WGS Undergraduate Courses
Not all courses are offered every year. For up-to-date offerings, please see Fall 2025 Courses and Spring 2025 Courses.
*Indicates course provides BU Hub units
*CAS WS 101 - Gender and Sexuality: An Interdisciplinary Introduction
This course is the introduction to women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, that considers the origins, diversity, and expression of sex and gender. Topics include the evolutionary origin of sexes; evolution, development, and social construction of sex, gender, and sexuality; sexual difference, similarities and diversity in gendered bodies, brains, and behavior. This interdisciplinary introduction is the foundation for the minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 105 - Topics in Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies
Topics change with each offering.
CAS WS 179 - Introduction to Trans Literature (also offered as CAS EN 179)
Is there such a thing as trans literature’ While “Trans Studies” as a field of study in academia is relatively new, trans literature is not. In this course we engage with a wide-ranging trans literary tradition that spans time, genre, and language. We ask questions about authorship, community, and the social and political conditions which allow and bar the flourishing of trans culture. We will ask: What can the word ¿trans¿ mean, and how does its multiple meanings open space to imagine new ways of becoming’ How can literature expand how the world might be, rather than what it is’
*CAS WS 200 - Thinking Queerly
Explores historical and contemporary debates regarding LGBTQ identity, community, and politics through the relevant interdisciplinary (and often, competing) theories and research. Students gain skills in digital/multimedia expression through the development of a collaborative LGBTQ online magazine. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
*CAS WS 201 - Introduction to Trans Studies
This course introduces students to the field of trans studies alongside the increasing precarity and hypervisibility of trans bodies in public life. Students become familiar with intersectional issues of trans representation, healthcare, cissexism, bathroom legislation, book bans, and more. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Digital/Multimedia Expression, The Individual in Community.
*CAS WS 213 - Resistance, Protest, and Empowerment: Global Women's Movements
Explores how global expressions of sexism shape all of our lives, experiences, and life chances, with particular attention to how race, class, and sexuality intersect with gender to shape social inequalities. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
*CAS WS 233 - The Evolutionary Biology of Human Variation (also offered as CAS AN 233)
Addresses human biological variation. An introduction to the fundamentals of comparative biology, evolutionary theory, and genetics and considers how research in these fields informs some of our most culturally-engaged identities: race, sex, gender, sexuality, and body type. Carries natural sciences divisional credit (without lab) in CAS. Also offered as CAS AN 233. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 240 - Sexuality and Social Life (also offered as CAS SO 240)
Introduction to sociological perspectives on sexuality. Historical and comparative analysis of sexuality, with a focus on the social and cultural institutions that shape sexuality in the contemporary U.S. Also offered as SO 240. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
*CAS WS 241 - Sociology of Gender (also offered as CAS SO 241)
An introduction to the social construction of sex and gender with a focus on the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that shape gender relations. Examines gender as a social structure that patterns institutional inequalities and everyday interactions on society. Also offered as SO 241. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.
*CAS WS 263 - The Behavioral Biology of Women (also offered as CAS AN 263)
An exploration of female behavioral biology focusing on evolutionary, physiological, and biosocial aspects of women’s lives from puberty through pregnancy, birth, lactation, menopause, and aging. Examples are drawn from traditional and industrialized societies, and data from nonhuman primates are considered. Also offered as CAS AN 263. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 270 - Race, Sex, and Science Fiction (also offered as CAS AA 270)
Science Fiction has always been engaged in complex conversations about culture and the fate of the human species. This course takes seriously the presence of issues such as race, sex and gender, which have become increasingly foregrounded in the genre. Also offered as AA 270. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 297 - African American Women's History (also offered as CAS HI 297 and CAS AA 297)
Survey of African American women’s history from the slave trade to the present, investigating its critical role in shaping the meaning of race, gender, and sexuality during slavery, Jim Crow, and the civil rights era. Also offered as CAS HI 297 and CAS AA 297.
