The program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies establishes gender and sexuality as fundamental categories of social and cultural analysis. Drawing on history, literature, cultural studies, social science, and 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 studied as they intersect with class, race, ethnicity, nationality, and transnational movements.

Majors choose one of two tracks: Women's and Gender Studies (W&GS) or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies (LGBTQ). The major includes required courses and an individual area of concentration. Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies can be taken either as a primary major or as one of two majors, in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies and, when appropriate, the executive coordinator of the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies.

Students in the Women's and Gender Studies track focus on the history, expression, and diversity (such as racial, ethnic, religious, or class) of women's experiences, and on the historical and theoretical construction of the category of woman. Majors work toward supervised independent research within the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences, and write a senior essay centrally concerned with women as social actors, feminist theory and methodology, and gender as a significant category of social meanings.

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. Majors in this track select from a wide range of social science, humanities, and natural science courses that foreground sexuality and sexual difference. They work toward completing a senior essay broadly concerned with the construction of sexual difference as a significant category of social meanings.

Requirements of the major. The major in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies requires thirteen term courses. Students in each track take two foundation courses, three core intermediate courses, the junior seminar in theory and methods, and the two-term senior requirement. Majors also build an individual area of concentration consisting of five elective courses in a single disciplinary area or on a topic of particular interest. At least one of the thirteen required courses must focus on women, gender, or sexuality in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Middle East. With permission of the director of undergraduate studies, majors may make an appropriate substitution for one core intermediate course; students who are completing two majors may make a second substitution.

Students are urged to take the foundation courses in their freshman or sophomore year. The two foundation courses - WGSS 295a, Women and Gender in a Transnational Context, and WGSS 296b, Making Modern Sexual and Gender Difference - are broadly interdisciplinary, introducing the wide array of topics addressed by feminist and queer scholarship on gender and on sexual identities.

The core intermediate courses are based in the disciplinary areas of arts and literature, history, social science, and natural science. Students must elect a core intermediate course from three of these four disciplinary areas and should complete at least two by the end of the junior year.

The junior seminar, WGSS 398b, provides majors in both tracks with grounding in theory and methodology for the projects they will undertake during the senior year. The joint senior colloquium, WGSS 490a, develops research skills and plans for the senior essay, WGSS 491a or b.

Area of concentration. The area of concentration, comprised of five electives, is planned in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies and, when appropriate, the executive coordinator of the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies. Examples include women's health and public policy; the history of sexual difference; gender, race, and ethnicity; gay and lesbian arts and intellectual history; transnational feminism; transgender history; and theory, sexuality, and social change.

Senior requirement. The senior requirement 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 essay, on a topic in the area of concentration, is written under the guidance of a faculty member in that area. Students normally complete the senior essay in the spring term of the senior year in WGSS 491b.

Electives. The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program offers varied and extensive electives, both within the framework of the program and by drawing on the resources of other departments and programs. Students are encouraged to investigate courses offered by other departments and programs, the residential college seminar program, and the graduate and professional schools of the University, and to consult with the director of undergraduate studies about applying these courses toward the major.

Undergraduate Course List

REQUIREMENTS OF THE MAJOR

Prerequisites:  None

Number of courses:  Thirteen term courses (including the senior requirement)

Specific courses required:  WGSS 295a, 296b, 398b

Substitution permitted:  One relevant course for an intermediate core course, with permission of DUS

Distribution of courses:  Three core intermediate seminars in three different disciplinary areas; five courses in area of concentration; one course focusing on Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Middle East

Senior requirement:  Senior colloquium and senior essay (WGSS 490a, 491a or b)

Official Yale College program information is found in the Yale College Programs of Study, available on line at www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps.