WMNST

*

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This introductory survey course fulfills requirements for General Education in Social Sciences, the Bachelor of Arts degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences, and US and International Cultures competence. It is also a prerequisite for upper-level courses in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. This class focuses on women's shared and unshared experiences, issues of gender roles and stereotyping, questions related to sex/gender systems, and the different disciplinary approaches to the study of women and gender. The course asks how women's behavior, activities, accomplishments, roles, sexuality and status have been shaped by biological, psychological, sociological, cultural, historical and political determinants, as well as by women's experiences based on their racial, class and sexual identities. Topics include the history of women's liberation movements, women's experiences in home, work and educational settings, gender roles and stereotyping as influenced by media, culture, education, and other social institutions, health and body image issues, and multiple forms of oppression. The course will focus equally on feminist issues in both the US and on a global scale and is both interdisciplinary (drawing information and readings from history, psychology, political science, and sociology) and broadly inclusiv (addressing at all times the relationship between gender, race, class, ethnicity and sexual orientation). Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

3 WMNST 102 Women of the African Diaspora 3 3 WMNST 104 Women and the American Experience 3

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Women of the African Diaspora is an introduction to studying the lives of African Diaspora women and the systems of power that shape them across cultures and geographies. The course centers on the politics of race and gender, on notions of origins and belonging and the meaning of resistance as a cultural and political tool. We will engage with patriarchy as a system of power implicated in identity formation and social relations. We will pay particular attention to the ways colonial histories and racial legacies have shaped the experiences of women in Diaspora. To this end, students will explore the complex and contested ways in which multiple economic, political, and cultural institutions affect the lives of women in the diaspora and examine a variety of issues e including economy and labor, mobility and Activism, creativity and literary production and spirituality and social change. Rooted in a diasporic and transnational feminist framework, the course addresses issues of power, culture, racial formation, and citizenship and explores spatiality, movement and border crossings. It follows an intersectional approach to the politics of race and gender and engages diaspora as a historical and contemporary condition that addresses the realities of women in African decent as shaped by the legacy of slavery and the contemporary racial and social pattern of globalization. Students will explore broad patterns, changes, and continuities between diasporic communities globally and the way they shaped women's experiences through an analysis of the history of colonization, slavery, independence struggles, nation-building, imperialism, neo-colonialism, revolution, violence and social movements. The course will provide and interdisciplinary perspective to develop a nuanced understanding of the histories and the lived experiences of women of African descent both globally and in the context of their local geographies. To this end, the course explores both similarities and differences of diasporic experiences. It examines the complex and contested ways in which multiple economic, political, and cultural institutions affect lives of women of African Descent both in the US and globally and by addressing the relationship between economy and labor, mobility and Activism, creativity and literary production, spirituality and social change. It challenges universal and homogenous notions of blackness and engages feminist politics of solidarity as a site of both l difference and commonality. The course incorporates interdisciplinary approaches and materials such as films, music, novels, short stories to examine how racial, gender, sexual, and class identities are constructed in the context of the diaspora. Cross-listed with: AFAM 102 Bachelor of Arts: Humanities

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AEE 204N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

3 WMNST 136 Race, Gender, and Employment 3 General Education 4 Connecting career and curiosity, the General Education curriculum provides the opportunity for students to acquire transferable skills necessary to be successful in the future and to thrive while living in interconnected contexts. General Education aids students in developing 3 intellectual curiosity, a strengthened ability to think, and a deeper sense of aesthetic appreciation. These are requirements for all baccalaureate students and are often partially incorporated into the requirements of a program. For additional information, see the General Education Requirements (p. 3371) section of the Bulletin and consult your academic adviser. The keystone symbol appears next to the title of any course that is designated as a General Education course. Program requirements may also satisfy General Education requirements and vary for each program. 6 Foundations (grade of C or better is required and Inter-Domain courses do not meet this requirement.) • Quantification (GQ): 6 credits • Writing and Speaking (GWS): 9 credits

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

3 WMNST 106N Representing Women and Gender in Literature, Art 3 and Popular Cultures 3 WMNST 106Q Representing Women and Gender in Literature, Art 3 3 and Popular Cultures

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFAM 105N and Popular Cultures AFAM 110N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

and Popular Cultures AFAM 111N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course introduces students to sociological perspectives on gender using both theoretical concepts and everyday life examples. The course focuses on the constraints that gender imposes on our life experiences through our bodies, beauty standards, and social interactions, and across different social contexts, such as sex and dating, family, work, and politics. It explores how gender cannot be understood outside of its intersections with power and social difference. Students will have opportunities to think critically about how societal ideas about gender shape and constrain identities and opportunities within and across societies, as well as, how gender inflects on other parts of our social identities such as race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationalities. Students will develop an empirically based understanding of how gender and sexual inequalities unfold across time and space. The goal is for students to notice and question the construction of gender in many different realms of their lives. This course meets a General Education requirement in Social and Behavioral Sciences. It can be used as a lower- level sociology course in the Sociology BA major and the Sociology minor. It can also be used as a supporting course in the Women's Studies major and minor. Cross-listed with: SOC 110 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences United States Cultures (US) General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS) GenEd Learning Objective: Crit and Analytical Think GenEd Learning Objective: Key Literacies

