Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

150 Parkmill Building (PKM)

1633 SW Park Ave.

503-725-3516

www.pdx.edu/women-gender-sexuality-studies/

  • B.A., B.S.—Women's Studies
  • B.A., B.S.—Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies
  • Minor in Women's Studies
  • Minor in Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies
  • Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Women's Studies

In the School of Gender, Race and Nations, the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies offers an interdisciplinary program designed to foster students’ personal and intellectual development and to prepare them for socially responsible citizenship as well as a broad range of careers. Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies advisers work closely with each student to craft a course of study appropriate to the student’s academic interests and post-graduate goals.

An expanding field of scholarship, women, gender, and sexuality studies is on the cutting edge of educational and intellectual innovation. The department offers two different majors: the Women's Studies major, and the Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies major. The Women's Studies major encourages students to develop critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the range of theoretical frameworks and methodologies present in contemporary feminist scholarship. Courses incorporate the diversity of women’s experience with attention to race, class, and sexual orientation as well as gender. Core courses also encourage students’ active participation through discussion, informal as well as formal writing, and collaborative learning in the classroom.

The major in Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies (SGQS) is designed to provide an in-depth study of sexual desire, sexual behavior and identity, gendered behavior, gender identity, and the sexed body as socially, culturally, and historically produced. The core curriculum emphasizes queer and trans of color theorizing and critiques including queer indigenous, Two-Spirit, and transnational perspectives; critical analysis of the relationships between sexuality and other power formations such as gender, race, class, nation, ability, nature, citizenship, age, and size; historical contexts and contemporary connections among rigorous theoretical, activist, political, and practice-oriented approaches; and an interdisciplinary, queer, and decolonial approach to analyses of the creative arts, humanities, and health and social sciences.

Experiential learning plays an important role in a student’s progress through the women, gender, and sexuality studies curriculum. The program’s extensive and long-established ties with organizations in the Metro area provide wide-ranging opportunities for students to apply their classroom knowledge in a community setting. Many students discover a life’s vocation through these experiences, and all develop new skills. Guidelines for women, gender, and sexuality studies practica and independent study are flexible in order to meet individual needs. Degrees in Women's Studies and Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies provide the foundations for life-long learning as well as background and experience for careers in teaching, counseling and social work, business, law, health sciences, public administration, public relations, and academia.

 

Degree Maps and Learning Outcomes

Admission requirements

Women’s Studies B.A./B.S.

Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies B.A/B.S.

Women's Studies Minor

Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies Minor

Women’s Studies Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

Women Gender Sexuality Courses

Sexuality, Gender and Queer Studies B.A./B.S.

In addition to meeting the general University degree requirements, the student majoring in Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies must complete a required core program of 36 credits and 20 credits of approved WS electives (with a minimum of 16 upper-division credits) for a total of 56 credits to complete the major. 

Each student pursuing a Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies major will select or be assigned an adviser who is knowledgeable in the student's area(s) of academic interest.

Requirements

The major in Sexuality, Gender and Queer Studies (SGQS) is 56 credits. Those credits are divided as follows:

Experiential Learning Requirements (8 credits)

WS 409Practicum

6

WS 411Experiential Learning Seminar

2

Core Courses (28 credits)

UnSt 231Gender & Sexualities

4

or

WS 332URace, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the United States

4

 

WS 307UResistance, Activism, and Social Change

4

WS 360UIntroduction to Queer Studies

4

WS 381Queer of Color Theorizing and Perspectives

4

WS 412Feminist Methodologies

4

WS 415Senior Seminar

4

WS 482Topics in Global Sexuality Studies

4

Electives (20 credits)

20 credits of which 4 credits may be lower-division.
WS 305Women of Color Feminist Theory

4

WS 308ULesbian Literature

4

WS 308UMasculinities

4

WS 308UGender, Class, Culture

4

WS 344UQueer Ecologies

4

WS 347U/Sci 347UScience, Gender, and Social Context

4

WS 348U/Sci 348UScience, Gender, and Social Context

4

WS 365U/Sci 365UThe Science of Gendered Bodies

4

WS 370UHistory of Sexualities

4

WS 372U/Eng 372UTopics in Literature, Gender, and Sexuality

4

WS 373/Phl 373Queer Philosophy

4

WS 374UMemoir, Gender, and Sexuality

4

WS 375UTopics in Sexuality Studies

4

WS 382UTransgender Studies

4

WS 481Disability and Intersectionality

4

Anth 432Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Anthropological Perspective

4

BSt 339UAfro-Futurisms/Black Science Fiction

4

BSt 342UBlack Feminism/Womanism

4

CFS 340UQueer Families

4

CFS 390USexuality and Family Systems

4

Comm 337UCommunication and Gender

4

Comm 452/WS 452Gender and Race in the Media

4

PHE 335UHuman Sexuality

4

PHE 453Women's Reproductive Health

4

Phl 369UPhilosophy of Sex and Love

4

Psy 425Psychology of Black Manhood in America

4

Psy 431UPsychology of Men and Masculinities

4

Psy 469Psychology of Human Sexuality

4

Soc 339UMarriage and Intimacy

4

Soc 344UGender and Sexualities

4

WLL 349Forbidden Love

4

Other variable and special topic courses with a focus on sexuality may count as electives (e.g., FILM 370U Queer Cinema or Eng 494 Queer Theory); in these instances consult with a SGQS advisor for approval.

The minimum grade allowed to pass major requirements will be 1.7 C-. The only major requirement with a P/NP grading option is WS 409.

Total Credit Hours: 56