Gender, Sexuality, and Health: Social Sc

Gender and sexuality are fundamental to how we understand ourselves as individuals – but have you thought about them as kinds of social inequality, similar to race, class, or disability? In this course, students will learn about gender and sexuality as elements of social context, as key forms of inequality (heterosexuality/homosexuality, cis/trans or nonbinary, men/women), and as forces that shape health.

The course has four units: 1) Your Body is a Battleground; 2) Technologies of the Self, Intimacy, Sexuality and Gender; 3) Sexuality and Sexual Violence as Public Health Problems; 4) The Price of Power: Understanding Health Disparities. The assessment strategies, developed to promote a high-critical thinking, low-stress learning environment, include in-class exams with one short 250-word essay and short answer questions, pass/fail quizzes after every lecture, and a final exam. One quote from last year’s teaching evaluations: “This course changed my life. Whether you know nothing about the topic or feel like you already know everything about it (like I did) I guarantee you will walk away from this class a changed scholar and person.” The course, which has no prerequisites, may be of particular interest to students majoring in sociology, anthropology, or gender and sexuality studies, and to students interested in health science careers (note, our engagement with questions about inequality and social structure speak to topics on the MCAT).