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFAM 114N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFAM 126N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Modernization and women: changing images and roles since mid- eighteenth century in the family, workshop, politics, society. Cross- cultural comparisons.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This introductory course considers core topics in the field of feminist sexuality studies to both unsettle popular mainstream discourses on sexuality and to aid students in developing a more comprehensive, inclusive, and ethical lens through which to view intersections of gender, sexuality, and the body. Over the course of the semester, students will engage critical conversations in the field of feminist sexuality studies, from debates on pornography and sex work to subcultural and queer sexual practices to the emergence "hook-up culture" and new technologies transforming the landscape of sexual knowledge and practice. The course also substantively engages the ethics of sexual consent, sexual pleasure, and sexual communication. Utilizing an intersectional approach, the course examines how sexual idenities and experiences are informed by differences of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and dis/ability status. The course is interdisciplinary and grounded in the behavioral and social sciences, drawing from feminist sociological, psychological, historical, ethnographic, and public health literatures in order to provide students with a comprehensive and multi-faceted introduction to recent, contemporary, and emergent scholarship on sexual health and diverse forms of sexual practice. Geographically, the course emphasizes the relationship between social difference, power, and sexuality in U.S. history and society, but takes a transnational perspective when possible by making comparisons to contexts beyond the United States. Furthermore, the class examines how individuals and communities most directly marginalized by these processes of sexual stigmatization contest and re-imagine dominant categories and assumptions. Materials and discussions in the class trace broad social and historical trends as well as dive into the facets of everyday life. The class is designed to encourage reflection on the ethical challenges that arise when we become aware of how privilege, power and difference impact sexual knowledge and practice. Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences United States Cultures (US) General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS) GenEd Learning Objective: Key Literacies GenEd Learning Objective: Soc Resp and Ethic Reason

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course will ask how race and gender affect work in the contemporary United States. We will consider how race and gender shape people's work opportunities, their wages at work, and whether they participate in paid or unpaid labor (or both). We will begin with an overview of work and the changes in the workforce over time; we will move to investigate how workplace structures reproduce gender and race inequalities; will ask how race and gender inequalities are informally maintained through education systems and social networks; will consider differing dimensions of inequality across poverty, immigration, and sexuality; and will consider how studying unpaid labor helps us better understand the formal paid economy. This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. Cross-listed with: AFAM 136, LHR 136 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course will ask how race and gender affect work in the contemporary United States. We will consider how race and gender shape people's work opportunities, their wages at work, and whether they participate in paid or unpaid labor (or both). We will begin with an overview of work and the changes in the workforce over time; we will move to investigate how workplace structures reproduce gender and race inequalities; will ask how race and gender inequalities are informally maintained through education systems and social networks; will consider differing dimensions of inequality across poverty, immigration, and sexuality; and will consider how studying unpaid labor helps us better understand the formal paid economy. The course emphasizes writing in the form of short assignments and longer papers as a means to develop comprehension of these ideas. This course is a writing intensive course designed to develop formal writing appropriate for a business context. We will use an active and engaged writing process using the course topics of diversity and employment inequality to strengthen writing skills. Cross-listed with: AFAM 136Y, LHR 136Y Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences United States Cultures (US) General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS) GenEd Learning Objective: Effective Communication GenEd Learning Objective: Crit and Analytical Think GenEd Learning Objective: Soc Resp and Ethic Reason Writing Across the Curriculum

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

1-18 WMNST 194 Women Writers 3 1-9 WMNST 202N Women, Gender, and Feminisms in Africa 3 3 WMNST 213Y African American Women's History 3

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

WMNST/HIST 166 History of Sexuality (3) (GH;US)This is a 100-level course on the history of sexuality, spanning several centuries and a wide range of contexts. The study of sexuality offers a particularly good lens for developing students' analytical ability to think historically about something that is often considered both natural and exclusively modern. Topics will include the role of religion, medicine, law, and politics in controlling and shaping sexuality; change and controversy over birth control, abortion, and gender roles; the connections between prescriptive literature and lived experience; the origins and meanings and racial violence in the context of ideas about sexuality; the concept of respectability; and the experiences and conflicts that have shaped the emergence of modern lesbian, gay, and trans identities. Students evaluate large questions about sources, methods, and analysis that historians face, including: How do we recover stories of private life, from societies and eras different from our own? How does our own understanding of what sexuality "is" complicate our historical exploration? What can we learn about gender and sexuality, repression and resistance, deviance and acceptance, identity and community from studying persons of nonconforming gender from the past? How has racism been employed to justify particular reproductive and sexual practices, as well as to limit claims to sexual respectability? To what extent is the study of sexuality inherently a study of gender, sex roles, and feminism? While focused primarily on the United States, the course will offer students opportunities to examine these questions in other, transnational contexts. Cross-listed with: HIST 166 United States Cultures (US) General Education: Humanities (GH) GenEd Learning Objective: Effective Communication GenEd Learning Objective: Crit and Analytical Think GenEd Learning Objective: Key Literacies

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

one introductory level course in History or Women's Studies

AFAM 207N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFAM 226N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 9 Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

9

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 12 Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

12

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

LA 202 and LA 424 should be taken in sequence. Food and Bio-innovation Cluster Code Title Credits

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

1

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFAM 364N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

4 WMNST 207N LGBTQ+ Identity, Culture and The Arts 3 3 WMNST 220 Beyond Birth Control: Feminist Perspectives on 3 3 Women's Sexualities 1-12 WMNST 400N Debates in Contemporary Feminism 3 1-12 WMNST 426W Gendered Worlds 3 1-18 WMNST 428 Gender and Politics 3 1-18 WMNST 440W Women in Global Cities 3 3 WMNST 456 Gender, Occupations, and Professions 3 1-9 WMNST 472 Work-Life Practices and Policies 3 ce 3 B.A. Degree Requirements: World

