131-207 The Body: History, Sex and Gender

Note

Available as 131-307 at 3rd-year level.

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Subject Description

The human body is a social construction which has its own history. Beauty, desire, and even sex have been read into the body in different ways in the past. The subject explores the ways in which the body was read in earlier societies and how those readings changed. In particular, we examine the development of the bourgeois body, the nineteenth century's inscription of new, stricter genderings onto the body, and the concomitant development of the homosexual body. We explore the different readings of the body in recent and contemporary society, seeking to understand the slender body, the gay and lesbian body, and the gendered body of the late twentieth century.

Assessment

Tutorial participation (10%) and written work totalling not more than 5000 words.