Why Study Gender?

We are excited that you'd like to learn more about Gender Studies! So, why Gender Studies you ask? 

Gender Studies offers interdisciplinary courses that explore the making and meaning of gender - femininity and masculinity - across cultures and social formations, past and present. 

Gender influences human options, conditions, and experiences. Legal, political, economic, cultural and kinship systems are all profoundly gendered. Deep understanding of gender patterns, dynamics and biases can enhance the accuracy and scope of work in many fields. Gender awareness benefits individuals, communities and organizations. 

Our professors are collectively engaged in original, cutting-edge research which they often discuss in class. This makes any course you take well worth it. 

Some questions Gender Studies investigates include:

• What is 'gender'?
• When and why was the concept first used?
• How is gender different from sex?
• Are human gender divisions the product of biology, cultural construction, both, or neither?
• How does gender interact with other "identity markers", such as ethnicity, sexuality, class, and culture?
• How does popular culture shape experiences of gender?
• How do gender concepts influence mass media?
• How has gender influenced the development of technology, science, research, and medicine?
• How are concepts of beauty, sexuality, and pornography shaped by gender prescriptions?
• How have gender and debates about it varied historically and cross-culturally?

Recently, minors have paired their study of gender with a variety of majors, including: