TEACHING

THE SOCIOLOGY OF SEXUALITY

This is an advanced seminar on the sociology of sexuality open to undergraduate and graduate students. In this course, we explore sexuality as a system of social organization and social stratification in contemporary United States and focuses on the ways social processes shape the way we think about, experience, and embody the erotic, sex, and sexual identities. We approach sexuality at multiple levels of social organization including the meaning and experience of the body, self, and identity, the social organization of everyday practices and relationships, and the structure of large-scale institutions, cultures, and societies. Paying particular attention to how sexuality is separate from but intersects with other systems of inequality, we spend a considerable amount of time analyzing how the social organization of the erotic is implicated in and produced through gender, racial, ethnic, and economic relations of inequality.

ISSUES IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER: DOING GENDER IN EVERYDAY LIFE

This class is designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students an advanced course in the sociology of gender and a capstone experience for sociology majors. The focus of the course is a theoretical and empirical exploration of the social processes through which gender difference and gender hierarchies intersect with race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality and are produced, sustained, and challenged through everyday practices. The course will be taught as a seminar in theory, research, and ethnographic methods in the fields of sociology and gender studies. This means that, in addition to becoming familiar with theory and research on gender, students will explore gender in everyday life through independent field research.

ADVANCED GENDER AND FEMINIST THEORY

In this course, the main goal is to explore, understand, and critique the ways in which feminist theorists have conceptualized gender and sexuality as systems or sites of power and social inequality. By adopting a socio-historical approach to knowledge, students learn how and why the analytic development and uses of the concepts woman, women, gender, sexuality, and power in feminist theory have shifted over time. This focus on the socio-historical and intellectual transition from what is considered “second wave” feminism to contemporary feminist theories, the course explores the transition from “Women’s Studies” to “Gender and Sexuality Studies” as, not just an intellectual/academic shift, but also a change in the socio-politics of gender and sexuality outside of the realm of academic theory. Students learn and utilize skills in critically engaging with, applying, and building feminist theory

ADVANCED SEXUALITY AND QUEER THEORY

This course is designed to provide students an advanced engagement with queer theory. The main objectives are threefold. First, students will gain an understanding of the social, political, and intellectual context in which queer theory has arisen, its effects on Gender and Sexuality Studies, and its relationship to critical race theory and feminist theory. Second, students will acquire a working knowledge of foundational texts and key concepts in sexuality studies and queer scholarship. Finally, students will learn and utilize skills in critically engaging with, applying, and building queer theory.

MONOGAMY, POLYSEXUALITIES, AND SOCIETY

This class is a sociological exploration of monogamy, mononormativity, and poly sexualities. We begin with monogamy as a central feature of social structure and identify how mononormativity and compulsory monogamy are implicated in race, gender, class, and sexual inequalities. We then explore different kinds of poly sexualities, including polyamory, swinging, “hooking up”, “The DL”, BDSM, threesomes, and group sex. With a critical and sociological eye, we ask how these forms of poly sexuality might or might not alter social relations in ways that transform not only our sense of self and our interpersonal relationships, but also the social structure of race, gender, class, and sexual inequalities.