Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Courses | 2026-2027 Graduate Catalog | SIU

Addams was a founding philosopher of American Pragmatism, helped create Social Work as a field, and establish the discipline of Sociology, and was instrumental in developments in education, labor, and so much more. Her work and writing focused on practical applications of theory in the Chicago neighborhood in which she lived and worked. In this course we will study Addams? writings including: Twenty Years at Hull-House with Autobiographical Notes, Democracy and Social Ethics, as well as speeches and articles written for a variety of academic and lay audiences.

Credit Hours: 3

Provides detailed information on dimensions of sexuality; characteristics of healthy sexuality; anatomy and physiology; gender roles; relationships; sexually transmitted infections/diseases; contraceptive issues and concerns; sexual victimizations; and sexuality through the life cycle.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as THEA 504A) Performance is more prevalent in society than ever before. Performance, in this class means: theatre, mass media, social media, entertainment, digital humanities, and everyday life. This course considers questions such as: How can performance help gender equality? How does literary, media, and performance theory relate to struggles for social justice? What does it mean to live in a "dramatized society"? Students will gain an understanding of the economic, psychological, and political strategies behind performance and theory that seeks to intervene in unjust social structures. Restricted to graduate standing or special approval from the instructor.

Credit Hours: 3

The course deals with a wide variety of health concerns of American women as consumers in the current health marketplace. Major categories of topics include health products, health services, and sources of health information of particular interest to women. Emphasis is also placed on current health related issues of women. The major purpose of the course is to provide a basis for women?s health topics.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 507) Examines the emerging body of work in the fast-growing field of sexuality studies. While the course focuses on sociological research, it takes a few side trips into other disciplines. We begin by discussing the evolution of theory and methodology in the sexual sciences. After briefly considering the contributions of early sexologists and the work of Sigmund Freud, we will survey the sociology of sexuality from its beginnings in quantitative research, through classical sociological theory, social constructionism, and feminism. We'll then examine Foucault's radical rethinking of sexuality and grapple with the challenges of queer theory. The second part of the course will take up several substantive areas in the sociology of sexuality, drawing on cutting edge quantitative and qualitative research.

Credit Hours: 3

How do humans become male and female in different societies? Can men become women and women become men? What other gender possibilities exist? Is male dominance universal? What are the sources of male and female power and resistance? Do women have a separate culture? What are the relationships between gender, militarism, and war? These and other questions will be examined in cross-cultural perspective.

Credit Hours: 3

Film, media, and literature-based exploration of historical and contemporary texts that feature sex and scandal. Using relevant cultural and literary criticism, this class explores how "scandalous" sexualities have their own specific histories and deployments. Topics to be considered include the meaning of the word "scandal" and how different sexual relationships can appear "scandalous" in a given context. The course will question how sex and scandal intersect with race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, class, ability, and more.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as CMST 515) How communicative activity creates and sustains human beings as gendered. Emphasis on gaining familiarity with contemporary research on gendering from a particular perspective (e.g., ethnography, performance, phenomenology, qualitative methods, rhetorical criticism). May be repeated when perspective varies. Perspective announced prior to each offering.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as AFR 516, CMST 516) Explore the roots, contemporary manifestations, and current embodiments of Black feminist thought. Explore the works of Black women to engage in critical thinking and thoughtful dialogue that positions the valuable knowledge, experiences and perspectives of women of color at the center of inquiry while simultaneously discovering spaces for multicultural alliances. Credit Hours: 3.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as ANTH 525) This seminar explores a broad range of theoretical readings centering on the human body. Once the province of medical science and certain schools of philosophy, recent research in the social sciences and the humanities position "the body" as a primary site of socialization, gendering, social control.

Credit Hours: 3

Critical examination of masculinities in a global context. The course will explore the constructed nature of masculinity at the intersections of race, sexuality, class, national, and religious identifications. Takes an interdisciplinary approach and includes texts from the fields of history, sociology, English, film and media studies, and the visual arts.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as EAHE 535I) A seminar for specialized study of administrative practice and policy in gender in higher education.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Global study of transgender theory, politics, and representation in film, media, literature, visual art, and performance. This course utilizes a cultural theory approach and draws from the work of scholars, activists, and artists within the areas of transgender, queer, feminist, and disability studies.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as POLS 529) This course is an advanced seminar in public law with a focus on gender, law and society. The course will engage with issues in feminist legal practice and the development of legal theories regarding gender. We will interrogate the relationship between theory and practice and the ways in which feminist jurisprudence has taken shape in the dynamics of this relationship.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 542) Overview of the theoretical approaches, substantive issues, and techniques of research and measurement in the study of American family life. Approaches include structural functionalism, conflict theory, and the feminist critique. Among the substantive topics are family roles and relationships, kinship, relationships of the family to other institutions and family change.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as HIST 565) Comprehensive survey of sexuality from the early modern period to the present. Examines social trends, politics, and cultural debates over various forms of sexuality. Students will engage in discussion, research, and writing. Areas of emphasis vary by instructor. Students who have completed HIST 465 or WGSS 465 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 544) Examines major theories, themes, and research methods on the intersection of gender, race, class and sexuality. Topics may include: construction of gender, race, class and sexual identities; work; social movement; intersection of family and work; parenting and reproduction; historical and cross-national dimensions.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 545) This course is designed to investigate how gender structures the workplace, as well as how men and women both reproduce and negotiate gender at work. Focusing on select topics, we will develop an understanding of workplaces as gendered organizations and discuss sex segregation, wage inequality, the glass ceiling, the glass escalator, sex work, men and women in nontraditional occupations, the body at work, emotional labor, aesthetic labor, immigration and work, globalization, and unemployment and welfare. Also, this class will take an intersectional approach to analyzing and discussing issues of gender inequality at work; meaning, we will take seriously how gender intersects with race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality to shape both inequality and resistance at work.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 547) This graduate seminar is a sociology of gender course that focuses on changes in the subfield itself and in peoples' lived experiences in terms of gender, gender relations, and gender stratification. Readings and discussions will trace the development of the sociology of gender over the last several decades. We will discuss how ideas and theories have changed over the years including changes in concepts and in how sociologists define, problematize, and theorize about sex and gender as traits, identities, relations, structures, and systems. We will also explore 'objective' or actual change (or lack of change) related to gender in individuals, groups, and societies.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as PSYC 550) This course will focus on the psychology of gender within a feminist perspective and using a feminist approach. The term feminism, as used here, primarily implies that we will consider information and ideas for more diverse than simple empirical data. In our reading and discussion, we will consider politics, discrimination, the history of science, the history of patriarchy, the development of theory and ideas in general and the development of feminism in particular, and objective versus subjective views of science, and within these contexts, we will consider and study the psychology of gender.