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

and methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS) with those of the Integrative Arts (GA). The course introduces key ideas, concepts and issues related to LGBTQ+ identity and culture, while highlighting aesthetic values of LGBTQ+ expression. The course broadly traces the historical, global, political and academic trajectories of LGBTQ+ studies and considers contemporary topics (for example, global-local influences, intersectionality, activism, and the media) as they relate to LGBTQ+ identity and the arts. The course is attentive to the ways that sexual identities intersect with other types of identities, such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, ability, religion. The course will also help students develop arts-related skills and teach students to recognize and value the arts as , an integral part of LGBTQ+ cultural expression. Students will write critical papers, participate in discussions with artists and scholars, explore queer art and art spaces, as well as create a performance or installation art project. Incorporating seminar - and lecture-style instruction with constructivist-creative learning and experiential strategies, the course seeks to develop a learning community stimulated by discourse, collaboration, and creative/aesthetic exploration. This course is a General Education interdomain (N) course for General Education Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS) and General Education Arts (GA), with US Cultures (US), International Cultures (IL) designate. The course is cross listed in both Women's Studies and Arts.

Subject

WMNST

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFAM 435N Movement, Past and Present AFR 110N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Select 9 credits each (including one course with a lab) from biological science, earth science, and physical science: Biological Science:

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

3 Women's Sexualities 3 WMNST 230N Dangerous Bodies 3 3 WMNST 301N Sexualities, Gender and Power: Feminist Thought 3 and Politics 3 WMNST 364N Black & White Sexuality 3 3 WMNST 400N Debates in Contemporary Feminism 3

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFR 230N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFR 345N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AFR 435N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Integrates information technology and gender studies. Overview issues and socio-cultural shaping of gender in the IT field. Cross-listed with: IST 235 United States Cultures (US) Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4951

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AG 180N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

An introduction to the dominant themes in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies, with an emphasis on both literary & cultural studies. This course explores the history of modern, western ideas about sexual identity as manifested in literature, theater, film, and other narrative forms of popular culture. Drawing on the substantial body of "queer theory" generated by scholars in the humanities since the 1990s, this class examines sexuality not as a "natural" or consistent phenomenon, but as a set of beliefs that have changed over time and manifest themselves differently in different cultural and historical contexts. Starting in the late nineteenth century, scientific and medical authorities began categorizing individuals into sexual types based

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

One course must be selected from the list of Ethics courses.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

1

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

3 America

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

3 French 3 WMNST 280 Gendering the Divine in Indian and South Asian 3

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AGECO 134N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 12 Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

12

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 18 Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

18

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 9 Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

9

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 12 Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

12

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AMST 150N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AMST 151N and Politics AMST 160N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Subject

WMNST

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This interdisciplinary seminar uses feminist theory to critically examine the ways in which war and militarism are deeply gendered. We will look at women's experiences of armed conflict across the world, but also the militarization of everyday life and the politics of gender within various military structures, both in the US and abroad. We will also examine the differential ways that men and women are affected by the war system and will consider the role of women and gender norms in peace and anti- militarism movements. This course focuses on women who actively participate in and/or support war, as well as those who actively oppose war and mobilize for peace. It also considers the experiences of those who become victims of the war system. Given that men and militarized understandings of masculinity play such a prominent role in warfare, the course will also explore the ways that masculine gender norms have been used to perpetuate cultures of war. Students can expect to engage with a variety of different types of texts: documentaries, feature films, memoirs, novels, newspapers, scholarly books and articles.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AMST 161N

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 18 Supervised off-campus, nongroup instruction including field experiences, practica, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

18

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 12 Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

12

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

AMST 170N AMST 183N - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 3425 tudies: Inter-Domain have been approved as General Education Inter-Domain course list is updated periodically. Information about courses can be found in the Integrative Studies section Title Credits Sustainable Arts and Design 3 Introduction to Art Therapy 3 Creative Arts Therapy Applications 3 The Virtual Transformational Leadership 3

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Advanced analysis of feminist theory and the nature of its integration (sometimes uneasily) within feminist movements and practices.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

A study of theatre practice and dramatic literature as informed by issues of gender, race, and ethnic background. THEA (WMNST) 407 Women and Theatre (3) (US)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. Theatre 407 approaches the study of theatre/performance as a valuable site for the exploration of race, class, and gender as socia constructs. The focus will be on 20th century developments of women and theater. Feminist theory and theatrical practice will be a focus of th course and will reflect conflicts and differences present within feminism. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: THEA 100 or THEA 105 or THEA 106 or THEA 112 or DANCE 100 or THEA_MFA Cross-listed with: THEA 407W Bachelor of Arts: Arts United States Cultures (US) Writing Across the Curriculum Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4955

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

An examination of the relationship of education to the status of women in American society. Cross-listed with: EDTHP 412

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course examines gendered processes of economic and social change in the Global South in a context of rapid globalization. We will study how gender inequities and inequalities shape and are shaped by economic restructuring, environmental change, international migration, the global spread of ideas and culture, and the shifting goals of International Development agencies. Readings and discussions are organized around three main learning units: 1) Approaches to Gender in Development; 2) Gender, Work, and Identity in the Global Economy; and 3) Rights, Reproduction and the Body. Particular attention will be paid to representations of women and men by Western organizations acting in the name of Feminism and/or Development, and to the responses of feminist communities in the South to these portrayals. In studying these issues, we will resist the tendency to conflate "gender" with "women", instead looking comprehensively at the identities, rights, and lived experiences of diverse gendered identities. We will carefully consider differences using an intersectional frame that considers social factors such as sexuality, race, economic class, and legal status. Students will explore issues through diverse materials including reports, articles, book chapters, documentaries, presentations, and popular media. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: ENGL 15 or ENGL 30H or ENGL 137H or CAS 137H Cross-listed with: CED 420W

