Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies
Judy Rohrer, Director
program web page
Faculty
Core/Joint Faculty: Mimi Marinucci, Judy Rohrer, Jessi Willis.
Affiliated Faculty: Deidre Almeida, Kerryn Bell, Bipasha Biswas, Justin Bucciferro, Patricia Chantrill, Christina Torres Garcia, Catherine Girard, Kayleen Islam-Zwart, Kathryn Julyan, Ryan Parrey, Elizabeth Rognes, LaVona Reeves, Natalia Ruiz-Rubio, Julia Smith, Deborah Svoboda, Beth Torgerson.
Degrees
BA–Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies
Minor–Sexuality & Queer Studies
Minor–Women’s & Gender Studies
Required courses in these programs of study may have prerequisites. Reference the course description section for clarification.
Undergraduate Programs
Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies (GWSS) is an interdisciplinary field that integrates theory and practice with the aim of transforming social relations, representations, knowledges, institutions, and policies. GWSS works toward these goals by producing and disseminating knowledge through research, teaching, and activism. The interdisciplinary field provides students with the skills to critically and actively engage with the world around them.
Mission Statement
The Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies program at Eastern Washington University generates opportunities for interdisciplinary feminist analysis and knowledge creation while fostering leadership in intersectional activism.
How We Achieve Our Mission
- Building awareness and understanding of difference, power, and privilege.
- Enhancing the experience and strengthening the qualifications of students as they prepare for careers in a wide range of fields.
- Supporting interdisciplinary feminist scholarship and creative works among faculty, students, and staff.
- Collaborating with campus and community partners that are focused on centering lived experiences of those who have been historically marginalized.
Our core values of equity, inclusivity, and justice are embedded in all that we do.
The Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies (GWSS) program offers a major, a minor in Women's & Gender Studies, and a minor in Sexuality & Queer Studies.
The GWSS major will fulfill partial requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree. This interdisciplinary major is designed to foster personal and intellectual development, cultivate civic engagement, and provide a sound foundation relevant for employment in a variety of occupations within academia, the private sector, the professions, government, and the nonprofit sector. This 45-credit major requires the completion of a minor and provides students with the opportunity to choose a second major to enhance career or post-graduate study opportunities.
The GWSS Program works closely with the Women's and Gender Education (WAGE) Center on projects such as the Activist-In-Residence (AiR) Program. The Center maintains a lounge, a library and offers numerous presentations and events. GWSS and WAGE welcome participation by all members of the university community.
Gender, Women’s, & Sexuality Studies Courses
GWSS 101. INTRODUCTION TO GENDER, WOMEN'S AND SEXUALITY STUDIES. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: HUMN 101.
Satisfies: a BACR for humanities and arts.
Interdisciplinary course designed to introduce the study of women, gender, feminism, and systems of oppression and privilege. Draws upon a diverse collection of writing, classroom exercises, films, and discussions to better understand women’s experiences (primarily in the U.S.) both empirically and theoretically.
GWSS 150. GENDER, SEXUALITY AND POWER. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: GWSS 101.
Focuses on sex, gender, and sexuality in our lives and within social institutions. Builds on GWSS 101 delving deeper into intersectional feminist analyses in areas such as: health and reproductive justice, family systems, paid and unpaid labor, state law and social policy, and collective action.
GWSS 197. WORKSHOP, SHORT COURSE, CONFERENCE, SEMINAR. 1-5 Credits.
Workshop.
GWSS 220. INTRODUCTION TO LGBTQ+STUDIES. 5 Credits.
Satisfies: a BACR for humanities and arts.
Explores the interdisciplinary scholarship on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities and histories, as well as queer and emerging identities.
GWSS 250. GENDER, REPRESENTATION AND POPULAR CULTURE. 5 Credits.
Satisfies: a BACR for humanities and arts.
Students apply a critical lens on the representation of gender in popular cultural mediums including film, TV, music, the Internet, social media, video games, and magazines. Employing intersectional theory, other social categories are considered including but not limited to, sexuality, race, ability, and class.
GWSS 266. GENDER, HEALTH AND MARGINALIZATION. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: DSST 266, ANTR 266.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 or equivalent.
Satisfies: a BACR for social sciences.
This interdisciplinary course explores personal, social, and political concerns regarding gender and health, including public health practice, epidemiological research, health policy, and access to health services. It includes discussion of health and reproductive justice activism.
