Women’s & Gender Studies

This course examines the philosophy of sex and gender in three steps. It first looks at how the human subject in the history of philosophy is sexed and privileged as a man. It then examines the metaphysics of gender, questioning both essentialist and constructionist versions of gender ontology. Lastly, it pursues the question of intersectionality and its relationship with sex and gender

A research project that assigns students to expert professors in their proposed research topic. The course takes the students' research capabilities to a more professional level. This can be most closely compared to what is called a supervised research project in the USA.

This interdisciplinary course trains students in cultural critique: making invisible power relations in media, art, and culture visible. Students are provided with theoretical tools to become aware of how gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, but also social class, and religiosity impact the production, consumption, and interpretation of communication, literature, film, language, (art) history, games, and social media.  Emphasis is placed on the way in which representations are never neutral, but always partial, biased, and implicated with processes of inclusion and exclusion. Building on feminist and post-colonial theory, students learn to analyze how media and cultural expressions are formed by sexist, racist, heteronormative, transphobic, and Eurocentric norms.  The question of how scientific knowledge is created and how science contributes to hierarchical power relations are examined.
 

Since the emergence of the feminist movement in Taiwan of the 1970s, Taiwanese society has seen more than a few women's issues proposed and discussed in an increasingly broad and extensive manner. Reflecting the changes in social, political, and cultural conditions, the general perspectives in which the same issue is discussed also changes. This course explores Taiwanese women's conditions of the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the more modern period, that is, the mid-to-late twentieth century. With a brief introduction of what Taiwanese women's traditions may involve and how Taiwanese women modernize, the course explores how the feminist movements unfolded, how they reflect or change Taiwanese women's social status, the rise of women's studies and/or feminist scholarship, sexual violence, sex work, and lesbian issues. The course also reflects on issues of migration and global human flow, and discuss how the introduction of immigrant spouses as well as migrant workers may compel us to rethink women's issues in contemporary Taiwan.

This course explores the rise of feminism in England from the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to World War I, when London was a hot house of radical thinking and the temporary or definitive home of a variety of brilliant cosmopolitan thinkers and writers who converged here attracted by the infinite opportunities for debate on the most varied ‘isms’: positivism, liberalism, socialism, trade-unionism, Ibsenism, Freudianism, vegetarianism, pacifism, secularism and, last but not least, evolutionism. Darwin’s theories of natural and sexual selection and his views of the place of woman in the evolution of the human species had a wide and deep impact on the debate on the Woman Question. They were received and appropriated in different ways by New Woman writers, but none of them escaped their influence. UCL had a prominent place in these exciting debates because of its deep connection to Darwinism through figures such as Francis Galton, Edward Grant, Edwin Ray Lankester, and Karl Pearson, so this is the right place to explore Darwinism’s fundamental ontological implications for the cultural and literary discourse of the fin-de siècle

Situated within the field of the sociology of sexualities, this course addresses the historical, cultural, and social construction of sexuality. Part 1 of the course investigates conceptual foundations of the social construction of sexuality. Part 2 of the course looks at the changing historical meanings of sexual categories and at the ways in which LGBT social movements have sought to politicize them. Part 3 examines the social regulation of sexuality through an analysis of topics such as sexual violence and harassment, women's sexualized imagery in the media, and controversies around same-sex marriage. At the end of the course, students have a solid knowledge of the core concepts in the field of sociology of sexualities, they are able to apply these concepts to contemporary controversies about sex and sexualities, and they understand the ways in which sexuality shapes our social world.

This course examines the relationships between sexuality and cultural issues in contemporary society. Apart from different sexual orientations and gender issues, it looks into ethical, and social conflicts with sexuality; for example, how sexuality is portrayed in creative social media which, in turn, shapes our perception of sexuality; the root causes of the stigmatization and discrimination of the commercial sex industry and sexually transmitted infections; the significance of sex education and family planning; and, how our legal system in the global community has been changing across time on non-mainstream sexuality and sexual violence.

This course provides an introduction to critical analysis of the history of western thought by examining classical questions and debates in philosophy and gender studies. It explores philosophy through the perspective of gender.

This course provides an introduction to gender and sexuality issues in Singapore from a historical perspective. It examines how our everyday understandings of gender have been formed in a long, complex process of negotiation over the twentieth century. In five themes 1) religion and marriage, 2) non-binary histories, 3) state morality, 4) queer stories and 5) gender troubles, it traces how state and religious authorities have shaped sexual behaviors and gender identities, with varying degrees of conformity and contestation from groups and individuals. Throughout history, gender remained fluid despite multiple attempts at restraining sexuality.

This is a special studies course with projects arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific topics of study vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. The number of units varies with the student’s project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student’s special study project form.