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Legal, sociological, and psychological perspectives on sexual and domestic violence. CRIMJ 423 / CRIM 423 / WMNST 423 Sexual and Domestic Violence (3) (US) This course investigates violence against women, specifically domestic, sexual, and relationship violence. Students will examine some of the legal, sociological, and psychological perspectives about sexual, domestic, and relationship violence as well as the social and cultural roots of violence against women. Students will also gain an understanding of the experiences of victims of domestic and sexual violence as well as the issues presented by perpetrators. Students will be evaluated based on performance on exams, and two research l papers. CRIMJ 423 / CRIM 423 / WMNST 423 is a supporting course in both the WMNST major and minor as well as a supporting course in the e CLJ major. It may also be used to satisfy a GI requirement. This course is offered fall and spring semester with an enrollment of 60 students each semester. Cross-listed with: CRIM 423, CRIMJ 423 United States Cultures (US)

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

CRIMJ100

An interdisciplinary approach to contemporary issues related to women and sport from historical, physiological, psychological, and sociological perspectives. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: PSYCH 100 or SOC 1 or WMNST 100 or KINES 100 Cross-listed with: KINES 424 United States Cultures (US)

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Gendered Worlds examines how systems of dominance manifest in everyday life. Through an intersectional approach to social differences, such as gender, race, class, ethnicity, age, ability, and sexuality, the cour highlights the significance of difference in shaping experiences of space and place in a global context. The course incorporates approaches from cultural, postcolonial, subaltern, queer, gender, and critical race studies, all of which have influenced current debates across the field of geography. Feminist scholars have long been concerned with the spatial politics of cultural difference. As a point of entry to discussions of gender and geography, this course will explore the diverse ways in which geographers have conceived of, analyzed, and redefined gender as a contested spatial practice that intersects with other facets of identity such as race, class, and sexuality. Using contemporary geographic texts, we will explore the gendered dynamics of geographic research, citizenship, violence, security, nationalism, nature,and globalization. The purpose of this course is to examine how gender is understood and utilized in the field of geography. This course also aims to enhance students' ability to engage in first-hand critical research, as well as collaborative learning, through a reflective and on-going process of research and writing over the course of the semester. At the end of the course, the successful student will be able to: 1. Deploy contemporary debates around gender theory, gendered spatial practices, and cultural difference. 2. Critique the cultural and social construction of gender across time and cultures. 3. Analyze representations of gender in social institutions such as the media. 4. Apply theories of gender and cultural difference in the context of critical written analysis. and (C or higher in ENGL 15 or ENGL 30H or ENGL 137H or CAS 137H or ESL 15 ) Recommended Preparation: GEOG 324 (preferred) or GEOG 320 or GEOG 326 or GEOG 328 Cross-listed with: GEOG 426W Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

( GEOG 220 or GEOG 20 or GEOG 2N or WMNST 100 )

Gender in politics in the United States and around the world; major areas of women and politics research. PL SC (WMNST) 428 Gender and Politics (3) (US;IL)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. This course is designed as an overview to the field of women and politics. It examines the role that women play in politics in the United States and around the world. Students will begin by examining how women are socialized differently from men and how that socialization effects women's political attitudes and participation. Then students will focus on women in different political offices and how their behavior compares to that of their male counterparts. Students will then analyze the women's movement in the United States. Finally, students will turn to different theories of the ideal position of women and men in politics and use those theories to explore the issue of pornography. Students will be evaluated on a final exam, short essays ( 4 3-5 page essays), class participation, and a research paper (15 pages). This is an advanced course with 6 credits prerequisite in Women's Studies or Political Science. This course fulfills the American Politics and Comparative Politics distribution as well as the advanced course requirement for the Political Science major. It is an elective for a Women's Studies major. It also fulfills an International/Intercultural competency requirement. This course will be offered once a year with 35 seats per offering. se Cross-listed with: PLSC 428 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

3 credits in political science or women's studies

A historical study of women's roles and experiences in the United States.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

6 credits of American Studies, Sociology, or Women's

This course will explore some of the influential theories and texts in the field of feminist philosophy. Feminist philosophy encompasses a broad range of inquiry, from political and ethical issues to foundational metaphysical and epistemological problems - e.g., What is a woman? What is the relationship between knowledge, epistemology, and power? Feminist philosophical approaches are diverse and include thinkers from all approaches to philosophy and are often richly influenced by work in women of color feminisms (e.g., intersectionality, Latinx), approaches to sexuality studies (e.g., LBGT studies and Queer Theory), post- and decolonial studies, and disability studies. Assigned readings will typically offer a range of approaches to feminist philosophy. While a majority of the readings will cover issues discussed by contemporary thinkers, a few historically significant feminist philosophers will often be included. Through reading and discussion, this course will introduce students to some of the central approaches to feminism, some of the most pressing issues, as well as the central controversies of feminist philosophy. Students will develop their interpretative and philosophical skills, while gaining a deeper understanding of the importance of feminist philosophy to the tradition of philosophy as well as to the general betterment of society. three credits are from PHIL 008 or 114; or 6 credits in philosophy where all six are at the 200-level Cross-listed with: PHIL 438 Bachelor of Arts: Humanities

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

9 credits of philosophy; or 6 credits in philosophy where

Analysis of women's experience in the Holocaust and exploration of the role of gender in Holocaust Studies. J ST (HIST/WMNST) 439 Women and the Holocaust (3) Most of the early study of the Holocaust focused almost exclusively on the experiences of Jewish men. It was men who wrote the first and most widely read Holocaust memoirs and men who produced the first studies of the Holocaust. The first question motivating this class is thus what we can learn from examining women's experiences. Is it possible that the ghetto, the camp, and the forest look different from women's perspectives? Are there factors we miss when we read primary documents written by only half of the participants in these historical events? Beyond this, however, our exploration will also lead us to look more broadly at gender as a category of analysis. What do we gain by bringing questions of gender to bear on our study of the Holocaust? Are there any ethical concerns that should inform our approach? Cross-listed with: HIST 439, JST 439

