Catalog Course Descriptions
The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.
Women and Gender Studies Courses
Undergraduate
Explores ways women are portrayed around the world in advertising, film, TV, cartoons, and news media; literature and religious texts; as well as photography, and the visual and performing arts. Through interdisciplinary study, students evaluate the powerful effects these representations have on the political, economic, and social lives of women throughout the world. Limited to three attempts.
Interdisciplinary introduction to women’s, gender and sexuality studies, encompassing key concepts in the field, history of women’s movements and women’s studies in America, cross-cultural constructions of gender, and a thematic emphasis on the diversity of women’s experience across class, race, and cultural lines. Limited to three attempts.
Explores major events in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, and queer culture and history in the United States to understand how identities, experiences, and movements have been socially constructed and have changed in different times and places, often as a result of race, class, and gender inequities. Limited to three attempts.
Study of selected topics central to contemporary women and gender studies. Topics vary but include subjects such as women and violence, women and international development, women's myth and ritual, LGBTQ topics, the history and politics of sexuality, psychoanalysis, and religion. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
Historical and contemporary accounts of women's participation in paid and unpaid labor. Analyzes the nature of women's work through the divisions in the labor market due to gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, and class. Provides a detailed look at occupational sex segregation, sexual harassment, the glass ceiling, and the role of religion, culture, and education in determining women's opportunities and their value as workers and as family providers. Limited to three attempts.
Examines racialized gendered conceptions of popular culture, violence, and the legal system and their role in structuring systems of segregation, discrimination and exclusion. Looks at the gendered strategies and conflicts of organizations that arose to combat racial violence and overturn legal and social barriers to equal opportunity and citizenship rights. Limited to three attempts.
Examines the general experiences of enslaved women and nominally free women. Includes the lives of female reformers involved in the public arena as orators, writers, preachers, abolitionists and women's rights activists. Explores the effect of gender, class, and race on the development of ideologies concerning abolition, colonization, women's rights, and enslavement. Limited to three attempts.
Provides an intersectional study of women's historical struggles to fight race, gender and class oppression. Demonstrates legal influence on reproduction of race and gender inequalities. Documents the major movements of the period from Jim Crow segregation to Black Power. Limited to three attempts.
Course addresses historical and contemporary intersections of social movements and gender constructions, ideologies, and expressions. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 12 credits.
Examines issues related to gender, culture, and health in the United States from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. Encompasses racial and ethnic identification, geographic region, sexual orientation, gender identity, generational status. Will be framed to emphasize the interplay between cultural, social, economic, environmental, and political factors associated with health, and methodological issues in research on health status and health behaviors. Limited to three attempts.
Using nonfiction, research documentaries, oral histories, case studies, literature, feature films, music, dance, and visual arts, examines the dynamics of violence through different cultural lenses. Students work in university and community settings to integrate their academic experiences with practice. Equivalent to INTS 310.
Introduces students to theoretical work in feminism, women’s and gender studies, and queer theory. Examines the history of feminist and queer theories, key concepts and thinkers, and the intersection of feminist and queer theories with other areas of social analysis such as race and class. Explores social inequalities and forms of resistance. Limited to three attempts.
Focuses on constructions of race, gender, and sexuality in contemporary and classic television . Examines television through genres, consumption, and social justice issues. Equivalent to INTS 374.
Study abroad under supervision of George Mason University faculty. Course topics, content and locations vary. Limited to three attempts.
Examines contemporary issues and policies within LGBTQ issues. Explores the intersections of race, gender, age, class, disability, and national identity in relation to LGBTQ identities. May be repeated for credit when the topic is different. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 18 credits.
Community- or campus-based service or experiential learning related to women's or gender issues. Independent course in which students develop, in consultation with a faculty member, individual contracts defining the learning and competencies they plan to gain from the experience. Includes a paper and/or portfolio component. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 6 credits.
Community- or campus-based service or experiential learning as it relates to a specific WMST course, taken at the same time. Students develop, in consultation with faculty member, individual contracts defining learning and competencies they plan to gain from the experience. Notes: Only 3 credits of WMST 400 or 401 may be applied toward the women and gender studies interdisciplinary minor. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 6 credits.