CAS WS 300 - WGS Topics in Literature and the Humanities
Topics in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies relevant to literature and the humanities. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
CAS WS 301 - WGS Topics in the Natural Sciences
Topics in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies relevant to the natural sciences. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
CAS WS 302 - WGS Topics in the Social Sciences
Topics in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies relevant to literature and the social sciences. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
CAS WS 303 - WGS Topics in Film and Media
Topics in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies relevant to film and media. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
CAS WS 304 - WGS Topics in Global and Transnational Studies
Topics in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies relevant to global and transnational studies. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
CAS WS 305 - Topics in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Topics in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
*CAS WS 317 - Gender and Crime (also offered as CAS SO 317)
Examines social forces shaping gender discrepancies in crime. Using a feminist lens, students explore how cultural ideologies about masculinity and femininity shape criminalization, victimization, and offending. Topics include the gendered contexts of crime and punishment, gender-based violence, and intimate labor. Also offered as SO 317, SO 617, and WS 617. Effective Spring 20223 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.
*CAS WS 319 - Disability and Queerness in Speculative Fiction (also offered as CAS CI 319)
This course examines how LGBTQ2IA speculative fiction engages with disability and other intersecting frameworks of difference to present alternate, parallel, or invented worlds. This course provides opportunities for students to strengthen ethical reasoning, cultural analysis, and aesthetic exploration. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning.
*CAS WS 325 - Bombs and Bombshells: Gender, Armed Conflict, and Political Violence (also offered as CAS PO 346)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. – Delve into the world of Black Widows and Demon Lovers. Using empirical research, case studies, and drama, this course separates fact from fiction to examine gender and its intersections between recruitment, motivations, and conditions under which women behave violently. Effective Summer 2025 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Teamwork/Collaboration.
*CAS WS 326 - Arts of Gender (also offered as CAS EN 326)
Prereq: at least one prior literature course, or CAS WS 101, or junior or senior standing. Examines representations of gender and sexuality in diverse art forms, including drama, dance, film, and literature, and how art reflects historical constructions of gender. Also offered as EN 326. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, The Individual in Community.
*CAS WS 327 - Immigrant Women in Literature: Found in Translation? (also offered as CAS LR 327 and CAS XL 327)
This course explores literature about migration created by women primarily from Eastern Europe. We read autobiographical narratives that focus on the shaping of transcultural identity with an eye to the problem of translation as a linguistic, cultural, and personal phenomenon. Also offered as LR 327 and XL 327. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 328 - Madonnas, Martyrs, and MILFs: Gender and Motherhood (also offered as CGS IN 300)
Examines the ways that motherhood–the roles, expectations, and assumptions that shape what counts as both “good” and “bad” mothering–is currently understood. Three key questions drive our exploration: How does culture shape mothering practices? How do mothering practices shape culture? How do race, economic class, educational attainment, and sexual orientation impact how motherhood is constructed? Discussions of related topics such as fathering, maternal body image, celebrity profiles, mother blame, parenting roles, and the economic costs of motherhood are explored. Also offered as CGS IN 300. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 329 - LGBTQI+ Representation in Film
Queer films challenge norms and undermine categories of gender and sex. Drawing on scholarship from a variety of disciplines the course explores sexual identity and representation in relation to history and other constituting experiences of race, class, gender, and nationality. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Individual and the Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Creativity and Innovation.
*CAS WS 330 - Transforming Life: Anthropology of New Medical Technologies (also offered as CAS AN 302)
Seminar anthropologically compares the role of science and medicine in society and troubles what is natural and moral, e.g., about gender, person hood, kinship, and community, using case studies of new reproductive technologies in Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Also offered as AN 302. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing- Intensive Course.
