Gender and Sexuality Studies Minor

This interdisciplinary minor is for students who wish to explore gender and its relation to other axes of power: race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality. We use these concepts to analyze human experience in its bodily, political, economic and cultural dimensions.
The minor consists of five elective courses to be chosen from the following list; no more than two courses can be take in the same discipline:
- CRIM1112 Minorities, Women and the Criminal Justice System
- CRIM1135 Social Justice and Structural Inequality
- CRIM2216 Sex, Deviance and the Law
- CRIM3307/3318 Domestic Violence
- ENGL3317 Women in Literature
- ENGL3396 African Literature, Sex, Politics
- ENGL/HUMN3399 Continental Drift: Sex, Gender and Family in the South Asian Diaspora
- HIST3103 Gender in U.S. History
- HIST3109 Gender and Globalization
- HUMN/RELI 2255 Person, Gender and Sexuality: Judaism, Christianity and Islam
- HUMN2439 Radical Political Thought
- HUMN/PHIL2440 Human Rights
- HUMN/PHIL3307 Slavery and Global Ethics
- HUMN 4490.21D Politics and Culture
- LANG3322 Latin-American Women Authors
- PHIL2105 Current Moral and Social Issues
- POLS2206 American Minority Politics
- POLS3011 Human Rights in Global Environment
- POLS3327 Civil Rights and Liberties
- POLS4320 Women’s America
- PSYC3311 Psychology of Love and Interpersonal Relations
- PSYC3325 Psychology of Women
- PSYC3370 Psychology of Men
- PSYC3384 Theories of Personality
Course Descriptions
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CRIM1112 This course will examine the history and experiences of women and minorities within the criminal justice system. An examina- tion will be made of how each component of criminal justice system relates and responds to minorities and women in the capacity as defendants, victims, citizens, and public employees. Specific attention will be directed to Constitutional protections and matters of discrimination,differential treatment, recent court decisions, and the future of women and minorities in the criminal justice system.
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CRIM1135 This course will examine the intersections of inequality as it relates to race, class, sexuality and gender and how they intersect with social justice advocacy and social institutions. Students will be introduced to specific problems and their connection to broader theoretical and policy implications.
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CRIM2216 This course will examine the causes and treatments of sexual offenders, beginning with exploring the historical perspectives of sexual behaviors, the etiology of sexual deviant behavior, the cycle of offending, types and typologies of sexual offenses, juvenile offenders, and victims. This course will also examine policy implications of research outcomes, responses to assessment and treatment of sexual offenders, the management of sexual offenders in the community, and the future direction of research of sexual offenders.
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CRIM3307 This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to examining domestic violence. The cycle of violence, dominance, and control among adults and intimate partners will be explored from a sociological, criminological, and psychological perspective. The course will examine the criminal justice system?s response to the role of the police and proactive arrest policies, aggressive case prosecution, court-issued restraining orders, and anti-stalking legislation.
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ENGL3317 Selected literature from western culture dealing with images and stereotypes of women: shrew, submissive woman, mother, seductress, sex object, single woman and liberated woman.
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ENGL3396 This course will explore the depictions of select countries or regions of the African Continent in a variety of different types of text written by Africans and by newcomers or outsiders to Africa. The aim will be to gain a sense of the diversity and multiplicity of "Africas" as created by writers from different points of views, with different relationships to Africa at different times. We will read from among diaries, memoirs, travel narratives, works of journalism, movies, popular magazines, and may also sample music and films.
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HIST3103 The changing dynamics of gender in U.S. History. The impact of gender on American Identity, public policy, foreign affairs and labor.
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HIST3109 Studies in an area of History for which no formal course is offered.
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HUMN2439 This course explores major currents of political radicalism both within and outside of the dominant western political tradition. Topics considered may include antidemocratic radicalism, democratic radicalism, Marxian radicalism, radical feminism, radical individualism, and post-colonial radicalism.
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HUMN3399 A political and cultural study of literacy and autobiographical works created by teo generations of South Asians (including Salman Rushdie and Jhumpa Lahiri) sho have chosen to make their lives and careers beyond the sub-continent. The course centers on urban, cosmopolitan and transnational stories, novels and films in English, and touches upon topics such as gender roles, courtship, marriage, reproduction, and childrearing.
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HUMN4490 Studies in an area of Humanities.
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LANG3322 A study in English translation of women authors in Latin America from Sur Juana Ines De la Cruz to the present day. Emphasis will be placed upon more recent writers.
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PHIL2105 This course explores some of the most urgent and divisive isues in contemporary global society, such as human rights, terrrorism and torture, abortion and euthanasia, genetic engineering and cloning, the moral standing of animals, and attitudes toward love and sexuality.
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PHIL2440 The course will examine several major themes and problems in contemporary human rights. It will discuss the meaning of human rights, its origins, philosophical justifications and its enabling documents. It will discuss current philosophical debates arising from cultural relativism, religious claims and the assertion of group rights.
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PHIL3307 This course will analyze seventeenth and eighteenth century fictional and nonfictional representations of race and enslavement in tandem with the rise of Enlightenment political and ethical philosophy. We will read texts by authors from North and South America, Europe and West Africa, each predicting economic and ethical consequences of the rise of the global economy.
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POLS2206 The course will examine the goals and political strategies of women, blacks, and Hispanics. It will consider the influence of political participation (voting and protests) and office holding (appointed and elected) on public policies which benefit specific minorities. The course will focus on minority politics from the 1960's to today.
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POLS3011 Introduction to the developing systems, laws, and norms for the promotion and protection of human rights in the world today. Understanding legal, political, and economic aspects of human rights. The course will discuss ideological and cultural perspectives, sources of violations, women's rights and the role of nongovernmental organizations.
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POLS3327 The development and present status of rights and liberties in religion, politics, association, speech, the press, and assembly, the rights of minorities and women.
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POLS4320 This course focuses on the role of women in the American political system from colonial times to the present. It focuses on their participation, non-participation and successes over the years. Political analysis will be the prime methodology.
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PSYC3311 Psychological aspects of the role of love and attachment in human relationships. Topics addressed include phenomenology and historical evolution of love styles, the function of love, attraction and initiation of love relationships and marriage.
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PSYC3325 Various theories of the psychology of women contrasted with recent research findings about sex differences.
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PSYC3370 The psychological development of men, gender-role conflict, men's health, men in families, roles and identities, sexual orientation, the men's movement, ethnocultural factors and alexithymia. Incorporation of theory and empirical evidence.
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PSYC3384 Major approaches to personality theory, with emphasis on empirical studies in context of the various theories.
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RELI2255 This course, an inter-faith endeavor taught by professors from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, will trace the historical development of the meaning and value of person, gender, and sexuality in these traditions. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the cultural, historical and theological basis of these terms, the convergences of the meanings of these terms in the three traditions, and the contemporary applicability of these concepts from a global perspective.