GLBT Minor Approved

The GLBT minor, available beginning Fall 2009, is designed to allow students to explore sexuality and sexual diversity by examining the history and present conditions of sexual and gender formation, as well as ideologies of sexuality, from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Specific courses focus on politics, cultures, representations and literature of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, as well as ways to analyze and address issues of homophobia, heterosexism, and other intersecting forms of oppression.

 

Required Courses:

INTD 240: Critical Perspectives in Women's and Gender Studies and

INTD 265: Introduction to GLBT Studies

 

PLUS two of the following courses:

ANTH 417      S'He Two Spirits; Gender Cross Culturally;

COMM 355    Images of Gender in Mass Media;

SOCI 204       Gender, Sexuality and Society;

LANG 350      International Women's Cinema;

POLI 343        Constitutional Law and Politics: Liberty and Equality;

 

Students may include relevant topics courses such as 289/299, Director Studies and Study Tours as appropriate with consent of the Women's and Gender Studies Coordinator.

 

PLUS two additional courses from the list of approved WGS courses not already taken above.

 

Other GLBT Academic Courses of Interest

Anth 417: S'He Spirits: Gender Cross Culturally
What is gender? How many genders are there? Where are alternate genders found? We will investigate gender categories cross- culturally

• Native American Two Spirits
• Latin American Machos
• Gays
• GLBTQs
• Asian gender categories
• African Gay Movements
• Other topics related to sex, gender, and sexuality cross-culturally

Instructor: Sandy Faiman-Silva
Phone: 508-531-2369

Art: Identity and the Photographic Image
This course explores diverse themes of identity within photographic art.  Since the early days of photography, the medium has been used by artists to self-image identity and tell stories about the identities of other people.  We will look at artists’ works and read texts to stimulate discussion and art making about race and ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. Students will develop aesthetic and conceptual skills, visual and oral communication skills and creativity through art making, discussions, presentations and critiques. Students must supply their own camera (point and shoot is ok).  The course does not include technical camera or darkroom instruction.  The course will include participation in mounting an exhibition at the BSC Anderson Art Gallery of two fine art photographers who address themes of gender identity in their artwork.
Instructor: Ivana George
Email: igeorge@bridgew.edu

COM 355: Images of Gender in Mass Media
This course considers images of men and women in contemporary mass media forms, including film, magazines, and with a particular emphasis on television. Students will learn to think about media images as a product of social values and a consumer commodity, and to consider how images affect the way we construct our selves and our lives. The class will analyze how gender is socially constructed via body type, social roles, subcultures, and consumer values, among other things. We will discuss these subjects via readings, audio visual and other materials.
Instructor: Lisa Boragine
Email: lboragine@bridgew.edu
 

ENGL 199: Images of Gays in Literature
"Is he or isn't he?" "They didn't have gays back then, did they?" "Isn't 'Boston marriage' a euphemism for lesbian domestic partnership?" "How could a gay writer perpetuate such a negative stereotype?" "But Tennessee Williams was gay; isn't that important?" These and many other questions will be asked about characters in stories, plays, and novels by American authors, straight, gay, in the closet and out.
Instructor: Dr. C. Wood

English 496: Forms of Sexuality in the American Novel
This course will examine the formative role sexuality plays in American novels of the twentieth century.  We will be alert not merely to the various "kinds" of sexual expression depicted in individual characters (heterosexual courtship, miscegenation, incest, pedophilia, homosexuality, autoerotism, narcissism, sadomasochism, fetishism, prostitution, and so on), but also to the erotics of the novel as a genre.  Consequently, we will consider the familiarity and surprise of the novel's rhythms, the desires activated and repressed by its solicitation of us, the narrative forces that compel or punish certain sexual persuasions, and the strange, solitary pleasure known as reading.  Secondary materials for the course will include theoretical discussions of narrative and sexuality (Freud, Brooks, de Lauretis, Butler), but our principle objects of analysis will be individual novels whose complexities will reward close and sustained attention.  The readings for this course are demanding; students who enroll should be prepared to approach them with serious-minded commitment.  The novels we will read include the following: James, The Wings of the Dove; Chopin, The Awakening; Larsen, Passing; Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!; Bannon, Odd Girl Out; Baldwin, Another Country; Holleran, Dancer from the Dance; and Acker, Blood and Guts in High School.
Instructor: Matt Bell
Email: matt.bell@bridgew.edu
Phone: 508-531-1467
 

