The Minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is an 18 unit interdisciplinary course of study that takes as its central object of study gender and sexuality in culture and society. This minor draws upon the traditions of feminist and LGBTQ scholarship in a wide variety of disciplines, from the natural and social sciences through the humanities and arts. Although the field of women’s studies has always looked at the construction of gender and gendered roles and representations, the inclusion of gender and sexuality studies makes the focus both general and specific: students critically analyze gender and sexuality in the contexts of class, race, ethnicity, gender identity, ability, and sexual orientation, and explore gender and sexuality as a instruments of power, as a set of cultural meanings to be interpreted, and as a set of bodily performances and experiences.

Students from any major may elect to minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in order to understand the ways in which gender and sexuality affects their other fields of study. Courses that comprise the minor must be selected with the approval of a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies adviser.