Credit Hours: 3

An advanced course examining gender systems and women's situations across cultures and countries. This course also studies the impact globalization has had on gender issues by looking at women's activism at international and transnational levels. Topics covered include women's political representation, gender and culture, women's social movements, gender and development, and gendered policy issues.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as KIN 560) This course explores psychological and sociological dimensions underlying the concept of gender and critically examines how gender relates to sport and physical activity. Students will be introduced to non-traditional as well as traditional research that addresses the issue of gender in various physical activity contexts.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as PHIL 565) An examination of major figures and problems in continental feminism, focusing on metaphysical, ethical, political, and aesthetic theories in the works of Beauvoir, Kristeva, Irigaray, Butler, and Kofman.

Credit Hours: 3

Exploration of a research project under the supervision of a faculty member having graduate faculty status. The project must result in a written research report, which is filed with the Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Restricted to 4th Year standing. Special approval needed from the instructor and Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Credit Hours: 2-6

(Same as EAHE 575) The goal of this course is to provide an overview of women in higher education. Topics that will be considered are: feminism's impact on women in higher education; the division of labor for women (including faculty and professional staff positions); historical and sociological perspectives of access to higher education including curriculum and pedagogy.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as EAHE 576) This course is a readings-based seminar covering concepts of masculinity as demonstrated by collegiate men in the United States. The readings in this course cover cultural as well as identity elements of what being a "college man" means (and how that definition has changed over time and contexts). The readings consist of historical, contemporary and theoretical scholarship concerning collegiate masculinity.

Credit Hours: 3

This course gives students the opportunity to serve the community through direct engagement with organizations and services that center issues of gender and sexuality. The setting may be in one's own field of study or in general content areas recognized by the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. Students will devise their service plan in communication with the Coordinator of the WGSS program. Prerequisite: WGSS 597 or WGSS Program Coordinator approval. Credit Hours: 1-3.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Following an introduction to the question of women in Islamic law and Islamic history, this course will examine the changing status and experiences of women in a number of Middle Eastern countries in the 20th century, focusing on Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. Major themes will include legal, social and political rights, participation in social and economic life, cultural and literary production, and recent secular and Islamist women's movements. Students who have completed HIST 489 or WGSS 489 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

Supervised readings in selected advanced subjects. Special approval needed from the instructor and the Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Concentration on a topic of interest not offered through the regular course listings. Special approval needed from the instructor and the Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Credit Hours: 3

This course explores how pandemics affect the social construction of race, gender, sexuality, and identity. Students will discuss the role of religion in health care and science and how women in religious contexts were primary caretakers during the Plagues, the Flu of 1918-1920, and the polio epidemic. The course will consider how the burden of care falls on women and sexual minorities in churches, mosques, synagogues, indigenous religious spaces and affiliated organizations in all times of public health crises, including during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students will also learn how religion has played both a divisive and positive role in the prevention and care of HIV/AIDS, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. The course will consider research from the fields of medicine, history, English, political theory, sociology, environmental humanities, and cultural theory.

Credit Hours: 3

Critical examination of masculinity in a global context. The course will explore the constructed nature of masculinity at the intersections of race, sexuality, class, national, and religious identifications. Takes an interdisciplinary approach and includes texts from the fields of history, sociology, English, film and media studies, and the visual arts.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides students with supervision in their work toward course development in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. The instructor of record will meet with practicum members on a regular basis, and, together, they will work towards the research and syllabus construction necessary for a WGSS course. Pedagogical strategies will also be covered. Must have consent of the Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Graded by S/U only.

Credit Hours: 1-3

This course introduces students to the past, present, and potential future of feminism and its various permutations. Readings are designed to stress historical, intellectual, and contemporary issues in order to inspire in-class discussion and to provide foundations for written assignments. Emphasis varies by instructor.

Credit Hours: 3

This proseminar introduces graduate students to the field of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS). The approach is both interdisciplinary as well as multidisciplinary. The course guides students through a process by which they build a detailed map of the intersection between their course of study and the field of WGSS. Emphasis varies by instructor.

Credit Hours: 3