*CAS WS 333 - Queering Health (also offered as SAR HS 333
This course is about the unique physical and mental health needs, health disparities, and resiliency within the LGBTQ+ community. Students will learn about the psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity, intersectionality in LGBTQ+ communities, gender identity and sexual orientation development models, queer families and relationships, minority stress, hetero/cis-sexism, and other relevant topics. Students will also learn about LGBTQ+ affirming therapies, healthcare, public policy, and legislation. This course will take a constructively critical lens to medicalized/pathologizing constructions of sexual and gender diversity and examine topics within historical and modern social context. This course will explore strategies for advocacy, improving the healthcare experience of LGBTQ+ people, and addressing barriers to accessing healthcare from local, national, and global perspectives. Also offered as SAR HS 333. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II.
*CAS WS 335 - Sociology of Race, Class, and Gender (also offered as CAS AA 335 and CAS SO 335)
Prereq: At least one prior 100- or 200-level sociology course, or CAS WS 101. No one of us is one thing, one identity, nor motivated by one singular interest, nor privileged or subjugated by one singular form of power, but how do those multiple forms of ourselves affect how we are advantaged, disadvantaged, viewed, and understood by the social world? Our social world, is, by default, a vast web of social intersections between and across groups with shared, overlapping, and conflicting identities. Race, class and gender affect nearly all of our lived experiences and greatly complicate and nuance concepts of diversity and difference. Also offered as AA 335 and SO 335. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness.
*CAS WS 341 - The Quran (also offered as CAS RN 340)
The emergence of the Quran as a major religious text, its structure and literary features, its principle themes and places within the religious and intellectual life of the Muslim community. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 345 - Shariah Law (also offered as CAS RN 345)
Shariah Law looks behind the stereotypes and headlines–despotic rulers, barbaric punishments, women’s oppression–to understand the origins, history, and structure of Islamic law. Explores its implementation in various times and places, modern transformations, and contemporary debates over legal reform. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 347 - Feminist Inquiry
Prereq: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. A survey of feminist theories and development of strands of feminist inquiry in the academy, movements, and politics. Considers the commonalities and contrast in gender relations across cultures and tensions between major feminist schools of thought. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS WS 348 - Gender and International Development
Analysis of significant gender disparities worldwide in education, livelihoods, crisis settings, and political voice. Interdisciplinary approach combines discussion of novels, films, research on development, and lessons from field experience. Ideas on the advancement of gender equality and women’s socio-economic empowerment.
CAS WS 350 - Women and Politics (also offered as CAS PO 309
Readings, discussion, and field research on issues of women’s relationship to the processes of political influence, change, and empowerment. Analysis of public policy related to women and children. Also offered as CAS PO 309.
CAS WS 351 - Constructing Gender in North Africa: Women, Islam, and Politics
*CAS WS 352 - American Masculinities (also offered as CAS SO 352)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one 100- or 200-level course in either sociology or women’s, gender, & sexuality. – This course will explore masculinity: as a historical, social construct and site of power and violence; as a facet of identity and system of oppression; as style, myth, and representation; as something perpetually in “crisis” and in need of recuperation; as a process that helps and harms; as a set of ideals, practices, and traditions; and as system that cuts across race, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, nation, geography and place, age, and other lines of difference. Also offered as SO 352. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 375 - Growing Up in Korea (also offered as CAS LK 375)
Examining memoirs, prose fiction, film, television dramas, and graphic narratives to ask: how have the conventions of Korean coming-of-age narratives evolved? What does this say about changes in Korean identity? What roles have gender and sexuality played in Korean stories of growing up? Also offered as CAS LK 375. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
*CAS WS 377 - Gender and Sexuality in Judaism (also offered as CAS RN 337)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). – Explores the role of gender and sexuality in Judaism and Jewish experience, historically and in the present. Subjects include constructions of masculinity and femininity, attitudes toward (and uses of) the body and sexuality, gendered nature of religious practice and authority. Also offered as RN 337. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 380 - Gender and Identity in Contemporary Middle Eastern Film (also offered as CAS XL 380)
An exploration of representations of gender and identity in contemporary Middle Eastern films by male and female directors reflecting on the impact of modernization, globalization, war and trauma through different visual genres. Also offered as XL 380. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
*CAS WS 382 - Women's Literary Cultures (also offered as CAS EN 328)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one previous literature course or junior or senior standing. – Writings by women in diverse literary forms, including drama, poetry and prose. How does women’s literary culture reflect historical constructions of gender and sexuality? How do writers engage with new literary forms, like the lyric, political treatise, or the novel? Also offered as EN 328. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Aesthetic Exploration.