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

J ST 010 or J ST 121 or HIST 121 or consent of program

United States (US) Cultures Courses 3 These courses have been approved to fulfill University Degree Requirements. This course list is updated periodically. More information about the University Degree Requirements can be found in the Academic Information section. 3 Code Title Credits 3 AA 160N The Virtual Transformational Leadership 3

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 3 An examination of gender, sexuality, and sexual desire in ancient Greece and Rome. This course examines issues of gender and sexuality in Greece and Rome. Through close analysis of ancient texts and artifacts, we will explore representations of gender in literature and art, medical theories of the male and female body, sexual norms and codes, and views on marriage, rape, adultery, and prostitution. In addition, we will conside how eroticism and gender both support and subvert political and social ideologies. The objective of this course is to enable students to analyze gender identities and conventions surrounding sexuality in the context of the Greek and Roman worlds. This course will also invite students to consider the influence of ancient conceptions of gender and sexuality on Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4957 modern discussions and debates. Authors and texts may include Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, the Hippocratic corpus, Catullus, Virgil, Ovid, and Augustine. These ancient readings will be supplemented with selections from modern feminist theorists and gender studies. Cross-listed with: CAMS 450Y

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

3 credits in CAMS

This course focuses on the experiences of women as offenders, victims, and professionals in the criminal justice system. CRIMJ 453 / CRIM 453 /

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course examines how research and theory in communication can be applied to a range of gender issues. Early communication scholarship emphasized differences between the communication styles of (presumably cisgender, heterosexual) men and women. In contrast, more recent scholarship challenges this cisheterosexist gender binary by attending to a diversity of genders and sexualities. Current scholarship also approaches gender and sexuality in their complexity by treating them as aspects of power and identity that intersect in meaningful ways with others (such as race, class, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, and so on). Against the backdrop of these scholarly developments, not to mention contemporary controversies, it can be difficult to keep up and make sense of the shifting terrain of gender and sexuality. But current research and theory from the field of communication can help. This course introduces students to foundational scholarship on the social construction of gender through communication in both interpersonal relationships and social institutions. Then the class grapples together with applying this research and theory to shared case studies. Depending on the specific section of the course and the professor's expertise, these case studies may explore issues in interpersonal communication and r relationships, rhetorical studies and public discourse, or other special topics. The course is recommended for all students in CAS and WMNST, as well as any student who would like to develop their own informed, critical perspectives and communicate more effectively about gender and sexuality.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

The role of gender in shaping contemporary North American patterns of employment, occupational roles, and statuses. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: 3 credits in SOC Cross-listed with: SOC 456 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course examines women's reproductive health issues from a feminist perspective. Reproduction has always been thought of as 'women¿s work,' yet decisions about reproduction are rarely made by women. This course will focus on how various political institutions (e.g., religious, economic, governmental, legal, medical, etc.) influence all aspects of human reproduction, and how these influences affect women's reproductive health, both ideologically and practically, as well as how women's reproduction affects women's lives. This course will examine four aspects of reproduction from a feminist perspective: reproductive rights, including access to birth control and abortion along with the right to be free of forced sterilization; infertility and the new conceptive technologies; pregnancy, including screening, sex selection, maternal and 'fetal rights'; and childbirth options. Throughout the course, we will return to the question of the 'politics of reproduction' by asking ourselves which powerful institutions govern each particular aspect of reproduction and whether the decisions made are good for women. Using a feminist perspective, we'll focus on making women and their health needs the center of discussion and examining the relative lack of power held by women in decisions made about their reproductive health. In addition to class readings (which are both theoretical and applied in nature) students will learn through class discussions, films, and group projects. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: WMNST 100 or WMNST 100U or WMNST 105N or WMNST 106N or WMNST 106Q or WMNST 301 or PSYCH 100 Cross-listed with: BBH 458 General Education: Health and Wellness (GHW) GenEd Learning Objective: Effective Communication GenEd Learning Objective: Crit and Analytical Think GenEd Learning Objective: Soc Resp and Ethic Reason

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course examines intersectional identity and its representations of gender, class, race, sexuality, and cultural difference in texts by black American women. The course also identifies analyzes major issues concerning the discovery and development of a black feminist tradition and the ways in which that tradition has engaged issues of racism, sexism, class exploitation, and/or heteronormativity. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: ENGL 15 or ENGL 15A or ENGL 15S or ENGL 15E or ESL 15 or ENGL 30H or ENGL 30T or ENGL 137H or CAS 137H Cross-listed with: ENGL 462 Bachelor of Arts: Humanities United States Cultures (US)

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Study of sex role learning; investigating feminine/masculine labeling; implications for contemporary society. BE SC 464 BE SC (WMNST) 464 Feminine and Masculine (3) (US) This course provides a critical examination of the concepts of masculinity and femininity through a consideration of how these have shifted and changed historically and cross-culturally. It considers a variety of theories of gender difference. It investigates how gender is socially constructed and practiced. Thus, it examines how gender is enacted in interpersonal relationships and defined, reinforced, and challenged through processes of socialization as well as through the various institutional spheres of social life. The course addresses the diversity of masculinities and femininities within a single society. Thus, attention is given to race and class-based differences as well as to trans-genderism and homosexuality. Cross-listed with: BESC 464 United States Cultures (US)