Challenges rigid categories and definitions in order to create a space for marginalized voices. Examines the inconsistencies and erasures that often characterize notions of sex, gender, sexuality, and sexual desire. Explores categories that intersect with sexualized identities such as race, ethnicity, class, nationality, location, and age. Limited to three attempts.
Examines the social construction of disability as it pertains to questions of gender, sexuality, race, and class; representations of disability in literature and film; disability, embodiment, and reproductive rights; queerness and disability; the concept of “passing” and invisible disabilities: asexuality and disability; and rhetorics of disability in the U.S. academy. Limited to three attempts.
Explore the globalization of sexual identities, cultures, and social movements from a transnational perspective. Engaging with literature from across the social sciences and humanities, we will consider how sexual rights discourse get defined and utilized in relation to theories of desire and the body; sexual health and reproductive rights; sex work; travel and tourism; border-crossing and migration; and neoliberalism and development. Limited to three attempts.
Explores the globalization of women’s and LGBTQ human rights discourses from transnational and global perspectives. Issues include: women’s human rights and the war on terrorism; rape and sexual violence; HIV/AIDS; sex work and sex trafficking; girls’ human rights; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex rights; and disability rights for women and sexual minorities. Limited to three attempts.
Explores how race and sexuality structure contemporary processes of immigration and border-crossing in Europe and the U.S.. Addresses the history of U.S. immigration controls in relation to questions of race, class, gender and sexuality; women’s and LGBTQ claims for political asylum in Europe and the United States; child migration; sex work, trafficking and migration; and feminist and queer anti-deportation activism. Limited to three attempts.
Introduces feminist approaches to research for advanced undergraduate students. Focuses on the techniques for collecting, analyzing, and writing-up research and examines central methodological issues raised by feminist scholars. Emphasizes a learning-by-doing approach to conducting research. Limited to three attempts.
Undertake a semester-long research project investigating an issue of importance to feminist scholarship utilizing a variety of methods typically used by feminist scholars, including quantitative, qualitative, historical, or textual. Enhance understanding of techniques for collecting, analyzing, and writing up empirical material as well as critical engagement with ethical, interpretive, and representational considerations relating to feminist research. Limited to three attempts.
Explores the other systemic oppressions that exist within the LGBTQ community such as racism, classism, and others through historical and contemporary debates and texts. Limited to three attempts.
Provides an overview of contemporary issues and concepts related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer persons and communities as they relate to systems, structures, and experiences within educational contexts, such as schools, museums, and community organizations. Focuses on theories, methods, and practices to support learners and educators in settings inclusive of all sexual identities and orientations. Limited to three attempts.
Interrogates the myriad ways in which Black Bodies are formally and informally policed. Special focus is given to the ways in which Black women’s bodies are policed not only by the criminal justice system, but also informally through sexual and intimate partner violence, forced sterilization and contraception. Course utilizes the theoretical lenses of intersectionality and of color blind racism. Equivalent to INTS 441.
Studies selected topics central to contemporary women and gender studies. Includes topics such as women and violence, women and international development, women's myth and ritual, LGBTQ topics, the history and politics of sexuality, disability, transnational issues and religion. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 18 credits.
Reading or research on a specific topic related to women and/or gender issues, under the direction of a faculty member. May involve a combination of reading assignments, tutorials, papers, presentations, or off-campus activities. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 9 credits.
Study of selected topics central to contemporary women and gender studies. Topics vary but include subjects such as women and violence, women and international development, women's myth and ritual, LGBTQ topics, the history and politics of sexuality, psychoanalysis, and religion. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
Graduate
Examines the social construction of disability as it pertains to questions of gender, sexuality, race, and class; representations of disability in literature and film; disability, embodiment, and reproductive rights; queerness and disability; the concept of “passing” and invisible disabilities: asexuality and disability; and rhetorics of disability in the U.S. academy. May not be repeated for credit.
