Women's Studies (WMST) 270

Overview

WMST 270 aims to provide students with a deeper understanding of the workings of gender in contemporary North American society. It will begin by challenging the notion that gender roles are dualistic, fixed, and rooted in biology. This will entail familiarizing students with social constructionist theories of “doing” gender and postmodern theories of gender as a performance. Both feminine and masculine identities and representations will be studied. The course will also examine gender and disability as well as queer and transgender sexualities.

Outline

Unit 1: Understanding Gender: Beyond Nature versus Nurture

Unit 2: Pink is for Girls, Blue is for Boys?

Unit 3: Performing Femininities

Unit 4: Performing Masculinities

Unit 5: Gender and Disability

Unit 6: Gender Trouble

Each unit consists of an introduction; a list of learning objectives, so that you will know exactly what you should achieve by the end of the unit; assigned readings; commentaries in the form of audiovisual presentations, which provide additional information on the subjects covered by the readings; a review quiz, and a list of supplementary readings and references.

Evaluation

To receive credit for WMST 270, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent). The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

Note: To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.