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

general psychology or general sociology

Critical exploration of the history of sexuality, focusing especially on the emergence of modern lesbian and gay identities. WMNST (HIST) 466 Lesbian and Gay History (3) (US;IL) This course will explore the relationships in different cultures and historical periods between the dominant culture and homosexuals, whom the culture deemed, at different times, sinful, deviant, criminal or, more recently, a minority community. Students will confront the very nature of difference, and how it has been played out in European and American history. The course will challenge students to deal with how societies define difference itself; how they isolate or punish deviants; and how the creation of the 'homosexual' helped establish not simply difference but 'normalcy' in a highly sexualized modern culture. Finally, the course will explore notions of identity itself, focusing on the creation of a modern gay and lesbian identity and its impact on broader questions of gender, community, civil rights, and political discourse in the United States.An example of evaluation methods would be: course presented in a seminar format with grades based on class participation, brief analytical papers, and a longer research or historiographic paper. Cross-listed with: HIST 466

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

WMNST100 , WMNST117

Theories and research on gender differences and gender roles. Emphasis on women's and men's current positions in society. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: PSYCH 100 and PSYCH 221

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Explore the causes and consequences of conflicts between work, family, and other life commitments, and how these may be resolved. LER 472 Work-Life Practices and Policies (3)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. The interdisciplinary field of work-family and work-life developed as a result of middle-class women's entry into the labor force, a movement that generated conflict between family and paid work commitments. Overall, the course addresses the reasons the field developed, relevant theoretical perspectives regarding the issues, and related problems as well as proposed solutions at both the public and private sector levels. The overarching objectives of the course are to expand students' understanding of conflicts between work and family commitments, and how these might be resolved through private and public sector initiatives. Specifically, the course concerns how individuals, families, and organizations interact to help hinder the achievement of balance between work and life commitments, and relevant effects on those involved. The changing demographics of the family, laws and trends around working time, father and mother time with children, the expanded need for elder care, work-life programs such as flextime, concierge services, paid parental leave, part-time careers, paid time-off banks, and the role of unions, corporations and government legislation are covered. The course attempts to link the likely future needs of students to broader trends in society and how balance could be achieved at the level of individuals, families, other stakeholders in the community, and for society as well. Fields of research relevant to the course include labor studies, women's studies, Industrial/Organizational psychology, the sociology of work and of family, and child development. Students will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, through two in- class examinations, and through a final written or oral project providing a chronology and analysis of an adult's work-family history. Enforced Prerequisite: LHR 100 or 3 other credits of LHR or 5th Semester standing Cross-listed with: LHR 472, SOC 472 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Cross-cultural construction of gender and sex roles; theories of gender construction; case studies and practical effects. ANTH 476 / WMNST 476 Anthropology of Gender (3)Students will learn the current theoretical approaches in anthropology to the cultural construction of gender and sex roles. The first 2-3 weeks of the course will concentrate on exploring and understanding these theoretical approaches. The remaining weeks will focus on case studies of non-western gender systems, and on the practical effects of those systems, but students will also be encouraged to relate these systems to their own experience. Each meeting will be based on discussion of the readings assigned for that meeting and students will be expected to participate. During the period devoted to theoretical approaches, discussion will focus on the assumptions, advantages, and disadvantages of each approach. For the part of the course devoted to readings on individual societies, one reading each week will be the basis for a critical essay of approximately five pages. These essays will be expected to include: 1) an identification of the theoretical approach that informs the work, 2) a statement of the author's arguments or questions, 3) a discussion of the methods used to provide Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4959 data in support of the arguments or to answer questions, 4) a critique of the adequacy of data, and 5) a statement suggesting which additional elements might make for a better study. These essays will be graded for both content and form and students will have the option of rewriting essays (and improving their grade) after they receive comments. These essays will provide 60% of the course grade, while participation in discussions will provide another 15%.A short research paper will also be required. The paper must focus on a question or hypothesis concerning gender, and a preliminary proposal that includes the focus of the paper, its relevance to the course, and a beginning bibliography is required. A first draft of the paper will be required two weeks before the end of the semester. The research paper will provide 25% of the course grade.The course complements other courses in Anthropology that deal with sex differences, but will provide a perspective on gender that is not available elsewhere in the curriculum. The course can be used to fulfill a Behavioral Anthropology requirement in both the major and minor in Anthropology and a writing across the curriculum requirement. It will also provide students in other departments with the opportunity to study aspects of diverse, non-western cultures. The course is currently identified as one that may be taken to fulfill the requirements of the Women's Studies minor. Cross-listed with: ANTH 476W Writing Across the Curriculum

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

3 credits of ANTH or 3 credits of WMNST

An analysis of the demographic, social, and cultural factors affecting the developments and experience of sexuality in contemporary society. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: 3 credits in SOC Cross-listed with: SOC 477

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Italian women have often been stereotyped as the "Mamma" or the "Nonna" who cooks, prays, and idolizes her sons. Such images do not accommodate the wide variety of experiences and contributions of Italian women throughout history. This seminar explores texts written by women during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries in Italy, including autobiography, historical novels, short stories, poetry, children's books, and theater. We consider the political and cultural developments in Italy in these centuries with attention to differences among the various geographic regions and an emphasis on issues of special relevance to women and their changing legal status and social roles. As we approach each creative work, we analyze such issues as: the role of form and genre; the author's use of language and rhetoric; the political, philosophical, and theological questions posed by the text; the ways in which the text responds to the established Italian literary canon; and the text's depictions and uses of history. The course is conducted in English. instructor Cross-listed with: IT 480

