166-239 Sexual Politics

Note

Any student who has previously taken 166-106 Sexual Politics in 1995 is excluded from taking this subject.

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Normally 25 points of first year Politics; students with only 12.5 points in Politics may apply to the 2nd/3rd-year Coordinator.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject introduces ideas developed in feminist theory about the social and political construction of areas of experience relating to the body and sexuality. The social construction of gender; analysis of transsexualism, reproduction and women's bodies through motherhood, reproductive technology, eating disorders. The social and political construction of sexuality; issues of sexual orientation, pornography, rape and sexual violence. Feminist perspectives including radical, psychoanalytic, post-modern feminism. Students who complete this subject should be able to: understand the ways in which issues connected with the body and sexuality are socially and politically constructed understand the ways in which the construction of masculinity and femininity affects the learning and regulation of such areas of experience; apply a variety of feminist approaches to the analysis of these issues.

Assessment

Essay work totalling 5000 words.