University of Essex

PA991-7-FY-CO:
Foundations in Gender and Sexuality Studies

The details

Year: 2023/24

Department: Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Full Year

Level: Postgraduate: Level 7

Status: Current

Start date: Thursday 05 October 2023

End date: Friday 28 June 2024

Credits: 30

Last updated: 24 August 2023

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: (none)

Key module (requisite for): PA994

Key module for

MA L32112 Gender and Sexuality Studies,
MA L32124 Gender and Sexuality Studies

Module description

This module seeks to ground students in the interdisciplinary theories that have been essential to feminist theory, queer theory, and the study of gender and sexuality more broadly.

In this respect, the course proceeds both thematically and chronologically, covering some of the 'canonical' feminist and queer interventions and methods, such as rights-based liberal feminism; radical feminism; Black feminism; Marxist feminism; standpoint epistemology; transnational feminism; ecofeminism; intersectionality; AIDS & LGBT activism; queer theory; and trans studies. But, by approaching these texts through contemporary and transportable concepts (like 'borders', 'pandemics', 'mothers,' 'environments', and 'the gaze') we will emphasize the enduring relevance of these foundational texts for making sense of current social experiences and cultural objects. The course would conclude with a political meditation on the transformative potential of queer and trans media and cultural production through trans performance artist Mykki Blanco's recitation of Zoe Leonard's "I Want a Dyke for President" (2016). In this final class session, we would juxtapose Blanco's performance with our second text, Beyoncé's "Flawless," as a way of considering their different political aspirations and thus of charting the distance travelled throughout the course.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

1. To ensure students understand the differences between sex, gender, and sexuality
2. To introduce students to the canonical texts in feminist theory, queer theory, and gender and sexuality studies
3. To provide students with global and intersectional understandings of how gender and sexuality are shaped by different positionalities and identities, such as race, class, nationality, religion, and dis/ability
4. To expose students to multiple critical methods central to these fields, including Marxist feminism, Black feminism, queer theory, psychoanalytic feminism, standpoint epistemology, feminist philosophy of science, ecofeminism, etc
5. To foster in students a critical awareness of gender and sexuality as social constructs
6. To enable students to apply theory to everyday cultural objects, including visual culture and film

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will have:

1. A working knowledge of the key methods and movements foundational to feminist theory, queer theory, and GSS broadly
2. A thorough understanding of how gender and sexuality are socially, historically, and politically constructed, both locally and globally
3. Familiarity with how gender and sexuality intersect with formations of class, race, family, labor, environment, normativity, objectivity, capital, colonialism, politics, and health.
4. The ability to compare, evaluate, and contrast key methods and debates in gender and sexuality studies
5. An understanding of the impact of gender and sexuality on daily life
6. An awareness of the multi-disciplinarity of gender and sexuality studies and an understanding of different analytic styles, methods, and objects.

Module information

Indicative syllabus:

Introduction
Origin Stories: Rights & Equalities
Histories
The Unconscious
Mothers
The Gaze
Power & Pleasure
Intersectionality
Work
Borders: Transnational Feminism & Globalization
Environments: Ecofeminism, Nature, & the Politics of Land
Pandemics: AIDS, Mourning, & LGBTQ Activism
Queer & Now?
Performativity
Transgender, Trans-generation: "Be an academic guerrilla"

Learning and teaching methods

19x 2 hour per week seminars

Bibliography

Bell Hooks (no date) ‘Theory as Liberatory Practice’, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, 4(1). Available at: https://heinonline-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/HOL/Page?lname=&public=false&collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/yjfem4&men_hide=false&men_tab=toc&kind=&page=1.
Ahmed, S. (2017) Living a feminist life. Durham: Duke University Press. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv11g9836.2.
‘Beyoncé - ***Flawless ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’ (2014). YouTube: Beyoncé. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuUWOnS9BY.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the M’Clintock family (19AD) ‘Declaration of Sentiments.’ Available at: https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm.
National Organization for Women (no date) ‘Statement of Purpose - The National Organization for Women’s 1966 Statement of Purpose.’ Available at: https://now.org/about/history/statement-of-purpose/.
Truth, S. (1851) ‘“Ain’t I a Woman” Speech’. Available at: https://thehermitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Sojourner-Truth_Aint-I-a-Woman_1851.pdf.
Davis, A. (1983) ‘Class and Race in the Early Women’s Rights Campaign’, in Women, Race & Class. New York, NY: Vintage Books, pp. 46–69. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/publication/2061934?accountid=10766.
Spade, D. (2015) Normal life: administrative violence, critical trans politics, and the limits of law. Duke University Press Books. Available at: https://heinonline-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.beal%2Fnormlifav0001&collection=beal.
Firestone, S. (2015) The dialectic of sex: the case for feminist revolution. London: Verso. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5177241.
Wittig, M. (1992) ‘One is not born a woman’, in The straight mind and other essays. Boston: Beacon Press.
Koedt, A., Levine, E. and Rapone, A. (1973) ‘The Feminists: A Political Organization to Annihilate Sex Roles’, in Radical Feminism. New York, NY: Quadrangle Books, pp. 368–378.
Koedt, A. (no date) ‘Women and the Radical Movement.’ Available at: https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/koedt-anne/radical-movement.htm.
Rubin, G. (1975) ‘The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex’, in Toward an Anthropology of Women. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press.
Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000) Sexing the body: gender politics and the construction of sexuality. New York: Basic Books. Available at: https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/410675.
Fausto-Sterling, A. and Trajanoski, Ž. (2004) ‘The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough’, Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, 3(1), pp. 191–205. Available at: http://identitiesjournal.edu.mk/index.php/IJPGC/article/view/118.
Martin, E. (1991) ‘The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 16(3), pp. 485–501. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1086/494680.
Wiegman, R. (1995) ‘Sexing the Difference’, in American Anatomies. Duke University Press, pp. 43–78. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv11689jn.6.
The Combahee River Collective (2014) ‘A Black Feminist Statement’, Women’s Studies Quarterly, 42(3), pp. 271–280. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24365010.
Kimberle Crenshaw (1991) ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color’, Stanford Law Review, 43(6). Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039.
Nash, J. (2021) "Intersectional Iconography: Promise, Peril, Possibility” - Doing Gender Lecture. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgdA49p7-e4.
Davis, A.Y. and James, J. (1998) ‘The Approaching Obsolescence of Housework’, in The Angela Y. Davis reader. Malden, Mass: Blackwell.
Federici, S. (1975) Wages Against Housework. Available at: https://thecommoner.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/04-federici.pdf.
Parreñas, R.S. (2015) Servants of globalization: migration and domestic work. Second edition. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Available at: https://search-ebscohost-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1028663&site=ehost-live&authtype=sso&custid=s9814295.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam	Description	Coursework weighting
Coursework	Reflective Report 1	10%
Coursework	Reflective Report 2	10%
Coursework	Reflective Report 3	10%
Coursework	Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies - Keyword glossary	70%

Exam format definitions

Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Dr Carolyn Laubender, email: c.laubender@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff: Dr Carolyn Laubender

Contact details: ppspgt@essex.ac.uk Room 5A.202

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: No

Available to Outside Option: Yes

Available to Audit: Yes

External examiner

Name: Dr James Burford

Institution: Warwick University

Academic role: Assistant Professor of Global Education and International Development

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording: Of 38 hours, 38 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

Further information

Department website: Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

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Module Directory

PA991-7-FY-CO:Foundations in Gender and Sexuality Studies