Women's Studies

This course examines current research from a critical cultural theoretical perspective on the role gender plays in communication, and how communication works to construct the notions of masculinity and femininity. Considering gender construction particularly in relation to power, we look at, for example, how language helps enshrine ways we talk and think about the sexes, how gendered behaviors like masculine violence and feminine submission become institutionalized, how pop culture and advertising circulate the messages of appropriate gendered behaviors throughout the media, and how cultural institutions like family, schools, sports, religion and the workplace reinforce gendered communication.

A study of gender relations and the cultural roles assigned to men and women in the earliest western sources, from the epic society of Homer to the period of the Hellenistic monarchies. Topics will include myth and cult, family law, economy and slavery, medicine, sport, concepts of misogyny, sexuality, and male honor codes. Comparative evidence from ancient and modern Mediterranean societies will also be examined.

An examination of women’s experiences in American society with special emphasis on attitudes toward sex, the family, the workplace, and the political arena in order to explore the interaction between context and ideology in the process of social change.

What is feminism and why do we still need it in the 21st century?  This course will examine this question with particular emphasis on the issues that affect women in their day-to-day lives.  This course will analyze the experiences and issues of women of diverse class, race, and ethnic backgrounds.  Topics include working conditions, wage equity, the intersection of race and gender, the politics of the body, work/family balance, and the economics of motherhood.