Dept. code: GSS
Introduction
The Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at the University of Miami seeks to encourage the rigorous investigation of gender as a significant issue in all areas of human experience. It reaches across disciplines to draw on a range of methods, theories, and perspectives that help us to understand how ideas and structures based on gender shape our lives. The program's core objective is to foster the examination, open discussion, and lively debate of gender issues among faculty and students from all fields of study, enriching the undergraduate curriculum and the university's academic mission through greater communication across disciplines and colleges. Its aim is to broaden, deepen, and transform the learning community at UM and beyond.
Educational Objectives
The undergraduate curriculum in Gender and Sexuality Studies explores the ways in which ideas about gender and sexuality shape social roles and identities, as well as the ways in which race, ethnicity, class, and nationhood influence the perception and experience of gender and sexuality within particular cultures. The curriculum is informed by recent scholarship that recognizes gender and sexuality as crucial components of human experience in social, cultural, economic, political, religious, and legal contexts. It includes courses that introduce students to feminist theory and scholarship, engaging ethical and political issues of equality and justice. The program encourages students to question their assumptions about the possible meanings of female and male through the comparative study of how different societies and historical periods have viewed manhood, womanhood, and relations between women and men. Courses in Gender and Sexuality Studies enable students to acquire critical and analytical skills that they can then apply in other aspects of their educational experience at UM and beyond the university in their careers and personal development.
The LGBTQ Studies minor is designed to allow students to explore sexuality and sexual minorities from a variety of perspectives. The course will provide students with an introduction to a broad array of LGBTQ issues including visual and performing arts, literature, languages, history, social science, various theories, public policy and the law, families and other types of intimate relationships, crime, popular culture, and LGBTQ identities and communities. This widely interdisciplinary field addresses work in a broad range of scholarly disciplines including biological and cultural studies, in literature and anthropology, in the health sciences, history, and the visual arts. It ranges from archival research to the elaboration of queer theory, from the analysis of constitutional law to questions of public health, from the study of popular culture to investigations into the development and social construction of sexual identity.
Advanced Writing and Communication Requirement
To satisfy the College of Arts and Sciences writing requirement in the discipline, students majoring in GSS should take at least one GSS core course that is writing intensive (i.e., GSS 301).
Departmental Honors
Gender and Sexuality Studies majors with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 in GSS courses and an overall GPA of at least 3.0 may earn departmental honors by completing GSS 505 instead of the senior research project. Candidates for departmental honors are responsible for finding a faculty member who is willing to serve as thesis adviser and then must complete a thesis proposal of approximately 400 words which must be approved by the thesis adviser and then the program director. The format and length of the thesis will vary according to the nature of the project. Most students writing an honors thesis as part of their GSS major will take GSS 505 twice (for a total of 6 credit hours).
GSS 201. Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
Conceptions of masculinity and femininity; gender relations; gender inequalities; the intersections of gender with other categories of identity such as class, race, sexuality, and stages in the life cycle; and the broad impact of gender on society.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 202. Introduction to LGBTQ Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
Introduction to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Studies minor. The LGBTQ Studies program is designed to allow students to explore sexuality and sexual minorities from a variety of perspectives. The course will provide students with an introduction to a broad array of LGBTQ issues including visual and performing arts, literature, languages, history, social science, various theories, public policy and the law, families and other types of intimate relationships, crime, popular culture, and LGBTQ identities and communities. It will be a core to the LGBTQ minor. The history of LGBTQ Studies extends to the beginnings of the LGBTQ movements of the last third of the previous century. Today, the field addresses work in a broad range of scholarly disciplines including biological and cultural studies, in literature and anthropology, in the health sciences, history, and the visual arts. It ranges from archival research to the elaboration of queer theory, from the analysis of constitutional law to questions of public health, from the study of popular culture to investigations into the development and social construction of sexual identity. Students are usually only exposed to these studies at the upper division levels of the curriculum in disparate departments. An introductory course will make these upper division courses more accessible and meaningful, as well as serve as the basic core to the minor in LGBTQ studies.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall.
GSS 210. Popular representations of Queer sexualities. 3 Credit Hours.
Critical analysis of queer subjects in popular culture.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 220. European Sexualities. 3 Credit Hours.
The history of European sexuality from the Greeks to present day.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 301. Feminist Inquiries. 3 Credit Hours.
A history of feminist thought, central issues in contemporary feminist theory, the emergence of feminist methodologies across a range of disciplines, and the ways in which feminist inquiry transforms our understanding of key issues across the curriculum. Writing Credit.
Prerequisite: GSS 201.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 305. Queer Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transexual, and queer identities; alternative family structures; queer theory; and current debates over the meaning and validity of sexuality as a way of understanding human sexual desire, emotions and behavior.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.
GSS 315. Gender, Race, and Class. 3 Credit Hours.
Conceptions and intersections of gender, race, and class in historical and contemporary cultures; the impact of these experiences on individuals and society as a whole.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 320. Comparative Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality. 3 Credit Hours.