GWSS 303. THE BODY IN ART. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: ART 314, HONS 303.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 and junior standing.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Many ideas about race, gender, and sexuality originate in representations of the body. This theme-based survey explores how figurative art has contributed, since prehistory, to shape today’s views. Emphasis in on applying contemporary issues, such as consent and identity, to the study of historical artworks. Includes class discussions and weekly writing assignments about art historical and critical texts that examine the production and perpetuation of cultural attitudes about the body.
GWSS 316. HISTORY OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE. 4 Credits.
Cross-listed: HONS 316.
Pre-requisites: Mathematic and English proficiency.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
An introduction to the history of women in the STEM fields. Students will evaluate the factors that led to women being underrepresented in the STEM fields and the existing science gender data gaps. Prominent women scientists will also be highlighted.
GWSS 326. BODIES, SOCIALIZATION AND CULTURE. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: CDST 326, DSST 326.
Notes: CDST students only: CDST 300.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 or equivalent.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Examines cultural beliefs about gender, sex, sexuality, and the body. Experiences throughout our lifetimes impact ways that we learn to embody gender, express sexuality, and live in our bodies. We use intersectional feminist approaches to consider the variety of lived, embodied experiences and social effects of categorizing bodies.
GWSS 331. PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN. 4 Credits.
Cross-listed: PSYC 331.
Pre-requisites: English proficiency (ENGL 201 or equivalent).
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
The psychology of women and gender in terms of history, bodies, socialization, personality, affiliation, achievement, motivation, mental health, and personal growth needs.
GWSS 332. ANTHROPOLOGY OF GENDER. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: ANTR 332.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 or equivalent.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Examines notions of sex and gender from a cross-cultural perspective. Material covered includes understandings of gender, third genders, human sexuality, and the gendered nature of activities in both non-Western and Western societies.
GWSS 339. TOPICS: ISSUES IN GENDER. 2-5 Credits.
Notes: may be repeated with different topics.
Pre-requisites: GWSS 101.
This seminar course focuses in-depth on specific topics in feminism and/or Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies. Topics range from historical to contemporary, across time and cultures. Topic selection varies by instructor; may be repeated for credit.
GWSS 340. TRANSNATIONAL FEMINISMS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 or equivalent.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.
Challenges notions of “global sisterhood” by centering decolonial, Indigenous, post-colonial, queer of color, immigrant, and anti-imperialist feminist activism and theorizing. Employs a gendered lens to global politics, exploring transnational themes such as nationalism, fundamentalism, migration, neoliberalism, representation, “development” and global economies, war and militarism, human rights, and solidarity.
GWSS 376. CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS WOMEN. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: IDST 376.
Pre-requisites: sophomore standing or permission from the instructor.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.
This course is designed to introduce students to the role of Indigenous women in the struggles for national self determination from a historical/cultural/spiritual/political context. Historically, Indigenous women have always played a very prominent and powerful role within all spheres of Indigenous social/political/cultural and economic issues affecting indigenous nations from a contemporary context.
GWSS 383. WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: HIST 383.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 or permission of instructor.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Students study women’s experiences in American history from pre-colonial society to the 21st century. Students reconsider traditional timelines and motivations in the development of the United States while analyzing how women’s experiences have been shaped not just by their gender identity, but also by their racial, ethnic, sexual, cultural, and class identities. Students evaluate the distinct and unique roles of women in national events and major transitions in American society.
GWSS 389. WOMEN, LITERATURE AND SOCIAL CHANGE. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: ENGL 389.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Examines fictional images of women as these images reflect the changing roles and status of women from Greece to the present, focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries.
GWSS 396. EXPERIMENTAL. 1-5 Credits.
Experimental.
GWSS 397. WORKSHOP, SHORT COURSE, CONFERENCE, SEMINAR. 1-5 Credits.
Workshop.
GWSS 414. GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN GLOBAL CINEMA. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: HUMN 101, GWSS 101, or permission of instructor.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.
This course investigates various constructions of sexuality and nationality within global cinematic representations of intimacy, desire and the body. Students will develop media literacy skills for critically engaging with diverse cultural stories and images that communicate internationally diverse understandings of sexuality, gender, class, race and nation.
GWSS 415. FEMINIST THEORIES. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: HUMN 415, PHIL 415.
Pre-requisites: GWSS 101 or upper level GWSS or PHIL course.