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

Minimum fifth-semester standing or permission of

In this course, we will center and explore the theoretical contributions of feminists of color, contemporary experiences of women of color in the U.S., and how the category women of color has been mobilized as a social and political identity. In our analyses, we will pay close attention to the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, nation, and other categories of power. Topics include cultural representations, intimacy/families, sexual violence, economic justice, the carceral state, and immigration. Lastly, we will examine strategies of resistance and solidarity for social change to support marginalized communities. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: 3 credits in SOC or 3 credits in

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

A study of selected British women writers. ENGL (WMNST) 489 British Women Writers (3) This course provides the opportunity to study writing by British Women from a historical perspective and to explore the views these women have of themselves as artists. The course will concentrate on a careful reading of works by a variety of authors. It will address the question of the role gender plays in the selection of literary forms and th development of character, theme, symbols, and rhetorical strategies. It will also explore what particular dimensions British women writers have brought to the British literary tradition.Students will be active learners through keeping reading journals, presenting background reports on the history of women in England, participating in small-group discussions about the texts, and writing 2 shorter essays and one longer research essay for the class. This course focuses on an area of British literature, which more traditionally structured courses tend to obscure. The course will be attractive to students from a variety of programs, including Englis majors, Women's Studies minors, and Interdisciplinary Humanities students. The course will be offered once every two years. Estimated class size 20. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: ENGL 15 or ENGL 15A or ENGL 15S or ENGL 15E or ESL 15 or ENGL 30H or ENGL 30T or (ENGL 137H and ENGL 138T) Cross-listed with: ENGL 489 Bachelor of Arts: Humanities

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 3459 Writing Across the Curriculum 3 Courses 3 These courses have been approved to fulfill University Degree 3 Requirements. This course list is updated periodically. More information t 3 about the University Degree Requirements can be found in the Academic Information section. t 3 Code Title Credits A-I 341W Responsible Artificial Intelligence 3

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

A study of selected American women writers. ENGL 492 / AMST 476 /

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Subject

WMNST

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 12 Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis. Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4961

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

12

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 12 Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

12

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 18 Supervised off-campus, nongroup instruction including field experiences, practica, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

18

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Prerequisite

prior approval of proposed assignment by instructor

Select 3 additional credits at the 400 level Select 3 credits that focus on non-Western women Select 3 credits that focus on women of color in the United States Select 6 credits that focus on women's health and sexuality or 6 women in science and technology Select 6 credits of natural or social sciences 6 Select 6 credits of arts and humanities 6 Supporting Courses and Related Areas Select 15 credits total from the following groups with at least 3 15 credits from each group: Quantification (GQ) and Research Methods Values, Ethics, and Scientific Inquiry Social and behavioral sciences, health sciences, or natural sciences The same course may be used to fulfill more than one requirement within Additional Courses.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

1

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 9 Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

9

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 12 Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

12

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

undergraduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Students also must complete 9 additional credits of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course work chosen in consultation with the Graduate Director in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Most of these courses (at least 5 credits) should be at the 500 level, but a student may count some 400-level credits, with the approval of the Graduate Director in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Particular courses may simultaneously satisfy degree requirements in Comparative Graduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 239 Literature and in the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies dual-title. Students who already hold a master's degree or other graduate credits from another institution may petition the Graduate Director in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies to have equivalent course credits accepted.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course will explore key intellectual traditions, theoretical concepts, research methods, and axiological elements that inform research in feminist media studies. Course readings will be inter/trans/ disciplinary so that students may gain a sense of the field of feminist media studies, its influences, and its possibilities. Readings and assignments may relate media studies with: feminist histories; transnational feminism; feminist political organizing and activism; queer studies; feminist approaches to masculinity, race, ethnicity, labor and production; sexual violence and harassment; relationships between feminist scholarship and other critical studies of culture, audience and reception studies, science and technology studies, rhetoric, political economy, and history. Cross-listed with: COMM 503

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Development of feminist theory and its relationship to history in terms of critique of family, sexuality, and gender stratification.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

or WMNST 509 Feminist Pedagogies 9 additional credits of elective graduate coursework will be 9 completed with prior approval from the Director of Graduate Studies in WGSS. No more than three credits counting toward elective coursework can be completed at the 400-level, and at least one of the elective courses will be taken in a department other than the student’s major degree program. Total Credits 18 Any exceptions to the WGSS degree requirements stated above must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

or WMNST 508 Feminist Methodologies A further twenty-one credits selected in consultation with the adviser, 21 of which nine credits must be Women's, Gender, and Sexuality

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

A critical analysis of gender and theories of gender in selected American historical contexts. Cross-listed with: HIST 516

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course will explore the historical background and various expressions of contemporary Black feminist thought around the globe.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Impact of Western nationalism and colonialism on the organization of gender roles from the 18th century to the present.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This course offers students an interdisciplinary overview of the complex topics of gender and sexuality. Employing various theoretical and disciplinary perspectives including feminist and queer theory, historical and sociological perspectives, visual culture, and post-colonial discourse, this course gives students a broad understanding of key historical and contemporary issues in the arena of gender and sexuality. This course engages the following themes: gender and sexual identities; the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, and class; discourses of heteronormitivity & homonormativity; the body, body politics, and bodily violence; contemporary movements for gender and sexual justice; racial, gender and sexual politics; performances and representations of gender and sexuality; health and medicalization; global LGBTA human rights issues; the (re)production of gender and sexual difference; labors of gender and sexuality; and the relationship between gender, sexuality and the State. Students in this course will develop a keen understanding of how these themes operate in the discourse of gender and sexuality. Throughout this course students will examine a variety of diverse texts 'theoretical, historical ethnographic, literary, visual, and sonic' to gain comprehensive introduction to the topic of gender and sexuality. This graduate seminar emphasizes discussion, writing, and research.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

