Gender and Sexuality Studies Course Descriptions

GSS-150 Personal Self Defense Women

Women's Self Defense. See Human Performance department for course description. May be repeated for credit. Pass/No Pass. 1 credit.
Credits: 1.00

GSS-200 Introduction to Queer Studies

This course will provide an overview of queer communities through an interdisciplinary approach including a focus on the intersections of ethnicity, class, culture, sex and gender among gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and other sexual and gender identities. Theoretical, political, historical, and social frameworks will inform the basis of learning how queer communities negotiate identities outside of the hegemonic mainstream concepts of sexuality and gender. Counts toward core requirement: Humanities (2010 catalog) and Diverse Perspectives. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-201 Introduction to Gender & Sexlty Studies

This introductory level course explores the various foundations of gender and sexuality studies with an interdisciplinary focus. The course aims to explore several issues of gender and sexuality in the media, cinema, literature, and theory. Students review and critique the construction of gender and sexuality under patriarchy in the past and study similar yet different structures of power in current discourse. The course consists of two components: a classroom experience with an emphasis on the breadth of literature on feminism, queer theory, and masculinities, and field work in the community. Counts toward core requirement: Humanities and Diverse Perspectives. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-210 Action Projects in Gndr & Sexlty Studies

This course is designed to promote student individual and collaborative work related to issues in feminism and gender studies. Students may participate in a one-time action project centered around an event, a service learning placement, or a collaborative project that promotes the goals of the minor. Projects may include, but are not limited to, serving at sites approved by the Gender & Sexuality Studies faculty, working on events connected to Women's History Month, carrying out their GSS 201 action projects, and projects designed to promote education in our community. Prerequisite: GSS 201. May be repeated for credit. Pass/No Pass. 1-6 credits.
Credits: 1.00

GSS-211 Preparation for Travel in India

This is a course that will prepare students for Travel in India: Gender, Culture and Service, a Winter III course sponsored by the Center for Gender Equity. This course will provide students with the information necessary to help them get the most of their WIII experience. The content will cover the basic history, religion, culture, geography, and politics of India. Also listed as HUM 211 and PSJ 211. Counts toward core requirement: Comparative Cultural or International Perspectives. 2 credits.
Credits: 2.00

GSS-212 Theatre for Gender Equity

This Winter intensive workshop will consist of conceiving, devising, rehearsing, and presenting theatrical performance on a given theme and in accord with the mission of the Center for Gender Equity. Also listed as THEA 212. May be repeated once for credit. 2 credits.
Credits: 2.00

GSS-217 Gender & Sexuality

An introduction to the theories and methods used by sociologists to study masculinity and femininity, the social and historical construction of sexuality, love, and romance. Discussion includes the sociology of homosexuality, bisexuality, and heterosexuality, as well as issues of HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, prostitution, pornography, sexual harassment and rape in the United States. Also listed as SOC 217. Prerequisite: SOC 101 or SOC 102. Must be 18 years of age. Counts toward core requirement: Social Sciences (2010 catalog) and Diverse Perspectives. Biennially. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-220 Literature and Human Concerns

See the Gender and Sexuality Studies department for the course description. May be repeated for credit. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-231 Community Stories I

Community Stories I is an experiential learning course that employs reading, writing and storytelling to explore personal and social stories and the assumptions those stories convey. Students use the lens of literature to investigate the complex and controversial stories that inform our cultural perception of gender relations. Students examine personal stories through the implementation of a daily "story showing" practice. Personal growth and development through social storytelling and critique is part of the training for a civic engagement project students design within their local community. The purpose of this course is to build webs of support between Pacific students, to examine social and cultural constructs in personal and local communities, and to facilitate the students' active civic service as a way of creating the "new story"--the change or values--they wish to see manifest in the world. Also listed as HUM 231. Counts toward core requirement: Civic Engagement, Diverse Perspectives. 2 credits.
Credits: 2.00

