Next Semester's Courses

Women's Studies 120, Introduction to Women's Studies and Feminist Theory:

This course introduces students to the fields of feminist theory and Women’s Studies by focusing on key theoretical concepts and surveying a range of topics that have been central to the academic study of women and gender. Such topics are likely to include the family as a social institution, gender in the workplace, beauty norms, violence against women, the history of feminist activism, and/or women’s achievements in traditionally male-dominated fields such as sport, art, science, or literature. Students learn to approach such topics using gender as an analytical tool that intersects in complex ways with other categories of social power such as race, class, and sexuality. The course is interdisciplinary in approach and presents a plurality of feminist perspectives in order to offer a rich understanding of the development of feminist thought over the past several decades. Course assignments encourage students to use such thought to analyze their other academic pursuits as well as the non-academic environments in which they live, including thinking critically about their own experiences as women and men in contemporary society. Braunschneider TR (EFG).

Women's Studies 396, Reading Lolita in Lexington: This advanced seminar uses Azar Nafisi's memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, as a framework for studying The Great Gatsby, Lolita, and Pride and Prejudice, while also learning about the lives of women in contemporary Iran. We study the history of Iran and the impact its Islamic revolution has had on the lives of women, while considering how the reading experiences of young Iranian women compare to those of college students at Washington and Lee. In addition to the four major texts, we read excerpts from feminist critical responses to Austen, Fitzgerald, and Nabokov, and sample some books that explore the variety of women’s experiences in Islam, such as Geraldine Brooks's Nine Parts of Desire and Alison Wearing's Honeymoon in Purdah. Requirements include 20 pages of writing, including a five-page research paper, and an oral report. Prerequisites: Women's Studies 120 or instructor permission. Students wanting to apply this course to requirements for the English major may approach department head Lesley Wheeler for a substitution. Brodie MWF (EF).

Art 311, Seminar on Women Artists: An exploration of the art produced by women throughout history. Special attention is given to the role of women artists in various historical epochs and their strategies for survival and success. Weekly readings and papers for discussion. (GE4a, HA). Simpson, MWF (EF).

English 380 B, Women, Sexuality, and Slavery: Starting with Jacobs’s antebellum slave narrative and concluding with contemporary texts by African American women, we’ll take into consideration the various cultural, historical, and political factors that contributed to the exploitation and abuse of women under the institution of slavery. These texts address the issues of sexual violence, rape, maternity, resistance, and survival; as we consider fictional and non-fictional narratives about enslavement, we’ll also read literary and cultural criticism to develop a complex understanding of the texts and of the issues they raise. As we focus on the causes and the consequences associated with the commodification of the black female body, we’ll examine the individual and communal impact resulting from the enslavement of women. (GE 3, HL) Hall, TR (EFG).

Latin American and Caribbean Studies 195, Hispanic Feminisms: Topical Description. This seminar explores the development of feminist movements and theories in Spain, Latin America, and the United States. In order to understand the intersections between and among gender, race, and class in the "Hispanic" world, students examine key concepts such as theories of feminism, borders, heteronormativity, and mestizaje and apply them to select fiction, non-fiction, and filmic texts. (GE 4, HU) Mayock, TR (CDE).

Philosophy 195, Philosophy and Sex. This course will explore questions related to contemporary conceptions of sexuality and its proper role in our lives. Questions likely to be addressed include: What is the purpose of sex? Are sexual practices subject to normative evaluation on grounds of morality, aesthetics, and/or capacity to promote a flourishing human life? We shall consider the relation between sex and both intimacy and pleasure, viewed from the perspective of heterosexual women and men, and gay men and lesbians. What are our sexual practices and attitudes toward sex? What should they be like? Particular topics may include: hooking up, masturbation, marital fidelity, adultery and open marriage, the eroticization of violence, the sexualization of nudity and its impact on body-image, prostitution and pornography, perversion, sadomasochism, pedophilia, and rape. M. Bell, TR (EFG).

Psychology 395, Development of Human Sexuality - topical description: Prerequisite: Psychology 113. This course examines the fundamentals of the development and practice of sexuality in the human being and the historical, psychological, and psychosocial aspects of human sexuality from childhood to old age. The course covers major theories of the development of sexuality in heterosexual, gay, and lesbian people. Students also explore how sexuality itself may be "constructed" as a result of culture, media, and gender. Fulcher, MWF (CD).