INTD 265: Introduction to GLBT Studies
This course serves as the gateway course for students who wish to pursue the GLBT Studies minor within Women’s and Gender Studies.  It will acquaint students with the great range of the interdisciplinary field called GLBT Studies, showing how non-normative sexualities shape our notions of kinship, personal identity, politics, law, and cultural production.  Major topics will include the history of sexuality, sexual psychology, cultural constructions of sexual identity, homophobia and heterosexism, gender crossings, the closet, Stonewall, the gay liberation movement, AIDS, and same-sex marriage.
Instructor: Matt Bell
Email: matt.bell@bridgew.edu
Phone: 508-531-1467

LANG 350: International Women's Cinema
This course explores global women's cinema that spans a spectrum of cultures, races, ethnicities, sexualities, languages, and visual aesthetics. We will explore women's cinematic art that engages with the following issues: differing cultural representations of the female body, past and present; diverse notions about feminism, from developing nations to "first world" countries; body politics and the female body as a site of power conflicts and negotiations within/by patriarchal culture; visual pleasure and spectator dynamics vis-à-vis both traditional Hollywood and experimental filmmaking; globalization, technology, and women's lives in the new millennium; new understandings of "family" between cultures and over time; odysseys toward self-expression, artistic and otherwise; issues of physical appearance, aging, illness, and procreation.  We will also examine problematic constructions of "masculinity" and gender binaries, and attendant categories such as race, that de-privilege women, men, and alternately gendered people who do not attain to or live by these constructions. Through a critical analysis of these groundbreaking cinematic visions, we will question the facile, stereotype-promoting visual and sound bytes with which many genres of mainstream visual media such as "The Swan" and "Extreme Makeover" increasingly bombard us. Documentary, feature films, guerrilla filmmaking, avant-garde video, and video installation will be explored in relation to Hollywood convention.
Instructor: Leora Lev
Email: L1Lev@bridgew.edu
Phone: 508-531-2449

LIBR 299-X01 : GLBTQ Teen Experiences in Young Adult Literature
Is school really safe? Where do I go if I can't go home? How do I know who to trust? Why can't I just be "normal"? In this course, we will use contemporary books written for, about, and, in some cases, by teens to explore the challenges and issues GLBTQ youth face during their teen years. YA literature will be supplemented with current research, Web sites for GLBTQ youth, community resources, and a password-protected, online class discussion board. This course is relevant for students who struggle with these issues themselves and/or come into contact with GLBTQ teen through personal, professional, parenting or teaching relationships.
Instructor: Dr. Anne Hird
Email: ahird@bridgew.edu
Phone: 508-531-2027
 

SCWK 580-001: Working With Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Clients
This course is designed to provide students in interdisciplinary settings (social work, counseling, student affairs) with the knowledge, skills, and basic competencies needed to work in a variety of clinical/counseling settings with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals. This course will examine a variety of issues regarding working with sexual minorities, including, but not limited to: gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity development, the coming out process, gay spirituality, sexual minority adolescents and college students, homoprejudice, heterosexual privilege, career counseling issues for sexual minorities, substance abuse/addiction, health behavior, and mental health issues for sexual minorities. Students will become familiar with the core competencies provided by the Association for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues in Counseling, as well as ethical considerations for working with this special clinical population.
Instructor: Michael M. Kocet, Ph.D., LMHC, NCC
Phone: 508.531.2721
Email: mkocet@bridgew.edu

 

SOCI 199-006: Lesbian Images in Pop Culture - First Year Seminar
The class will explore lesbian images in pop culture from the past century.  We will be guided by a slew of controversial and vexing questions:  What is a lesbian? How do we know?  What does it mean to be a lesbian? What does it mean to be a lesbian in a given place, space, and time? Who historically has had the power to define lesbian?  What have been the implications of these definitions?  Although we may still be far from a consensus on the subject of what constitutes a lesbian, by the end of the semester, everyone in the course will have a more thorough understanding of the possibilities and difficulties of these questions of definition as well as how pop culture reflects or distorts the realities of lesbian lives in the United States.
Instructor: Sarah Hogue, Visiting Lecturer
Email: shogue@bridgew.edu.

 

If you are a professor who would like to have your course listed here, please contact Lisa Forest (lisa.forest@bridgew.edu, 508-531-1408).

Last Modified: April 22, 2009