Gender and Sexuality Studies
The Program in Gender and Sexuality is an interdisciplinary Bi-College program that can be integrated with certain majors or pursued independently. Students graduate from the program with a high level of fluency and rigor in their understanding of the different ways issues of gender and sexuality shape our lives as individuals and as members of larger communities, both local and global.
The program offers several different options. Students majoring in certain disciplines may complete a concentration Gender and Sexuality Studies via Haverford College. Students majoring in any discipline can complete a minor in Gender and Sexuality via Bryn Mawr College. The details of these programs are provided below. Students can petition with the special committee on their respective home campus (CSSP at Haverford and the Committee on Independent Majors at Bryn Mawr) to design an Independent Major in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Learning Goals
Students in the Program in Gender and Sexuality will:
- understand how social hierarchies related to gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity have developed historically, cross-culturally, and transnationally.
- develop a high level of fluency and rigor in understanding how issues of gender and sexuality shape our lives as individuals and as members of larger communities, both local and global.
- gain competence in applying theory to practical experience for social transformation and citizenship.
- become critically conversant with theories of gender and sexuality, and their intersectionality with issues of race and class.
- draw upon and speak to feminist theory; women’s studies; transnational and third-world feminisms; womanist theory and the experiences of women of color; the construction of masculinity and men’s studies; lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender studies; and theories of gender as inflected by class, race, religion, and nationality.
Haverford’s Institutional Learning Goals are available on the President’s website, at http://hav.to/learninggoals.
Curriculum
Students choosing a concentration (via Haverford, in association with certain majors), minor (via Bryn Mawr, regardless of major) or independent major in gender and sexuality plan their programs in consultation with the Gender and Sexuality coordinator on their home campus. Members of the Gender and Sexuality steering committee serve as their individual mentors. All students in the program take the core course, “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Sex and Gender.” Other courses in the program allow them to explore a range of approaches to gender and sexual difference including: critical feminist theory; women’s studies; transnational and third world feminisms; the experiences of women of color; gender and science; the construction of masculinity; gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, and transsexual studies; the history and representation of gender and sexuality in a global context.
Major Requirements
Students wishing to construct an independent major in Gender and Sexuality Studies should file a petition with the Committee on Student Standing and Programs (Haverford College) or make a proposal to the Committee on Independent Majors (Bryn Mawr College).
Minor Requirements
Six courses distributed as follows are required for the minor at Bryn Mawr College:
- An introductory course (ICPR H190 at Haverford, GNST B108 at Bryn Mawr, or equivalent offerings at Swarthmore College or the University of Pennsylvania).
- The junior seminar: GNST B290, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Sex and Gender (alternating fall semesters between Bryn Mawr and Haverford).
- Four additional approved courses from at least two different departments, two of which are normally at the 300 level. Units of Independent Study (480) may be used to fulfill this requirement.
- No more than two of the six minor credits may come from institutions outside of the Bi-Co.
Concentration Requirements
Six courses distributed as follows are required for the concentration at Haverford College:
- An introductory course (ICPR H190 at Haverford, GNST B108 at Bryn Mawr, or equivalent offerings at Swarthmore College or the University of Pennsylvania).
- The junior seminar: GNST B290, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Sex and Gender (alternating fall semesters between Bryn Mawr and Haverford).
- Four additional approved courses from at least two different departments, two of which are normally at the 300 level. Units of Independent Study (480) may be used to fulfill this requirement.
- Of the six courses, no fewer than two and no more than three will also form part of the student’s major.
- No more than two of the six concentration credits may come from institutions outside of the Bi-Co.
Neither a senior seminar nor a senior thesis is required for the concentration or minor; however, with the permission of the major department, a student may choose to count toward the concentration a senior thesis with significant content in gender and sexuality.
Study Abroad
Courses taken abroad may be counted for the concentration with consent of the coordinator. Upon returning to the Bi-Co, students must present a syllabus, reading list, and short narrative description of the course for the coordinator’s evaluation.
Steering Committee
Faculty from Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges collaborate to build an integrated program in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
