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The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies program is part of the Department of Social Sciences, Policy, and Culture. Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Southern Oregon University is an interdisciplinary program emphasizing the teaching and study of women and gender in society, culture, and history. We focus on women as a diverse, heterogeneous group; courses in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies examine the numerous ways in which gender intersects with multiple social forces and shapes human experience.

Students learn about themselves and the world through critical thinking and personal and social empowerment. Integrating various disciplines, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies provides a supportive and challenging liberal arts education for students of any gender. Women’s studies also provides its own interpretive framework and emphasizes the relationship of classroom learning to social awareness and community involvement. The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies program provides general education or service courses and offers a minor. The minor is supported by courses from other departments and programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, in addition to courses offered by the program under the GSWS prefix.

Students may also enroll in the Independent Interdisciplinary Major (IIM) with Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies as either a primary or secondary area. For more information about the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies minor or IIM, contact the program coordinator.

Program Requirements

Programs

• Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Minor

Courses

• GSWS 201 - Introduction to Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
• GSWS 301 - International Women’s Movements
• GSWS 302 - Contemporary U.S. Women’s Movements
• GSWS 341 - Queer Studies
• GSWS 342 - Queer Communities
• GSWS 343 - Gender and the Body
• GSWS 399 - Special Studies
• GSWS 401 - Research
• GSWS 405 - Reading and Conference
• GSWS 407 - Seminar
• GSWS 410 - Feminist Theory in Action
• GSWS 417 - Sexual Politics in U.S. History
• GSWS 501 - Graduate Research
• GSWS 505 - Reading and Conference