*CAS WS 393 - Technoculture and Horizons of Gender and Race (also offered as CAS EN 393)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one previous literature course or junior or senior standing. – Explores new media theory, postmodernist thought, social media, and video games to confront gender, race, and sexuality. Through critical reading, writing, and hands-on digital technology use, students consider how race, sexuality, and gender live in virtual worlds. Also offered as CAS EN 393. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Digital/Multimedia Expression
*CAS WS 395 - Inhuman Films: Gender, Animals, Machines (also offered as CAS CI 395)
Prereq: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 120). This course explores what happens to the “human” at the intersection of feminist theory and cinematic representation. How and why do films assign humanity to some figures and withhold it from others on the basis of race, gender, “ability,” etc.? Also offered as CI 395. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration.
*CAS WS 396 - Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality (also offered as CAS PH 256 and CAS PO 396
This course analyzes gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective. We focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and semantics to understand gender and sexuality as they exist within interlocking systems of oppression including racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and fatphobia. Also offered as CAS PH 256 and CAS PO 396. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 398 - Feminist Political Theory (also offered as CAS PO 398)
Introduces students to key texts, problems, and debates in western feminist political theory. Students study major feminist thinkers, and explore diverse approaches to crucial topics in the field: such as “white feminism,” marriage, disability, sex, and pornography. Also offered as PO 398.
*CAS WS 400 - Gender and Healthcare (also offered as SAR HS 400
Prereq: CAS WR 120; or equivalent. This course focuses on strengthening students’ knowledge, skills, and ability to construct a critical appraisal of all the determinants, distribution, causes, mechanisms, systems, and consequences of health inequities related to gender including how gender influences and is influenced by healthcare systems. Also offered as SAR HS 400 A1. Effective Summer 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS WS 403 - Gender Stratification (also offered as CAS SO 403)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and at least two previous sociology courses; or consent of instructor. – Considers how the social production of gender contributes to various forms of gendered inequalities in employment, the family, dating markets, media representation, etc., with a special emphasis on how race, class, sexuality, and disability mediate the process. Also offered as SO 403.
CAS WS 405 - Topics in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
May be repeated for credit as topics change.
*CAS WS 420 - Queer Theory (also offered as CAS XL 420
Surveys major texts and arguments in queer theory from Butler’s Gender Trouble to contemporary discussions of cisnormativity, homonationalism, affect, pinkwashing, crip theory, and queer-of-color critique. Explores different uses of queer theory in legal debates, literary analysis, and cultural criticism. Also offered as XL 420. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 425 - Sex and the City (also offered as CAS SO 425)
An exploration of sexualities and place from an interdisciplinary perspective. Examines a broad range of places to consider how sexual lives and identities and place-related processes — from gentrification to suburbanization — interact. Considers the emplaced lives of a variety of actors, from transgender individuals to sex workers and cisgender heterosexual patrons of gay bars. Also offered as SO 425. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: The Individual in Community.
CAS WS 430 - Global Maternal and Child Health (also offered as SAR HS 430)
Prereq: senior standing. Provides a global perspective on maternal and child health. Major topics include early life influences on later life health, maternity care practices worldwide, and the role of both human evolutionary history and sociopolitical structures in shaping health outcomes for women and children. Also offered as SAR HS 430.
