Department of Gender Studies
Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies
Students on Summer 2018, Fall 2018, or Spring 2019 requirements GNDRBA
The Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies encourages students to ask critical questions about how gender operates within the cultures of the world. Required courses explore the making and meaning of gender across cultures and social formations and analyze gender in institutions, practices, representations, and knowledge across a range of cultural frameworks. They may also interrogate the intersections between gender and systemic forms of oppression and/or difference, including those based on race, ethnicity, class, and sexual identity and desire. Students achieve a scholarly understanding of the options and situations of both women and men, in the past as well as the present. They are often encouraged to devise and execute original research projects.
Requirements
The major requires at least 30 credit hours, including the requirements listed below.
- Gender, Culture, and Society. One (1) course:
- GNDR-G 101 Gender, Culture, and Society
GNDR-G 101 Gender, Culture, and Society
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Examination of the international emergence of the field of women’s studies; the achievements and limitations of scholarly work exploring oppression and discrimination based on sex and sex differences; the development of the category “gender” and its uses and abuses; and the relevance of changing understandings of the term “culture” for the study of women, gender, and/or sexuality across diverse historical periods, regions, nations, and societies. Exploration of a series of case studies. Particular attention devoted to the ways in which “gender” as practice, performance, and representation has differed for women and men according to race, class, and other divisions.
- Fall 2024CASE AHcourseSummer 2024CASE AHcourseSpring 2024CASE AHcourse
- Gender Studies: Core Concepts and Key Debates. One (1) course:
- GNDR-G 300 Gender Studies: Core Concepts and Key Debates
GNDR-G 300 Gender Studies: Core Concepts and Key Debates
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- GNDR-G 101
- Description
- Examination of the field of gender studies. Students will explore a series of themes through which gender is discussed, analyzed, and defined. Conceptual frameworks of gender, theories of sexuality, and the cultural and historical construction of the body are emphasized. Examination of gender as a contested category ranging across categories of race, ethnicity, class, and nationality.
- Core electives. Three (3) courses:
- GNDR-G 206 Gay Histories, Queer Cultures
- GNDR-G 215 Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
- GNDR-G 225 Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture
- GNDR-G 250 Race, Sexuality, and Culture (Intersections)
- GNDR-G 290 History of Feminist Thought and Practice
- GNDR-G 310 Representation and the Body
- GNDR-G 335 Explaining Sex/Gender Differences
- GNDR-G 410 International Feminist Debates
GNDR-G 206 Gay Histories, Queer Cultures
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Examines the social, cultural, and political history of same-sex relationships and desires in the United States and abroad, emphasizing the historical emergence of certain American sexual subcultures, such as the modern lesbian and gay “movement” or “community.” The course also highlights particular formations such as race, class, and regional difference that interrupt unified, universal narratives of lesbian and gay history.
- Fall 2024CASE SHcourseSummer 2024CASE SHcourseSpring 2024CASE SHcourse
GNDR-G 215 Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Investigation of forms in which gender, gender markings, gender meanings, and gender relations are arranged in different cultures of the world. Assessment of debates concerning the global salience of feminist claims about women’s “oppression,” political mobilization around gender, body rituals marking masculinity and femininity, indigenous women, and resistance to gender formations beyond Euro-American borders.
- Fall 2024CASE SHcourseSummer 2024CASE SHcourseSpring 2024CASE SHcourse
GNDR-G 225 Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Examination of popular cultural “makings” of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality through typical representation of gender within fiction, theater, cinema, radio, music, television, journalism, and other secular mass media. Analysis of the developing international telecommunications “superhighway” and struggles to secure increased representation of women and of feminist perspectives within existing culture industries.
- Fall 2024CASE AHcourseSummer 2024CASE AHcourseSpring 2024CASE AHcourse
GNDR-G 250 Race, Sexuality, and Culture (Intersections)
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Examines the construction of sexuality and sexuality studies while analyzing the intersection of race and ethnicity in the production of knowledge and particular social categories that shape racial communities and sexual cultures. May employ a range of different approaches, depending on the instructor.
- Fall 2024CASE AHcourseSummer 2024CASE AHcourseSpring 2024CASE AHcourse
GNDR-G 290 History of Feminist Thought and Practice
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Introduction to historical and contemporary feminists. Critical focus is placed on criteria by which attributes of identifiable feminist discourses and their contexts may be evaluated. Disputes among feminist theorists with regard to the pertinence of differences ordained by sexuality, race, class, ethnicity, and other political and philosophical adherence emerge as central themes for appraisal.
- Fall 2024CASE AHcourseSummer 2024CASE AHcourseSpring 2024CASE AHcourse
GNDR-G 310 Representation and the Body
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Analysis of scholarship concerned with how the body is perceived, represented, and symbolically charged. This course examines concepts that include sexed bodies, desiring bodies, corporeality, body politics, and sociological bodily rituals. Thematically, the course investigates exterior/interior, solid/fluid, and sex/gender distinctions critical to discussions of the body.
- Fall 2024CASE AHcourseSummer 2024CASE AHcourseSpring 2024CASE AHcourse
GNDR-G 335 Explaining Sex/Gender Differences
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Compares biological, psychological, and social theories regarding the development and maintenance of gender differentiated behavior, gender and sexual identities, and the meaning of sexed bodies. The course scrutinizes the social and cultural forces that magnify, minimize, or subvert the expression of gender differences.
- Fall 2024CASE SHcourseSummer 2024CASE SHcourseSpring 2024CASE SHcourse
GNDR-G 410 International Feminist Debates
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Investigation of debates among feminists as to whether aspirations towards global feminism are possible and desirable. The course compares concerns about the global situation of women, as articulated by international bodies such as the United Nations, with concerns articulated by feminists in different parts of the world.
- Fall 2024CASE GCCcourseSummer 2024CASE GCCcourseSpring 2024CASE GCCcourse
- International/non-Western emphasis. One (1) course:
- GNDR-G 102 Sexual Politics
- GNDR-G 215 Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
- GNDR-G 320 Sexual Violence: Transcultural Perspectives
- GNDR-G 410 International Feminist Debates
GNDR-G 102 Sexual Politics
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Investigation of cross-cultural meaning for the term “sexual politics,” from Kate Millet’s classic 1970 text to those offered by historians, social scientists, and other critics analyzing political structures, processes and mobilizations around sex, sex differences and sexual practices and statuses, including the inextricable links between sexual politics and “other/ mainstream” politics.
- Fall 2024CASE SHcourseSummer 2024CASE SHcourseSpring 2024CASE SHcourse
GNDR-G 215 Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Investigation of forms in which gender, gender markings, gender meanings, and gender relations are arranged in different cultures of the world. Assessment of debates concerning the global salience of feminist claims about women’s “oppression,” political mobilization around gender, body rituals marking masculinity and femininity, indigenous women, and resistance to gender formations beyond Euro-American borders.
- Fall 2024CASE SHcourseSummer 2024CASE SHcourseSpring 2024CASE SHcourse
GNDR-G 320 Sexual Violence: Transcultural Perspectives
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Explores historical, transnational, and current aspects of sexual violence in order to highlight important aspects of this global problem and better understand how our interactions in the world as students and citizens. Students will be empowered to become agents of knowledge, care, and responsibility in this process.
GNDR-G 410 International Feminist Debates
- Credits
- 3
- Prerequisites
- None
- Description
- Investigation of debates among feminists as to whether aspirations towards global feminism are possible and desirable. The course compares concerns about the global situation of women, as articulated by international bodies such as the United Nations, with concerns articulated by feminists in different parts of the world.
- Fall 2024CASE GCCcourseSummer 2024CASE GCCcourseSpring 2024CASE GCCcourse
- Electives. Additional credit hours, excluding GNDR-X 474, as needed to fulfill remaining requirements.
- Additional Requirements. The courses selected to fulfill the requirements above must also meet the following criteria:
- At least 3 credit hours at the 200–299 level
- At least 18 credit hours at the 300–499 level
- At least 9 credit hours at the 400–499 level, excluding GNDR-X 474
- Major GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
- At least 18 credit hours in the major must be completed in courses taken through the Indiana University Bloomington campus or an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program.
- At least 18 credit hours in the major must be completed at the 300–499 level.
- Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the major.
- A GPA of at least 2.000 for all courses taken in the major—including those where a grade lower than C- is earned—is required.
- Exceptions to major requirements may be made with the approval of the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Bachelor of Arts degree requires at least 120 credit hours, to include the following:
- College of Arts and Sciences Credit Hours. At least 100 credit hours must come from College of Arts and Sciences disciplines.
- Upper Division Courses. At least 42 credit hours (of the 120) must be at the 300–499 level.
- College Residency. Following completion of the 60th credit hour toward degree, at least 36 credit hours of College of Arts and Sciences coursework must be completed through the Indiana University Bloomington campus or an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program.
- College GPA. A cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.000 is required for all courses taken at Indiana University.
- CASE Requirements. The following College of Arts and Sciences Education (CASE) requirements must be completed:
- CASE Foundations
- CASE Breadth of Inquiry
- CASE Culture Studies
- CASE Critical Approaches: 1 course
- CASE Foreign Language: Proficiency in a single foreign language through the second semester of the second year of college-level coursework
- CASE Intensive Writing: 1 course
- CASE Public Oral Communication: 1 course
- Major. Completion of the major as outlined in the Major Requirements section above.
Most students must also successfully complete the Indiana University Bloomington General Education program.
Fundamental objectives of the major pursued through each of its interdisciplinary courses are to:
- Train students to think critically about how gender has been formed and altered in different cultures, contexts, and historical eras.
- Equip students to identify and analyze assumptions about gender built into the varying approaches of disciplines and areas of knowledge, and to evaluate the effects of such assumptions on research, teaching, and professional profiles of the disciplines.
- Provide students with a solid understanding of ways in which "gender issues" involve not only the study of women, but, as centrally, the study of men, families, workplaces, organizations, nations, economies, science, industry, laws, sexual behavior and identities, customs, mass media, sports, leisure, religion, and many other subject areas relevant to future careers of graduates.
- Develop students' skills in undertaking research, critical analysis, and written and verbal presentations of their findings, and encourage a fully professional approach to the subject matter and content of the courses of the major.
Graduates will be prepared to enter the full range of graduate and professional education. Some will become specialized researchers and scholars. In addition, the gender studies major provides a sound background relevant to employment in a variety of occupations within the private sector, the professions, government, and the nonprofit sector. Graduates can pursue occupations in public relations, advertising, or the media. Others may become lawyers, doctors, journalists, social workers, or psychologists. Still others will work in education, social services, the arts, public administration, and international aid and social justice organizations.