feminist theory: liberal feminism, socialist/Marxist feminism, radical feminism, psychological feminism, spiritual feminism, and ecological feminism.

Interdisciplinary cross-cultural, historical, psychological, sociological, and contemporary political perspectives on female and male homosexual eroticism, and the emergence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender identities.

Research leading to the master's degree in cognate fields. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.