GSS-247 Gender & Sexuality in Victorian America

This course treats the development and spread of Victorian culture in the United States during the nineteenth century, particularly as it defined ideas about gender and sexuality. Focus is on the creation of "women's sphere" and ways in which women accommodated themselves to domesticity, rebelled against it, or used it themselves to discipline their husbands and sons. Also listed as HIST 247. Counts towards core requirement: Diverse Perspectives. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-255 Special Topics

See department for course description.
Credits: 1.00

GSS-261 Psychology of Gender

Psychology of gender will provide students with a survey of psychological research into the effects of gender, gender identity, and gender labels on the cognitive, social, physical states of humans across the lifespan and cultures. The intersection of genders and sexual identities will also be addressed. Prerequisite: PSY 150 with a minimum grade of C. Counts toward core requirement: Diverse Perspectives. 4 credits
Credits: 4.00

GSS-275 Internship

See department for details. Internship contract required.
Credits: 1.00

GSS-280 Women in Art

This course is designed to explore the place of women in art. The course investigates both the image of women in art and women as artists. The course will be thinking about women's relationship to art at different times and in different cultures. The goal of the class is to shine light on material that has often been overlooked by the traditional art history canon. Feminist theory class desirable. Also listed as ARTHI 280. Meets Gender & Sexuality Studies minor requirement. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-295 Independent Study

See department for details. Independent study contract required.
Credits: 1.00

GSS-300 Special Topics in Gender & Sexuality

This is a special topics course focusing on the specific interests of the faculty and students in the Gender and Sexuality Studies minor program. Topics addressed in the course will be derived from a variety of disciplinary standpoints, and may involve interdisciplinary collaboration. Some examples of topics that may be offered through this course are: "The Development of Gender," "Women and Film," and "Feminist Epistemology" to name a few. Prerequisite: GSS 201. May be repeated for credit. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-303 Advanced Feminist Theory

This course will provide a detailed examination of the academic discourse known as feminist theory. Utilizing a broad feminist theory framework, including Marxist, poststructuralist, and psychoanalytic perspectives, this course will address a number of social concerns. First, we will address how the concept of gender is socially constructed through institutional power arrangements, popular culture representations, and everyday social dynamics. Second, we will examine to what extent advanced feminist theory departs from first and second wave feminism. Third, this course will address how feminist theory helps us understand more about the construction of ethnic and sexual identities. Finally, with a special emphasis upon the concept of power, this course will illustrate how feminist theory enables a more broad and inclusive discussion of politics in contemporary society. Also listed as PSJ 303. Prerequisite: GSS 201. Counts toward core requirement: Humanities (2010 catalog) and Diverse Perspectives. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-309 Families

The primary emphasis is on the relationship between the familial institution and the society in which it is being studied. Attention is given to trans-historical and cross-cultural data and how social change impacts the institution. Additional areas of investigation include definitions of the family, socialization, cohabitation, courtship, marriage, divorce, gender and sex roles, sexuality, socio-economic forces, family violence, alternative forms, and the future of the family. Also listed as SOC 309. Prerequisite: SOC 101 or SOC 102. Counts toward core requirement: Social Sciences (2010 catalog). 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-310 Travel in India: Gender Society Service

Travel in India: Gender, Culture and Service is a Winter term course sponsored by the Center for Gender Equity. It consists of two and a half weeks travel in southern India during the month of January. The bulk of the course is conducted at Lady Doak College, a small liberal arts women's college in Madurai, India in Tamilnadu. The course consists of lecture and discussion by Lady Doak faculty, service learning, discussion with local service agencies, fieldwork on a topic of the student's choice, and travel to sites of cultural and historic importance. The participant is required to register for HUM 211 the fall semester prior to the travel portion of the class. Also listed as PSJ 310 and HUM 310. Prerequisite: HUM 211. Counts toward core requirement: Comparative Cultural or International Perspectives. 2 credits.
Credits: 2.00