*CAS WS 431 - Genders, Sexualities, and Youth Cultures (also offered as CAS SO 431)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior standing or consent of instructor. – Investigates the social construction of gender and sexuality in adolescence. Engaging critical approaches to youth cultures, the course examines the structural conditions that shape gender and sexuality norms and the ways youth navigate and redefine their social worlds. Also offered as SO 431 , SO 631, and WS 631. Effective Fall 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 432 - S24: Gender, Sexuality, and Buddhism (also offered as CAS RN 432
Examines gender and sexuality in various Buddhist cultures from a broad range of time periods such as ancient India, medieval China, and modern America. Topics include: family, the body, lust, abortion, and menstruation. Also offered as RN 432. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 434 - Monarchy in Modern Britain (also offered as CAS HI 434
A seminar probing seminal moments in the history of modern British sovereignty, when the politics of the court intersected with the politics of the people. Particular consideration is given to how monarchy has survived as an institution. Also offered as CAS HI 434. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 435 - Histories of Human Rights (also offered as CAS HI 435
Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. – Traces Westerners’ development of a humanitarian sensibility in the eighteenth century and considers how this sensibility was deployed in struggles over the rights of various groups during the modern period. Emphasis on Anglo-American contributions. Also offered as CAS HI 435.
CAS WS 442 - Philosophies and Feminism (also offered as CAS PH 442
Undergraduate pre-requisites: two courses in philosophy or consent of instructor. – An advanced survey course of historical and contemporary philosophical approaches to feminism. Topics include: methodology, ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, black feminist thought, decolonial feminism, global feminism, philosophy of gender, and queer and trans philosophy. Also offered as PH 442, PH 642, and WS 642.
*CAS WS 445 - Women, Gender, and Islam (also offered as CAS RN 435
Undergraduate prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS WR 100 or 120). – Investigates the way Muslim religious discourse, norms, and practices create and sustain gender and hierarchy in religious, social, and familial life. Looks at historical and contemporary challenges posed to these structures. – Also offered as RN 435. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS WS 450 - Internships
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing; or two prior WGS electives; or consent of i nstructor. – A seminar which introduces students to the practices/ideas of social change organizations through local internships and weekly discussions related to class, race, sexuality, women and gender.
*CAS WS 451 - Fashion as History (also offered as CAS HI 451
This seminar treats clothing and other products of material culture as historical documents. Explores what clothing can tell us about key developments in the modern period relating to trade and commerce, empire, gender, class, industry, revolution, nation-building, identity politics, and globalization. Also offered as HI 451. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
*CAS WS 452 - Contemporary Debates in Sexualities Research (also offered as CAS SO 452
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASSO241 OR CASWS200), First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) – Engages sociological debates about sexual identities, politics, and practices. Students consider how sexualities are expressed and regulated through various institutions and how they intersect with race, class, gender, citizenship, and other domains of inequality. Also offered as CAS SO 452 and SO 852. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 453 - Topics in Religion and Sexuality (also offered as CAS RN 453)
Exploration of key topics and themes in the study of religion and sexuality, especially as they intersect with gender, race, and politics. Historical periods and religious contexts will vary according to instructor. Also offered as RN 453. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
*CAS WS 456 - Neurobiology of Sex and Aggression (also offered as CAS NE 456)
Examines neurobiological and genetic factors that influence sex and violence. Students review primary literature from the past century that highlights major scientific discoveries that have reconceptualized our understanding of the origins of sexual-determination, -attraction and – aggression. Also offered as NE 456. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry II.
CAS WS 458 - The Nonbinary Nineteenth Century (also offered as CAS LF 458)
Undergraduate prerequisite: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120). – Examines fictional and non fictional works from nineteenth-century France on themes of sexual and gender identity, contextualized through contemporary queer, trans, and feminist theory.
*CAS WS 460 - Topics in LGBTQ History
Undergrad prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS WR100 or WR120). – Seminar examines topics in the history of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) people and cultural or political movements. May be repeated for credit if topics vary. Topic for Fall 2024: Queer America. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Oral and Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
*CAS WS 465 - Interesctionalities: Theories, Methods, Praxis (also offered as CAS SO 465)
Examines neurobiological and genetic factors that influence sex and violence. Students review primary literature from the past century that highlights major scientific discoveries that have reconceptualized our understanding of the origins of sexual-determination, -attraction and – aggression. Also offered as SO 465, SO 865, and WS 665. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry II.
