Gay and Lesbian Studies

[Sociology 16b. Deviance and Conformity.]
Sociology 22b. In the Facebook Age. Spring 2009. Dhiraj Murthy.
Explores new media forms through discourses of culture, race, space, and power. From the
development of the first electronic messaging systems in the 1960s to the advent of interactive
social networking Web sites such as Facebook, Bebo and hi5, the role of computer-mediated
communication in shaping economies, polities, and societies is discussed. Uses a wide range
of sources—recent social science research, Web sites, Facebook, YouTube videos—to examine
the roles of new media both in the United States and abroad.
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Administered by the Gay and Lesbian Studies Committee;
Associate Professor Aviva Briefel, Program Director
(See committee list, page 353.)
Gay and Lesbian Studies is an interdisciplinary program coordinating courses that incorporate
research on sexuality, particularly on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Drawing
on a variety of approaches in several disciplines, such as queer theory and the history of
sexuality, the program examines constructions of sexuality in institutions of knowledge, in
aesthetic representation, and in modes of social practice, examining the question of sexual
identity and performance across cultures and historical periods.
Requirements for the Minor in Gay and Lesbian Studies
The minor consists of five courses: Gay and Lesbian Studies 201 and four other courses
from the offerings listed below, some of which will change with every academic year. Among
the latter four courses, at least one must come from the social sciences and at least one from
the arts and humanities division, and no more than two courses may come from any single
department. Only one independent study may be counted toward the minor. Courses in which
D grades are received will not count toward the minor.
First-Year Seminars
For a full description of first-year seminars, see pages 147–57.
16c. Sex and the Church. Fall 2008. Elizabeth Pritchard.
(Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 17 and Religion 16.)
22c. Femmes Fatales, Ladykillers, and Other Dangerous Women. Spring 2009. Aviva
Briefel.
(Same as English 22 and Gender and Women’s Studies 19.)
Intermediate and Advanced Courses
201 - ESD. Gay and Lesbian Studies. Every year. Fall 2008. Guy Mark Foster.
An introduction to the materials, major themes, and defining methodologies of gay and
lesbian studies. Considers in detail both the most visible contemporary dilemmas involving
homosexuality (queer presence in pop culture, civil rights legislation, gay-bashing, AIDS,
identity politics) as well as the great variety of interpretive approaches these dilemmas
Gay and Lesbian Studies
158 Courses of Instruction
have, in recent years, summoned into being. Such approaches borrow from the scholarly
practices of literary and artistic exegesis, history, political science, feminist theory, and
psychoanalysis—to name only a few. An abiding concern over the semester is to discover
how a discipline so variously influenced conceives of and maintains its own intellectual
borders. Course materials include scholarly essays, journalism, films, novels, and a number
of lectures by visiting faculty.
[203c - VPA. Women in Performance. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 203 and
Theater 203.)]
[210b,d - ESD, IP. Global Sexualities, Local Desires. (Same as Anthropology 210, Gender
and Women’s Studies 210, and Latin American Studies 211.)]
229c - ESD. Science, Sex, and Politics. Fall 2008. David Hecht.
Seminar. Examines the intersection of science, sex, and politics in twentieth-century
United States history. Issues of sex and sexuality have been contested terrain over the past
hundred years, as varying conceptions of gender, morality, and “proper” sexual behavior have
become politically and socially controversial. Explores the way that science has impacted these
debates—often as a tool by which activists of varying political and intellectual persuasions
have attempted to use notions of scientific objectivity and authority to advance their agendas.
Explores debates over issues such as birth control, sex education, same-sex marriage, and
abortion. Readings include Margaret Sanger, Margaret Mead, and Alfred Kinsey. (Same as
Gender and Women’s Studies 230 and History 229.)
235c - ESD. Topics in Feminist Theory. Spring 2010. Sarah Conly.
Examines central questions in feminist theory. What is gender? Is gender natural or is it
a social construction? How many genders are there? What makes someone a woman? Can
what it is to be a woman change? Can men become women? Can women become men? What
is the difference, if any, between gender and sex? Addresses these and other central issues in
feminist philosophy. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 236 and Philosophy 235.)
