Women's Studies

Women's Studies

MINOR IN GENDERS AND SEXUALITIES

Institute for Women’s Studies and Services
incubated through
The Center for Individualized Learning

The Minor
The Genders and Sexualities Minor is an interdisciplinary course of study. The objective of this curriculum is to advance sexual literacy and social justice by examining how sexual practices, expressions, identities, and representations are shaped by social, historical, psychological, literary, legal, biological, philosophical, and political contexts. As part of the Institute for Women’s Studies and Services, the program is committed to community building and focuses on issues of social ethics and sexuality, including the impact of factors of cultural inequality‐‐such as poverty, racism, and homophobia‐‐upon sexual well‐being and sexual health.

Among the questions explored in the minor are how we frame and categorize sexual and gender differences, why we fear some and celebrate others, how medical, religious, and political authorities respond to sexual categories? What is the nature of sexual and gender identity and orientation? How and why is sexuality labeled as lesbian, heterosexual, perverse, normal, gay, or queer? How do cultures at different times and places divide the sexual from the non‐sexual?

A Work in Progress . . . but the time has come
The IDP minor with an emphasis in Genders and Sexualities is part of an international movement to bring the once marginalized study of the diversity and multiplicity of gender and sexuality to the center of critical studies. A long time in the planning at MSU Denver, the Genders and Sexualities Minor will be incubated for three years from 2009‐10 through 2011‐12 in the Center for Individualized Learning as an individually designed minor. After
that time it will be submitted for consideration as a permanent minor through the Institute for Women’s Studies and Services. This period of incubation is a time to make adjustments to the program so we hope that students will contact us with suggestions as they participate in the Minor. For more information go to

http://www.mscd.edu/women/studies/minor.shtml

Please note that during incubation, students must conform to IDP rules and attend an IDP Information Session.

Maurice Hamington, Ph.D.
Director and Associate Professor

AnnJanette AlejanoSteele,
Ph.D.
Professor

Arlene Sgoutas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
The Institute is located in a historic house
at 1033 Ninth Street on the Auraria
Campus.

Contact the Institute faculty and staff at
303‐556‐8441 or check out our website at
http://www.mscd.edu/~women/
index.shtml