CAS WS 479 - Fatal Women and Dangerous Bodies (also offered as CAS LF 479)
Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120). – Examines depictions of the femme fatale and fears of female sexuality in realist, naturalist and decadent French fictions.
*CAS WS 480 - Japanese Women Writers (also offered as CAS LJ 480)
Classic texts by Japanese women, including the “Tale of Genji” and “The Pillow Book,” and their modern legacy, read alongside important philosophical and theoretical texts in queer and feminist thought. Lectures and texts in English. Also offered as LJ 480. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 505 - Topics in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
May be repeated for credit as topic changes.
*CAS WS 507 - Diversity of Sex (also offered as CAS BI 507)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior or graduate standing, WR 120 or equivalent, and at least one of the following courses or equivalent: CAS BI 225, BI 309, BI 315, BI 4 07, or BI 410; or consent of instructor – Examines the integrative and comparative biology of sex and sexes based on readings drawn from recent primary literature, review papers, and book chapters. Also offered as BI 507. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
CAS WS 512 - Sexual Violence (also offered as MET CJ 512 and MET PS 512)
This course engages the topics of sexual deviance and sexual trauma through multiple lens. These lenses include psychological, sociological, criminal justice, public health, and social justice perspectives. The course explores multiple facets of understanding sexual deviance and sexual trauma including legal and philosophical perspectives, historical activism, understanding and treatment of sexual offending, and survivor responses. The roles of multiple systems including the media, mental health organization and the criminal justice system are taken into account. This course includes ongoing group work that engages critical inquiry, addressing relevant topics in sexual trauma in practical ways. Students utilize knowledge of theory and research methodology to pursue real world responses to issues of sexual violence and trauma. Also offered as MET CJ 512 and MET PS 512.
CAS WS 525 - Judith Butler (also offered as CAS PH 525 and CAS XL 525)
Undergraduate prerequisites: two previous XL, WS, or PH courses; or consent of instructor. Graduate prerequisites: graduate standing. – An intensive study of Judith Butler’s philosophical thought and social theory from the 1990s to the present, with an emphasis on the continuities and discontinuities between Butler’s early work on gender performativity and more recent writings on racial justice, war, and violence. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, The Individual in Community, and Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 530 - Global Intimacies: Sex, Gender, and Contemporary Sex (also offered as CAS AN 530)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: advanced undergraduate standing or graduate standing, or consent of in structor. – Explores theoretical and ethnographic approaches to gender, sex, and sexuality as linked to globalizing discourses and transnational mobilities. Readings and discussion emphasize intersections of sex, gender, labor, love, and marriage in a globalized world. Also offered as CAS AN 530.
*CAS WS 542 - Language, Race, and Gender (also offered as CAS XL 542)
Do women talk differently from men? How do race and ethnicity relate to the way people use language? This course examines these interrelated questions from the perspective of modern sociolinguistic theory, analyzing a range of languages and communities throughout the world. Also offered as XL 542.
*CAS WS 559 - Feminist Killjoys & Cynical Queers (also offered as CAS EN 558)
Prerequisite: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120). – This class examines the “affective turn,” which has been marked by a shift towards bodily sensation, structures of feeling, and modes of relationality. We pay particular attention to cultural constructions of emotion such as happiness, shame, anger, and fear.
*CAS WS 562 - Studies in Asexualities (also offered as CAS EN 562)
Pre- Requisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) – Writing intensive seminar that explores asexuality studies as well as various kinds of sexual and romantic absences in contemporary literature, literary analysis, and critical theory with particular attention to race and disability. Also offered as EN 562. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive, The Individual in Community, Aesthetic Exploration.
*CAS WS 594 - Advanced Feminist Theory (also offered as CAS PO 594)
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. – This seminar explores advanced readings in feminist and queer theory on a focused topic or topics: for example, the politics of love and sex, reproductive politics, feminist theory and climate change, or the politics of gender and violence. This course does not carry Hub credit. Also offered as PO 594.