| Top: The Politics of Pleasure |
Liberal Arts |
3007 (001) |
Fall 2025 |
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Description
This seminar interrogates the concept of pleasure. Pleasure occupies a fraught space in feminist and queer theory. This course examines several ways that people have theorized pleasure as a space for politics, a space for conservatism, or a way to think about racialized difference. This course is not interested in defining what pleasure is, but it interrogates what the stakes of talking about pleasure have been within contemporary theory and culture. Beginning with an examination of pleasure in the context of early twentieth century sexology, this course looks at the sex wars of the 1970s, the turn toward pleasure as a space of protest, and ends by thinking of ways to imagine pleasure outside of current paradigms of sexuality. The course takes gender, race, and sexuality as central analytic components.
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Class Number
1806
Credits
3
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| Top: Countersexual Futures |
Liberal Arts |
3007 (002) |
Summer 2025 |
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Description
This seminar explores the politics and practices of a countersexual society, drawing on the framework developed by trans studies scholar Paul B. Preciado. This framework challenges the heteronormative social order and reimagines the body as a space for freedom and expression. The course critically engages with traditional narratives of gender, race, and sexuality, examining the oppressive conventions that sustain them. We will investigate countersexual practices¿such as casual pleasure, pain, race play, drug use, and BDSM¿as sites of political action and resistance, reframing them as alternatives to normative structures. Our inquiry will begin with an examination of sexuality in early 20th-century sexology and feminism, extending to more recent trends in queer of color critique, Black feminism, and trans studies. Additionally, we will explore contemporary case studies in performance and body art to understand the role of the body¿s materiality in pursuing a countersexual revolution.
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Class Number
1337
Credits
3
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| Topics in Gender and Sexuality |
Liberal Arts |
3007 (003) |
Spring 2025 |
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Description
Topics courses in gender and sexuality studies are used to provide a broad interdisciplinary introduction to and more thematically-specific knowledge of historical and contemporary topics in gender and sexuality studies.
While course texts will vary depending on the instructor and topic, texts may include books, articles, book chapters, films, audio recordings and other materials used to provide insight into gender and sexuality studies.
Assignments will vary depending on the instructor and topic, assignments may include quizzes, exams, standard academic papers, research papers, group projects, and other activities enhancing knowledge and understanding of gender and sexuality studies.
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Class Number
2375
Credits
3
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| Top:(Un)doing Masculinities: Queer and Trans Inter |
Liberal Arts |
3007 (004) |
Fall 2025 |
|
Description
This course examines masculinity as a dynamic, socially constructed identity, actively shaped and expressed through public presentation, clothing, and social interactions. Rather than seeing masculinity as a fixed or universal concept, we explore how it is influenced by race, sexuality, class, national identity, and geographic location. We critique the Western-centered, static notions of masculinity, traditionally tied to virility, whiteness, and heterosexuality, by highlighting diverse masculinities from around the world, including racialized masculinities, female masculinities, and queer and trans masculinities. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship in performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, critical race theory, and queer and trans theory, the course examines how masculinity is ¿done¿ and ¿undone¿ in different cultural and historical contexts.
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Class Number
2406
Credits
3
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