The course will provide students with an analytic framework for understanding how social inequalities in race, class, and gender shape experiences in families and the workplace. WMNST (HRER) 523 Seminar in Work-Life Dilemmas, Practices, and Policies (3) This course investigates many of the invisible challenges people face in the 21st century labor market including: what happens when a worker's child is sick; whether mothers are discriminated against in the labor market; what happens to men at work when they have children; whether a person's health is influenced by their work; and if the division of labor at home benefits some people more than others. This course will provide answers to these questions and more through an in-depth investigation of the institutions that structure work-family life in 21st century America. First, the class will consider how work and families have changed in the last 50 years. Second, the students will investigate how inequalities based on gender, race, class, and family structure manifest at work. Third, the course will investigate how work responsibilities impact home life and how this differs according to race, gender, class and family structure. Finally, the course will ask what solutions may fix some of today's most pressing work-life dilemmas.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

A history of transgender struggle has fomented intellectual formations that interrogate racial and gendered logics and proffer alternative structures of engagement, but commitment to any conceptualization of trans critique has often fallen back on assumptive ascriptions to non-racial analysis. Gathered at the concomitant study of race, gender, sexuality, class, and socio-spatiality, Trans of Color Critique provides an opportunity to (re)consider the analytical and material possibilities and tensions tendered by the articulation of transgender and non-white. Engaging with trans (and queer) of color theory as a particular approach to the political and as its own mode of knowledge production, we will not only take up the mutual constitution of race and gender, but center how whiteness has come to construct the burgeoning field of trans studies. In this graduate seminar we will consider the ways in which these multiply marginalized knowledges aim a critical challenge at our Western knowledge traditions. The course considers how race as a modality of analysis and trans of color critique as a praxis can in turn amplify, extend, and complicate the framework and analytical interventions offered by trans studies. Rather than attempt to be exhaustive, we will focus on the urgent interventions offered by trans of color critical theory, especially as it relates to foundational disruptions of Western epistemologies, medicalization, humanism, movement and displacement, decolonial critique, carcerality, violence and death, and futurity. Recommended Preparation: Prior coursework in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is recommended as well as familiarity with critical cultural and social theory. Cross-listed with: AFAM 525

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

a Studies the foundations of feminist science studies as applied to biocultural practices of gender, biology, and reproductive technologies.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Contemporary Feminist Scholarship A course about discourses of sexuality and gender in studies of Islam in Africa, with South Africa as a case study. Cross-listed with: AFR 537

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Critically examines feminist approaches to ethics, epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, social/political philosophy, and the history of philosophy. PHIL (WMNST) 538 Feminist Philosophy Seminar (3) This course aims to give students an understanding of the philosophical concepts and problems of feminist philosophy. The course will focus on major topics, such as the history of philosophy, ethics, social/political philosophy, epistemology and philosophy of science, and metaphysics, and figures within 20th century feminist philosophy with the concurrent goal of brining them to bear on contemporary issues involving gender's relationship to race, sexuality, class, disability, nationality and age. This course builds upon PHIL 438 Feminist Philosophy and counts towards the requirements of the dual title degree in Philosophy and Women's Studies. Evaluation methods include preparation for and participation in class meetings, two short discussion papers, and a final term paper. The course will be offered at least once every four semesters with an enrollment goal of 20. Specific course content will vary with instructor. Cross-listed with: PHIL 538

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

This seminar explores educational implications in popular texts created for and by girls across time and cultures. CI (WMNST) 542 Girls' Cultures and Popular Cultures (3) The study of girls and their relationship with popular culture lies within the interdisciplinary field of Girlhood Studies which draws on established areas of Women's Studies, Children's/ Childhood studies, Cultural Studies and Educational Studies. This seminar explores girls cultures in different textual and material forms including books, toys, magazines, and new media. Students will employ feminist cultural theories to compare historical and contemporary girls cultures in relation to educational research and practice. This will provide a framework to locate girls at the center of research and action in order for graduate students to engage in methodologies that are not simply about girls but "for" "with" and "by" girls. Key topics include the misperception of girls (popular) culture as only a contemporary phenomenon, the role of girls as consumers plus producers of culture, and recurrent issues in girls cultures such as sexualization and hyperfeminity. Cross-listed with: CI 542

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

African feminisms are deeply rooted in the continent's rich historical traditions and diverse cultural contexts. In this interdisciplinary graduate seminar, students will become familiar with the theoretical frameworks that guide African feminist scholarship, as well as the activist histories Graduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 1449 from which they emerged. This course will consider the epistemological foundations of African feminist thought and how they differ from feminisms in other parts of the world. This course will also examine key areas of conjuncture - how African feminisms map on to larger transnational movements. Particular emphasis will be placed on the fluidity of African gender systems, the ways in which African women have negotiated politics, religion, militarism, sexuality, and violence, and the role of creativity, art, and beauty in nurturing and sustaining activist momentum. Students in the course can expect to engage with a number of different types of texts: documentaries, feature films, memoirs, novels, newspapers, scholarly books, and articles. Cross-listed with: AFR 550

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 15 Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

15

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 18 Supervised off-campus, nongroup instruction, including field experiences, practicums, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

18

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 9 Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

9

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 9 Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

9

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

3

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu

/Maximum of 6 Supervised experience in teaching and orientation to other selected aspects of the profession at The Pennsylvania State University.

Subject

WMNST

Credits (min)

1

Credits (max)

3

Credit unit

Credits

Type

course

Edition

graduate

Source

bulletins.psu.edu