A comparative study of gender identities, gender relations, and sexualities in different cultures and societies. Writing Credit.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 335. LGBTQ Communities. 3 Credit Hours.
Sociology of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgendered and Queer communities and identities. The history, methods, theory and concepts of social science research on these topics over the last half century and examines contemporary issues.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 344. Gender and Politics. 3 Credit Hours.
Compares the roles played by men and women in political systems worldwide; examines public policy outcomes with significant gender-based effects, including policies on sexuality & reproductive health, gender-based violence, work & the family, and access to education.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Spring.
GSS 345. Religion and Gender. 3 Credit Hours.
Religious constructions of gender identity within Christianity, with some attention to Judaism and Islam. The second Genesis creation account, which focuses on the figures of Adam and Eve, will be the focal point of our studies. An emphasis will be placed on the manner in which sexism functions within historical and present-day religious thought and practice, as well as alternative understandings of male and female identity.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 347. Issues in Reproductive Medicine. 3 Credit Hours.
Social, economic, political, legal, religious, philosophical, and psychological aspects of the global reproductive medicine industry and related genetic technologies.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 348. Mental Illness, Gender, and Psychiatry. 3 Credit Hours.
An investigation of often unquestioned ideas surrounding mental illness, including the definition of mental illness itself, in the context of the burgeoning field of disability studies. The course focusses on giving a voice to those who suffer from mental illness while critiquing the mainstream discourse of mental illness as articulated and managed by mental health professionals. Particular attention is placed on the role of gender in the discourse of mental illness.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.
GSS 350. Special Topics in Gender and Sexuality Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
Content varies by semester.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 360. Special Topics in Gender and Sexuality Studies: Arts and Humanities. 3 Credit Hours.
Special topics approaching gender and sexuality from the disciplinary perspectives of the arts and humanities.
Prerequisite: GSS 201 or GSS 202.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 361. Gender and Language. 3 Credit Hours.
The ways in which language is used in the constitution of gender, from a cross- linguistic and cross-cultural perspective.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 370. Special Topics in Gender and Sexuality Studies: People and Society. 3 Credit Hours.
Content varies by semester.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 405. Gender and Sexuality in Cultural Context. 3 Credit Hours.
How cultural values shape our understanding and experience of gender and sexuality; how those values are produced and policed; and the impact of codes of conduct for gender relations on individuals and society as a whole within a specific cultural milieu. Writing Credit.
Components: DIS.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 410. Gender, Sex, and the Law. 3 Credit Hours.
The impact of legal institutions and laws in shaping and regulating gender relations and sexual practices; the evolving relationship between legal codes and social values for women and men. Writing Credit.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 420. Interpreting Bodies. 3 Credit Hours.
Perceptions, representations, and regulation of the physical body as a gendered and sexual site, as a source of pleasure, as a means of social validation, and as an object of coercion. Writing Credit.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 450. Special Topics in Gender and Sexuality Studies. 3 Credit Hours.
Content varies by semester.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 469. LGBTI Politics. 3 Credit Hours.
The empirical variation in public policies towards issues of concern lo lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex citizens. Examines the social scientific literature on social movements to identify the factors which have helped or hindered LGBTI rights activists' efforts to improve the legal status of LGBTI citizens.
Prerequisite: POL 201 or POL 202 Or GSS 202 or GSS 301.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 471. Sex Babies and the State. 3 Credit Hours.
In one of the most profound revolutions of the past century, gender roles have irreversibly changed and equal rights for women and men has become a stated goal in western societies, even if not the reality. This course examines policies on reproduction, work and the family in advanced industrialized countries including Latin American Countries.
Prerequisite: POL 202.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Offered by Announcement Only.
GSS 499. Independent Study. 1-3 Credit Hours.
By arrangement with instructor; content varies.
Components: THI.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall & Spring.
GSS 501. Senior Research Project. 3 Credit Hours.
A student initiated research project with a faculty member of the student's choice and approved by the Program director. Writing Credit.
Requisite: Plan of Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Components: THI.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.
GSS 505. Senior Thesis. 3 Credit Hours.
Gender and Sexuality Studies majors with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 in GSS courses and an overall GPA of at least 3.0 may earn departmental honors by completing an honors thesis instead of the senior research project. Candidates for departmental honors are responsible for finding a faculty member who is willing to serve as thesis adviser and then must complete a thesis proposal of approximately 400 words which must be approved by the thesis adviser and then the program director. Most students will take this course twice, for a total of six credits. Writing Credit.
Requisite: Plan of Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Components: THI.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.
GSS 590. Gender and Sexuality Studies Internship. 1-3 Credit Hours.
Internship in a community organization focusing on issues of gender or sexuality. Students arrange the Internship and propose an exhibit, project, term paper, or other materials that will be presented for academic credit at the end of the internship to the Director of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and a faculty sponsor for approval prior to beginning the internship. Open only to GSS majors or minors or LGBTQ Studies minors with junior or senior standing.
Components: LEC.
Grading: GRD.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, & Summer.
