The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program is a flexible interdisciplinary academic program devoted to pursuit of knowledge concerning women and the critical analysis of the production of gender and sexuality within transnational and cross-cultural contexts. Combining the methods and insights of traditional academic disciplines with the special insights of feminist studies, gender studies, and sexuality studies, our courses focus on understanding the origins of and changes in diverse cultural and social arrangements. The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major is broad as well as flexible.
The Program is committed to a vision of people of diverse sexualities and genders that is truly transnational and cross-cultural and that recognizes the diversity of sexual and gender desires, practices, and identifications, as well as racial, ethnic, class and religious differences.
The Program prepares students to employ critical learning in their private lives, in their public roles as citizens and as members of the work force, and enhances their ability to advocate for gender and sexual justice. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies fosters interdisciplinary breadth and critical thinking and thus opens the way to a wide variety of career choices and graduate programs. Our students are flourishing in social service agencies, business, law, education, and journalism, and employers appreciate the broad interdisciplinary perspective of a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies education.
Core Courses
Students are required to pass the following core courses (15 credits):
Supporting Courses
Students are required to pass five additional WGSS courses at the 2000 level or above (15 credits). At least three (nine credits) of these must be chosen from the following:
Course List
Course |
Title |
Credits |
WGSS 2105/2105W | | 3 |
WGSS 2124 | Gender and Globalization | 3 |
WGSS 2204 | Feminisms and the Arts | 3 |
WGSS 2217/2217W | Women, Gender and Film | 3 |
WGSS 2255/2255W | LGBTQ Sexualities, Activism, and Globalization | 3 |
WGSS/HRTS 2263 | Women, Gender, and Violence | 3 |
WGSS 2267 | Women and Poverty | 3 |
WGSS/AFRA/HIST/LLAS 2622 | History of Gender and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean | 3 |
WGSS/AFRA/AMST/HDFS 3042 | | 3 |
WGSS 3105/3105W | The Politics of Reproduction | 3 |
WGSS 3252 | Genders and Sexualities | 3 |
WGSS 3253/3253W | Gender Representations in U.S. Popular Culture | 3 |
WGSS/ASLN 3254 | Women and Gender in the Deaf World | 3 |
WGSS 3255/3255W | Sexual Citizenship | 3 |
WGSS 3256 | Feminist, Queer, and Trans Theories | 3 |
WGSS 3257/3257W | Feminist Disability Studies | 3 |
WGSS 3258/LLAS 3230 | Latina Narrative | 3 |
WGSS 3259/LLAS 3231 | | 3 |
WGSS 3264 | Gender in the Workplace | 3 |
WGSS 3269/3269W | Gender, Sexuality, and Social Movements | 3 |
WGSS 3270/3270W | Masculinities | 3 |
WGSS/COMM/LLAS 3321 | Latinas and Media | 3 |
WGSS 3350 | Anthropological Perspectives on Women | 3 |
or ANTH 3350 | Anthropological Perspectives on Women |
WGSS 3369 | Gender, Justice, and Hashtags | 3 |
WGSS/AFRA/POLS 3652 | Black Feminist Politics | 3 |
WGSS 3718/3718W | | 3 |
WGSS 3891 | Internship Program 1 | 1-9 |
WGSS 3894 | | 3 |
WGSS 3993 | International Study | 1-6 |
WGSS 3995 | Special Topics | 1-6 |
WGSS 3998 | Variable Topics | 3 |
WGSS 3999 | Independent Study | 1-6 |
WGSS/AAAS/AFRA/LLAS 4100 | | 4 |
Related Courses
Students must pass an additional 12 credits at the 2000 level or above in fields closely related to the major.
General Education Requirements
WGSS 4994W Capstone Seminar fulfills the information literacy competency and writing in the major requirements.
A minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is described in the “Minors” section.
University General Education Requirements
Every student must meet a set of core requirements to earn a baccalaureate degree, in addition to those required by the student's major course of study and other requirements set by the student's school or college. For more information about these requirements, please see General Education Requirements.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Degree Requirements
Students must meet a set of requirements established by the college in addition to the University's General Education requirements. For more information, see the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences section of this catalog.