Feminist theories developed to explain women’s subordinate position in society and current trends in feminist thought. Includes psychoanalytic feminism, feminist literary criticism and cross-cultural views of feminism.
GWSS 417. WOMEN AND ETHICS. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: PHIL 417.
Pre-requisites: one of the following: GWSS 101, PHIL 211, PHIL 212.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
The course will begin with a brief examination of the treatment of women within traditional ethics. We will then address the views of early women philosophers, followed by a close analysis of contemporary feminist approaches to ethics.
GWSS 418. DISABILITY AS DIVERSITY. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: DSST 410.
Notes: may be stacked with DSST 510.
Pre-requisites: junior standing or instructor permission required.
This course teaches students to recognize, analyze, and comprehend disability, and disabled persons, as part of the rich tapestry of human experience; including disability intersections with other diverse identities and groups in society. Working through interdisciplinary scholarship, cultural artifacts, and first-person accounts, students will learn how disability compliments and also complicate existing identity categories and notions of diversity.
GWSS 420. QUEER THEORY. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: PHIL 420.
Pre-requisites: any upper division GWSS or PHIL course.
Examines the emerging field of queer theory. Queer theory questions the stability of various identity categories, suggesting instead that all performances of sex, gender, and sexuality are influenced by cultural, historical, and political factors.
GWSS 425. FAMILY VIOLENCE. 4 Credits.
Cross-listed: SOWK 425.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Addresses contemporary concerns about family violence and discusses feminist perspectives on violence in the family. Theories about the historical and socio-cultural context of family violence and other explanatory theories provide frameworks for understanding personal and societal responses to family violence. Discussions include dynamics of trauma and recovery and all forms of family violence. Treatment approaches are discussed.
GWSS 430. AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: AAST 430
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Examines historical writings by and about Black women, discussing slavery, lynching, combating prejudices, and encouraging racial pride to provide a framework that will deepen understanding of the topic.
GWSS 452. GENDER AND SEXUAL ASSAULT. 4 Credits.
Cross-listed: SOWK 452.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Addresses contemporary concerns about sexual assault, primarily, but not exclusively, against women. Feminist perspectives on gender socialization and sexual violence provide frameworks for understanding personal and societal responses to sexual violence. Dynamics of trauma and recovery, treatment, prevention, and change strategies are discussed.
GWSS 471. HUMAN RIGHTS AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS. 4 Credits.
Cross-listed: SOWK 471.
Pre-requisites: junior standing.
Examines the history of human rights and dignity using the declaration of rights by the United Nations, research and initiatives by the World Health Organization, and other international human rights groups. Covers topics on the human rights of women and children including health, food insecurity, economic status, housing, education, violence, war crimes, and residency/citizenship status. Examines strategies for furthering human rights on the global stage.
GWSS 482. GENDER, COMMUNICATION AND POLITICS. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: CMST 482.
Pre-requisites: junior standing.
Examines communication, sexuality, and gender dynamics at work in several domains of the American political system, including the mass public, electoral politics, the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, parties and social movements, and the policy-making process. Examines global trends for political participation and analyzes differences in conceptualizing politics and engaging in public discourse.
GWSS 489. LGBTQ+ WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: ENGL 489.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 250, HUMN 101, or GWSS 101.
Examines the lives and works of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) writers and the historical/social contexts of their writing. Genres may include LGBT fiction, nonfiction, auto-ethnography, letters, diaries, film, critical accounts of authors’ work, social networks, and other artifacts. The readings focus on the lived experiences of the writers and their characters.
GWSS 490. SENIOR CAPSTONE. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: declared GWSS major or permission of instructor.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–senior capstone.
The advanced student of GWSS consolidates and synthesizes feminist scholarship in the seminar. Working collaboratively, instructor and students draw together scholars and their work in numerous disciplines, relating them and drawing conclusions about the nature of society and feminist reality.
GWSS 495. INTERNSHIP. 1-5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: permission of the instructor, department chair and college dean.
Internship.
GWSS 496. EXPERIMENTAL. 1-5 Credits.
Experimental.
GWSS 497. WORKSHOP, SHORT COURSE, CONFERENCE, SEMINAR. 1-5 Credits.
Workshop.
GWSS 498. SEMINAR. 1-5 Credits.
Seminar.
GWSS 499. DIRECTED STUDY. 1-12 Credits.
Directed Study.