244c. Victorian Crime. Every other year. Spring 2009. Aviva Briefel.
Investigates literary representations of criminality in Victorian England. Of central concern
is the construction of social deviancy and criminal types; images of disciplinary figures,
structures, and institutions; and the relationship between generic categories (the detective
story, the Gothic tale, the sensation novel) and the period’s preoccupation with transgressive
behavior and crime. Authors may include Braddon, Collins, Dickens, Doyle, Stevenson, and
Wells. (Same as English 244 and Gender and Women’s Studies 244.)
Prerequisite: One first-year seminar or 100-level course in English or gender and women’s
studies.
[253b. Constructions of the Body. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 253 and
Sociology 253.)]
[257c. Classic Twentieth-Century LGBT Cultural Texts. (Same as English 257 and
Gender and Women’s Studies 257.)]
266c - ESD. The City as American History. Fall 2008. Matthew Klingle.
Seminar. America is an urban nation today, yet Americans have had deeply ambivalent
feelings toward the city over time. Explores the historical origins of that ambivalence by
tracing several overarching themes in American urban history from the seventeenth century
to the present. Topics include race and class relations, labor, design and planning, gender
and sexual identity, immigration, politics and policy, scientific and technological systems,
159
violence and crime, religion and sectarian disputes, and environmental protection. Discussions
revolve around these broad themes, as well as regional distinctions between American cities.
Students are required to write several short papers and one longer paper based upon primary
and secondary sources. (Same as History 226.)
[271c. The American Renaissance. (Same as English 251 [formerly English 271].)]
291–294. Intermediate Independent Study in Gay and Lesbian Studies. The Program.
[310c. Gay and Lesbian Cinema. (Same as Film Studies 310 and Gender and Women’s
Studies 310.)]
[312b. Resistance and Accommodation: Comparative Perspectives on Gender. (Same
as Gender and Women’s Studies 312 and Sociology 312.)]
316c. Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Spring 2009. William Watterson.
Close reading of Shakespeare’s one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and the appended
narrative poem “A Lover’s Complaint,” which accompanies them in the editio princeps
of 1609. Required texts include the “New Arden” edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1997)
edited by Katherine Duncan-Jones, and Helen Vendler’s The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets
(1998). Critical issues examined include the dating of the sonnets, the order in which they
appear, their rhetorical and architectural strategies, and their historical and autobiographical
content. (Same as English 316.)
Prerequisite: One 200-level course in English or gay and lesbian studies, or permission
of the instructor.
Note: This course fulfills the pre-1800 literature requirement for English majors.
325c. Henry James and Others. Spring 2009. Celeste Goodridge.
Recent James criticism has focused on James’s homosexuality and its influence on his
aesthetic and choice of subjects. Examines what is at stake in a Queer James, “queer” here
referring both to James’s homosexuality and to perceptions of him as different, perverse, odd,
awkward, and other. Readings of representative James texts and a number of other authors he
influenced. Examines confluence between his work and his contemporary E. M. Forster’s, as
well as his influence on Alan Hollinghurst, a contemporary British author who acknowledged
James’s influence, and David Levitt, a contemporary American author whose his kinship
with James is apparent. Also considers the influence of James’s life as art, as seen in novels
by Colm Toibin and David Lodge that re-imagine James’s biography. Students required to
read criticism of James and critical theory. (Same as English 325.)
Prerequisite: One 200-level course in English or permission of the instructor.
326b. The Psychology of Stigma. Spring 2009. Rachel W. Kallen.
A critical examination of classic and contemporary theories and research on stigma.
Emphasis will be on the psychological experiences of members of stigmatized groups; why
individuals stigmatize others; sensitivity to discrimination; collective identity; methods of
coping; and implications for the self, social interaction, and intergroup relations. Topics include
race, ethnicity, gender, mental illness, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, and health/physical disabilities.
(Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 325 and Psychology 326.)
Prerequisite: Psychology 212, 251, and 252.
[346c. Philosophy of Gender: Sex and Love. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies
346 and Philosophy 346.)]
[390c - IP. Robots, Vamps, and Whores: Women in German Culture and Society,
1880–1989. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 390 and German 390.)]