GSS-321 Women's Writing in Francophone World

GSS-331 Community Stories II

Community Stories II is an advanced experiential learning course that employs students as mentors in a class community where reading, writing and storytelling explore personal and social stories and the assumptions those stories convey. Students have experience with the foundations of the course through their experience in Community Stories I, including ways of accessing the complex and controversial stories that inform our cultural perception of gender relations, and how to examine personal stories through the implementation of a daily "story showing" practice. CS II students are essential to breaking down initial barriers in the class community through leading discussions and class facilitation, and supporting Community Stories I students in their training for a civic engagement project designed within their local community. Community Stories II strengthens the community and investment between Pacific students, allows students to experience leadership roles and responsibility with additional facilitation and service responsibilities, and affords students an opportunity to learn from their previous civic engagement projects and share knowledge with their peers, while expanding and reinforcing their relationships with the greater communities they inhabit. Also listed as HUM 331. Prerequisite: GSS 231. Counts toward core requirement: Civic Engagement, Diverse Perspectives. 2 credits.
Credits: 2.00

GSS-341 Service for Gender Equity

This course entails designing, organizing, and carrying out service projects and programming for The Center for Gender Equity (CGE). Students will be expected to place their work within an analytical context informed by service learning and "civic engagement" theory. Instructor's consent required. Counts toward core requirement: Civic Engagement. May be repeated once for credit. 2 credits.
Credits: 2.00

GSS-355 Special Topics

See department for course description. Prerequisite: GSS 201.
Credits: 1.00

GSS-363 Gender, Sexuality, & Performance

This course examines gender in and as performance, bringing feminist and queer studies lenses and contemporary theories of gender construction to a variety of performances and texts. Topics will include representations of gender and sexuality within the canon; construction of gender through performances on stage and in everyday life; and the challenging of roles and assumptions through dynamic choices in playwriting, directing, acting, and design. Also listed as THEA 363. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above (30 or more completed credits). Counts toward core requirement: Diverse Perspectives. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-395 Independent Study

See department for details. Independent Study contract required.
Credits: 1.00

GSS-400 Medieval Women

This course is a seminar on the attitude towards, roles, work, and responsibilities of women in the period from the first century to the fifteenth century. Women in their roles as nuns, witches, prostitutes, brewers, mothers, queens, and consorts are discussed. The course is thematic as well as chronological, and investigates anthropological, feminist, and political theories and paradigms associated with the study of women generally. Assigned reading consists of primary sources, secondary monographs, and journals. Also listed as HIST 400. Prerequisite: Junior standing or above (60 or more completed credits). 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-421 Women's Writing in Francophone World

Survey of women's writing in the Francophone world throughout the 20th Century. Special focus on the novel and the development of alternate prose forms. Authors from France, Switzerland, Belgium, Quebec, the French Caribbean, Senegal, and Algeria may be included. Students taking the course at the 400-level will need to complete more elaborate assignments in French that require more expertise in French. Taught in French. Also listed as FREN 420. Prerequisite: Two 300-level FREN courses or 12 upper-division credits earned overseas in a French-speaking country. Counts toward core requirement: Comparative Cultural or International Perspectives. Offered intermittently. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-425 Studies/20th Cent Lit

Intensive studies in major writers of the period. Prerequisite: Junior standing or above (60 or more completed credits), GSS 201, and two courses (minimum 2 credits each) from 200-level ENGL or above. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-430 Major Writers

A detailed study of the works of selected writers: for example, Chaucer, Milton, Dickens, Blake, Yeats, Thoreau, Woolf. Also listed as ENGL 430. Prerequisite: Junior standing or above (60 or more completed credits), GSS 201, and 2 courses (minimum 2 credits each) from 200-level ENGL or above. May be repeated for credit when content varies. Offered intermittently. 4 credits.
Credits: 4.00

GSS-453 Creative Work or Research in GSS

This course is designed to allow students an opportunity to conduct creative work or research in the area of Gender and Sexuality Studies; including individual research studies, creative projects or participation in organizing and/or conducting the annual GSS interdisciplinary conference. The project will be developed in consultation with the chair of GSS. Prerequisite: GSS 201 and two GSS electives. May be repeated for credit. Offered Fall and Spring. 2 credits.
Credits: 2.00

GSS-455 Special Topics