Queer Studies Minor/Course Descriptions

NOTE: We are in the process of reviewing our course patterns and prerequisites. If you are unable to register for a course because of a prerequisite requirement, please contact Prof Ketchum at kketchum@fullerton.edu

Core Courses: (12 units)

  • WGST 105 Introduction to Queer Studies
    Introduces the field of Queer Studies by examining foundational theoretical texts, contemporary scholarship, and cultural productions that address questions concerning power, desire, sex, politics, bodies, nationalism, citizenship, transnationalism, and race.Units: (3)

  • WMST 360 Politics of Sexuality
    A critical examination of the cultural politics of sexuality within the United States and across national and cultural boundaries using feminist theories and methods. A focus on sexual controversies illuminates the relationship between sex, power and social change.

  • WMST 420 Queer Theory
    This course examines contemporary theories and debates within the interdisciplinary field of Queer Studies. The emphasis is on the construction of sexualized and gendered difference and the various ways in which practices relating to these identity categories are lived, celebrated, and contested. Students will learn to critically assess otherness and difference as an economic, political, and social category.

And take one of the following two course options

  • PSYC 456 The Psychological Study of LGB Experiences
    This course introduces students to the scientific study of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Major themes of the course include: identity development and disclosure, social and gender roles, stigma, minority stress, same-sex relationships, and parenting.

Or

  • AMST 473 Sexual Orientations and American Culture
    Cultural construction of the very idea of a sexual orientation. Shifting meanings of erotic attraction and involvement in America, especially regarding people of the same sex, from the colonial period to the present.

Elective Courses: (9 units)

  • AMST 413 The Shifting Role & Image of the American Male,
    The effect of economic, social, political, and cultural changes on American males. Emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.

  • AMST 377 Prejudice and American Culture
    Concepts and methods of American culture studies as tools for better understanding the origins and appeal of intolerance, past and present. Particular focus on racism, ethnic and religious bias, sexism, and homophobia.

  • AMST 419 Love in America
    Examines changes in the emotional lives of American men and women from the 17th century to the present. Concentrates on enduring and innovative views on the nature of love and the cultural forces that shape its legitimate and illegitimate expression.

  • ANTH 316 Anthropology of Sex and Gender
    Prerequisites: completion of G. E. Category III.C.1. Human sex and gender roles in cross-cultural perspective and the role that gender plays in human social organization. Topics include cultural construction of gender; homosexuality, rights of women, evolution and gender. One or more sections offered online. (Same as Women & Gender Studies 316)

  • ASAM 344 Asian Pacific American Identities
    Interdisciplinary explorations of the ways in which those of Pacific Islander, Southeast, South and East Asian descent have met the challenge of being American at the personal level. Covers social construction of racial/ethnic identities, cultural conflict, self-determination and personal growth. 

  • CAS 380 Adolescent Sexuality and Intimate Relationships
    Examines current trends, potential risks, and opportunities associated with adolescents’ involvement in sexual and intimate relationships from a normative developmental perspective. The socio-ecological contexts (e.g., families, peers, culture) of adolescents’ sexual and relational attitudes/behaviors are a central focus. 

  • CHIC 313 La Chicana
    Cultural influences that the family, religion, economic status and community play upon the lifestyles, values and roles held by Chicanas. One or more sections offered online. (Same as Women & Gender Studies 313) 

  • CHIC 305 The Chicano Family
    The Chicano family’s development as an American social institution. Historical, cross-cultural perspectives, and the social and psychological dynamics of the Chicano family are discussed. 

  • HIST 437C Gender in Russia and the Soviet Union
    A thematic introduction to the history of gender in Russian society. The experiences of both men and women are discussed analytically. The class also focuses on familial relationships and the experiences of children in Russia and the Soviet Union. 

  • HIST 437B Gender and Sexuality in Modern European History
    Nature of masculinity and femininity as they determined and were determined by specific historical forces, the importance of the irrational and unconscious in history, and gender as a primary determinant of patterns of work and life in Europe.

  • HUSR 311/AFRO 311 Intracultural Socialization Patterns
    Patterns of role learning as they vary within subpopulations; changes over time in the values, attitudes, and goals of both the general culture and of subcultures; stereotypes and realities; understanding and dealing with cultural variation as well as cultural “norms.”

  • PHIL 325 Philosophy of Sex and Love strong>
    Prerequisite: completion of G. E. Category III.B.2. Philosophical approaches to love, friendship, marriage and eroticism. Nature of love, relationship between sexuality and love, gender roles and gender equality. Investigation of ethical and legal controversies in sexuality, marriage and privacy.

  • PHIL 343 Philosophy of Feminism
    Prerequisite: three units of philosophy or three units of women’s studies. Critical examination of philosophical issues connected with “second-wave” U.S. feminism. Alternative feminist theories, goals and reconstruction of traditional areas of philosophy. (Same as Women & Gender Studies 343). 

  • PHIL 377 Philosophical Approaches to Race, Class, and Gender
    Prerequisite: one upper-division philosophy course, or course focused on race, class, or gender. Philosophical and interdisciplinary analyses of race, class and gender. Class time divided between assessment of influential theories and writers and development of Internet and interactive research.

  • PHIL 383 Philosophy of the Body strong>
    This course explores phenomenology and its implications for the female and the male body, examining how correcting philosophy's bias toward the mind informs our understanding of social hierarchy, gender identity, and exclusion from public life. 

  • PSYC 312 The Psychology of Human Sexual Behavior
    Prerequisite: Psych 101. Topics in human sexual behavior integrating sexuality as biological, social, clinical and developmental. Surveys and statistics of sexual behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual variations, causes and treatment of sexual dysfunctions. Legal, moral and social issues.Units: (3)

  • SOCI 354 Sociology of Gender
    The critical examination of gender as a social and institutional construct, including analyses of identity, sexuality, media, family, work, economy, the state, and global relations.

  • SOCI 357 Race and Ethnic Relations
    Development and current conditions of minority/majority relations through study of social, political and economic causes and consequences of prejudice and discrimination. Evolutionary and revolutionary movements for change will be studied. One or more sections offered online.

  • SOCI 381 Sociology of Sexualities
    Study of the sociological aspects of sexualities, socio-historical and comparative perspectives; relationships of sexual constructs to life cycle, gender, race, class, nation and power.

*If both PSYC 456 and AMST 473 are taken, one will count toward 3 units of minor electives. No more than 6 units of electives can come from the same department.

*For Queer Studies advising please contact :
Dr. Karyl Ketchum kketchum@fullerton.edu