The Bi-Co Gender and Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary program committed to the study of a range of questions raised by the category of gender. The program includes courses that investigate matters of gender difference, gender roles, gender socialization and gender bias, considered historically, materially, and cross-culturally, and courses that engage sexual difference, sexual roles, sexual socialization and sexual bias.
Students choosing a concentration, minor, or independent major in Gender and Sexuality Studies plan their programs in consultation with the Gender and Sexuality Studies coordinator on their home campus. Members of the Gender and Sexuality Studies steering committee serve as their individual mentors. All students in the program take the core course, "Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Gender and Sexuality." Other courses in the program allow them to explore a range of approaches: feminist theory and women's studies; transnational and third-world feminisms; womanist theory and the experiences of women of color; the construction of masculinity; gay, lesbian, queer, transgender and transsexual studies; gender as it is inflected by race, class, religion and nationality; and gender and science.
"The G & S core course, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality, is a place to talk about a lot of things that are usually edged around or ignored completely, but that are vital to all our lives and identities—and to have great fun doing it."
"As a political science major I never thought I would enjoy a gender/sex course. I must say every Tuesday I wake up excited to go to Interdisciplinary Perspectives. If I were to start my course study all over again I would take many more Gender and Sexuality courses"
— Grace Oppenheim, '08