Director of Undergraduate Studies:
Maria Trumpler
maria.trumpler@yale.edu

The program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies focuses on gender and sexuality as fundamental categories of social and cultural analysis. Drawing on history, literature, cultural studies, social science, and natural science, it offers interdisciplinary perspectives from which to study the diversity of human experience. Gender—the social meaning of the distinction between the sexes—and sexuality—sexual identities, discourses, and institutions—are critically explored, with particular attention to the ways that they intersect with class, race, ethnicity, nationality, and transnational movements. Students majoring in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies choose one of two tracks: women's and gender studies (W&GS) or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer studies (LGBTQ). The major includes a core curriculum of required courses as well as an area of individual concentration that students develop in consultation with program faculty and the director of undergraduate studies.

Students in the women's and gender studies track focus on the history, expression, and diversity of women's experiences and on the historical and theoretical construction of the category of woman. They work toward completing a senior essay broadly concerned with women as social actors, feminist theory and methodology, and gender as a significant category of social organization and meaning. Students in the LGBTQ track analyze social, historical, and theoretical constructions of sexuality and identity, including (but not limited to) gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and queer. They work toward completing a senior essay broadly concerned with the construction of sexual difference as a significant category of social organization and meaning. Students in both tracks select from a wide range of social science, humanities, and natural science courses in developing their program of study.

Requirements of the major. Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies may be taken either as a primary major or as one of two majors. The major requires twelve term courses. Students take one gateway course, one intermediate course, one disciplinary methods course, the junior sequence, and the senior sequence. At least one of the twelve courses in the major must focus on women, gender, and/or sexuality in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Middle East. (WGSS 295b does not fulfill this requirement.) All majors define and develop an area of concentration consisting of five electives in a particular area of interest. With permission of the director of undergraduate studies, majors may make an appropriate substitution for one course counting toward the required twelve term courses; students who are completing two majors may make a second substitution.

A gateway course, WGSS 110a, 120a, 200a, or 253b, is required for all majors, and students are encouraged to take that course in their freshman or sophomore year. In addition, all majors must take either Globalizing Gender (WGSS 295b) or Introduction to LGBT Studies (WGSS 296a), preferably after the gateway course and prior to the junior sequence. WGSS 295b is required for majors specializing in the W&GS track, while WGSS 296a is required for those choosing the LGBTQ track. All majors are encouraged to take both WGSS 295b and 296a.

Methods requirement. Students are required to take a methods course, which can be chosen from a variety of designated electives in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In special circumstances, the director of undergraduate studies may allow a student to fulfill the methods course requirement by counting a course that is not listed among the designated WGSS electives. Majors should choose a methods course that will provide them with the analytical tools necessary to carry out the senior essay. Students are advised to complete the methods requirement in their sophomore or junior year. A list of courses that fulfill the methods requirement is available from the director of undergraduate studies.

Junior sequence. The two-term junior sequence consists of History of Feminist Thought (WGSS 340a) and the Junior Seminar: Theory and Method (WGSS 398b).

Senior sequence and senior essay. The senior sequence consists of two courses. In the fall term of the senior year, all majors take the Senior Colloquium (WGSS 490a) and begin researching and writing a senior essay. The senior essay, which should reflect the student's area of concentration, is written under the guidance and supervision of a faculty member with expertise in that area; students are expected to meet with their essay adviser on a regular basis. Students typically complete the senior essay in the spring term of the senior year while enrolled in the Senior Essay (WGSS 491a or b).

Area of concentration. All students majoring in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies, design an individual area of concentration consisting of five courses in a single disciplinary topic or substantive area of interest. Examples include but are not exhausted by the following: women's health and public policy; science, technology, and feminist theory; gay and lesbian arts and intellectual history; transgender history; transnational feminism; gender and development in South Asia; gender, race, and visual culture; masculinity studies; and postcolonial women writers.

Next: Graduate Qualification