Women’s and Gender Studies
Spring 2009 Graduate Courses
To get a WGS Graduate Minor, you need to take WGS 7150, 7900, and 6 hours of approved 4xxx/7xxx
Required Courses
None available at this time.
Elective Courses
*If your program allows you to take 4xxx courses for grad credit, please see the undergrad course flyer for available courses.*
WGS 4500-1
Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies: Gender and Crime
This course will explore gender differences in crime "from the streets to the suites." Topics include the
relationship(s) between gender and criminal offending; detection of, societal reaction to, and punishment for that
offending; and victimization. We will look at the role gendered experiences play in creating, legitimating, and
perpetuating the fear of crime; the parallels between women’s limited mobility in legitimate and illegitimate
economies; crimes and policies that differentially involve or affect female offenders and victims; and
criminological theory relevant to the gender gap in offending.
Sarah Becker
9:30-10:30 M/W/F
ENGL 7724
Studies in Feminist Theory: Feminist Pedagogies
In higher education teaching once seemed to be the placid step-sister of scholarship, accomplished only through
the spontaneous overflow of knowledge. What, how, and why we teach, the roles of teacher and student, and the
connections among courses, curricula, and institutions have become important subjects of inquiry in the last two
decades, however. Feminist theory has been central to that discussion. The focus of this seminar will be looking at
influential statements on gender and pedagogy, as well as critiquing them. Is a "decentered" classroom possible? Is
it necessarily feminist? What combination of subject matter, explicit pedagogical assumptions, mode of
presentation, instructor's stance, or students' expectations identifies a class as "feminist"? Discussion format, daily
journals, several short essays, longer final essay, and class presentation.
Michelle Massé
3:00 - 6:00 T
LAWS 5541
Gender and the Law
* Contact Michele Forbes (578-8646) to schedule this course*
Topics to be covered include the history of suffrage and demands for equal rights for men and women, violence
against women and violence committed by women, property rights, inheritance rights, reproductive rights,
marriage, child custody, the definition of family, Title IX issues, employment discrimination, and gender issues in
the legal profession. This course will not examine employment law or domestic relations law in as great depth as
the Law Center’s existing courses in these areas. Rather it is intended to situate these issues within the greater
context of the law of gender. Final exam or paper.
Christine Corcos
3:00-4:30 M/W
Women’s and Gender Studies
Spring 2009 Graduate Courses
SW 7807-2
Social Work with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People
(Prerequisite: SW 7004/7005)
The purpose of this course is to enhance students’ professional competence with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) people. Content explores social work practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels and
across social, political, and economic realms. On the micro and mezzo levels, students will learn appropriate
assessment and intervention skills for use with LGBT people. Special concerns within the population, such as the
coming out process, adolescent suicide, and coping methods, will be considered. To a great extent, sexual
orientation in contemporary culture is politically charged and socially regulated. To that end, students will be
taught macro-level advocacy skills to fulfill their call as social workers by promoting social justice and equality.
Elaine Maccio
8:30-11:30 T
SOCI 7391
Feminism and Families
This seminar explores the multilayered and interrelated processes affecting how families are constructed in the
context of U.S. society. We will examine the experiences and perspectives of women and men and the ways that
their family constructions relate to the social, economic, and political systems of their society. Throughout, we
consider the macro/micro interplay of social life while treating families as a dynamic, contested social form. More
specifically, we examine how culture and social structures shape the construction of families while considering the
social psychological aspects of how individuals feel, think, and act in terms of specific familial arrangements and
practices. By studying the interrelationship between aspects of the larger society and people's own familial
constructions from a sociological perspective, this course studies the linkages between society and individuals in a
fundamental sphere of social life. We will address the diverse experiences of families through a gendered lens. We
will draw upon intersectional analyses of how gender, race, class, sexual orientation, age, disability, and/or other
manifestations of diversity shape how women, men, and children construct and negotiate families. Selected
readings and discussion will be framed using feminist theories, social constructionism, and queer theory.
Dana Berkowitz
1:30-4:30 T
Of Related Interest
FREN 7410
Foucault and Biopower
Michel Foucault well-known in gender studies circles for his work on disciplinary body practices and on sexuality,
as put forth in his two books of 1975 and 1976, Discipline and Punish, and The History of Sexuality, volume 1.
Recently published lectures courses from the period immediately following those books enriches his famous work
by developing the notion of “biopower” and linking it to the liberalism emerging in the nineteenth century. Our
course will recap Foucault’s work on discipline and sexuality and then trace notions of biopower, with constant
reference to contemporary issues of reproduction, health care, and the “end of life.”
John Protevi
4:30-7:30 T