Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (BA)

The Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Ohio State is one of the nation's top WGSS programs. The WGSS major is an interdisciplinary program that examines how systems of oppression, resistance and privilege operate. It is designed to provide students with an understanding of the importance of gender and sexuality as categories of analysis and their intersections with race, ethnicity, class, age, nationality and (dis)ability.

WGSS majors critique and analyze social, cultural, political, economic and scientific assumptions and practices that produce and maintain relations of inequality. WGSS students understand the ways in which people in all their diversity are affected by society, culture, and its institutions and can then affect social change.

Major Details

Future Students

Academic Advisors

Nadia Barksdale

barksdale.30@osu.edu
(614) 292-6961
337A University Hall
Department of English advisor

Affiliated Departments & Centers

Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Department of

Associated Facilities

University Hall

Areas of Study

Race, Sexualities and Social Justice

Gain intellectual tools to understand the social, cultural and political significance of race and sexuality and their intersections with other dimensions of difference and identity such as class, dis/ability, nationality, age and religion, in the U.S. and around the world. Courses reflect a variety of interdisciplinary frameworks, theoretical perspectives and empirical methods related to the study of social identities, patterns of inequality and political activisms linked to social justice.

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Narrative, Culture and Representation

Partake in discussions of race, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, religion and dis/ability through engaging cultural texts and production from both historical and contemporary perspectives. The arts, literature, mass and digital media are sites of inquiry, allowing students to comprehensively understand how and why representation matters and affects lived experiences of individuals and communities.

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Global and Transnational Feminisms

Study of feminist thinking and activism around the world. The concept of global feminism invites students to think about how feminism is expressed and invested in nationally or geographically specific locations. The concept of transnational refers to the multiple and complex ways that gender, race and sexuality are embedded in and produced by institutions, economies and global ideas.

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Power, Institutions and Economies

Examines how workplaces, schools, the government, police, prison, marriage and the home are all institutional places that shape experience, proscribe behavior or exclude non-normative bodies and people. Classes in this concentration examine how they affect women worldwide and how are they changing with globalization. Students study how feminists affect institutional policy and bureaucracies in search of more just futures.

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WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

The Ohio State University Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) is an interdisciplinary field of research and teaching that considers the ways gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and age, shape and are shaped by culture and society.

Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Website More WGSS Courses

Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies graduates are involved in many types of work: counseling; affirmative action and gender equity; rape education and prevention services; domestic violence, substance abuse and health concerns; career development and job training; and planning and implementation of public policy.

courses you might take:

WGSST 1110: Gender, Sex and Power

This course introduces students to the study of gender, sex, and power, drawing on a variety of literatures to analyze gender, race, sexuality, and other identities. This course also places the study of U.S. women in broader transnational contexts.

WGSST 2215: Reading Women Writers

Study of women writers' strategies for articulating experiences and using literature as a lens for social reality and catalyst for social and political change.

WGSST 3317: Hollywood, Women and Film

A critical survey of the rep. of women in Hollywood cinema, examples drawn from the 1930's to present. Learn how film has functioned in its representation of women and how and why women film makers have created alternative visions of women in film.

WGSST 4403: Gender and Leadership

Focuses on how gender can influence who becomes a leader, the styles of leadership they employ, and how effective leaders can be.

WGSST 4845: Gender, Sexuality and Science

Examination of relations between gender and science; topics include gendering of "science" and "nature," biological theories of sexual inequality, feminist critiques of science and technology.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Triota

Iota Iota Iota (Triota) is the WGSS Honor Society. The Greek letter "Iota" was selected for the name to represent the three goddesses Inanna, Ishtar, and Isis.

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FemUNITY

All undergraduate WGSS majors and minors are automatically members of femUNITY. Students then decide how much they want to be involved in the organizations, by serving as an officer or simply receiving our emails.

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Leadership Ohio

Leadership Ohio is a week long residential summer institute where students learn from women in politics and policymaking, as well as educators in the field of women and politics.

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