Explore the globalization of sexual identities, cultures, and social movements from a transnational perspective. Engaging with literature from across the social sciences and humanities, we will consider how sexual rights discourse get defined and utilized in relation to theories of desire and the body; sexual health and reproductive rights; sex work; travel and tourism; border-crossing and migration; and neoliberalism and development. May not be repeated for credit.
Explores how race and sexuality structure contemporary processes of immigration and border-crossing in Europe and the U.S.. Addresses the history of U.S. immigration controls in relation to questions of race, class, gender and sexuality; women’s and LGBTQ claims for political asylum in Europe and the United States; child migration; sex work, trafficking and migration; and feminist and queer anti-deportation activism. May not be repeated for credit.
Interrogates the myriad ways in which Black Bodies are formally and informally policed. Special focus is given to the ways in which Black women’s bodies are policed not only by the criminal justice system, but also informally through sexual and intimate partner violence, forced sterilization and contraception. Course utilizes the theoretical lenses of intersectionality and of color blind racism. May not be repeated for credit.
Studies selected topics central to contemporary women and gender studies. Includes topics such as women and violence, women and international development, women's myth and ritual, LGBTQ topics, the history and politics of sexuality, disability, disability, transnational issues and religion. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 18 credits.
Study of selected topics central to contemporary women and gender studies. Topics vary but include representation and images, violence, public policy, international development, transmigration of labor, myth and ritual, history and politics of sexuality, psychoanalysis, and religion. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
Challenges rigid categories and definitions in order to create a space for marginalized voices. Examines the inconsistencies and erasures that often characterize notions of sex, gender, sexuality, and sexual desire. Explores categories that intersect with sexualized identities such as race, ethnicity, class, nationality, location, and age. May not be repeated for credit.
Explores the globalization of women’s and LGBTQ human rights discourses from transnational and global perspectives. Issues include: women’s human rights and the war on terrorism; rape and sexual violence; HIV/AIDS; sex work and sex trafficking; girls’ human rights; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex rights; and disability rights for women and sexual minorities. May not be repeated for credit.
Introduces feminist approaches to research. Focuses on the techniques for collecting, analyzing, and writing-up research and examines central methodological issues raised by feminist scholars. Emphasizes a learning-by-doing approach to conducting research. May not be repeated for credit.
Undertake a semester-long research project investigating an issue of importance to feminist scholarship utilizing a variety of methods typically used by feminist scholars, including quantitative, qualitative, historical, or textual. Enhance understanding of techniques for collecting, analyzing, and writing up empirical material as well as critical engagement with ethical, interpretive, and representational considerations relating to feminist research. May not be repeated for credit.
Multidisciplinary course examines the central issues of feminist theory and explores the various strategies of feminist theorists. Analyzes the ways in which feminist theories have challenged established disciplinary boundaries and contested the traditional assumptions of the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences. May not be repeated for credit.
Multidisciplinary course explores the complex and intersectional issues women face in different regions of the world. Addresses women's diverse and shared transnational and global concerns and provides students with the tools to analyze and understand women in a global context. May not be repeated for credit.
Advanced individualized study of gender through readings, discussion, research, and/or projects under the direction and supervision of a member of the women's studies faculty. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.
Community or campus-based service or experiential learning related to women's or gender issues. Students develop, in consultation with a faculty member, individual contracts defining the learning and competencies they plan to gain from the experience. May not be repeated for credit.
Prior to graduation and in consultation with their advisor, students will reflect on and synthesize their work in the women and gender studies certificate program by selecting three items taken from their work in the program and discussing these items in a 7-10 page essay. Work selected may include course papers, videos of their performances, exhibit photos, music recordings, and other items as agreed upon by student and advisor. May not be repeated for credit.
Specialized inquiry of topics of contemporary feminist research and scholarship. Content varies. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.
Study of selected topics central to contemporary women and gender studies. Topics vary but include representation and images, violence, public policy, international development, transmigration of labor, myth and ritual, history and politics of sexuality, psychoanalysis, and religion. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
