131-024 The Body: History, Sex & Gender

Formerly available as 131-207/307. Students who have completed 131-207 or 131-307 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually 12.5 points of first year history, or first year gender studies.

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. This subject explores the ways in which the body was read in earlier societies and how those readings have changed. In particular, we examine the development of the bourgeois body; the 19th century's inscription of new, stricter genderings onto the body; and the concomitant development of the homosexual body. Students should complete the subject with an understanding of the different readings of the body in recent and contemporary society, and of the construction of the slender body, the gay and lesbian body, and the gendered body of the late 20th century.

• demonstrate research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;

• show critical thinking and analysis through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument;

• demonstrate understanding of social, ethical and cultural context through the contextualisation of judgements, developing a critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and possibilities and by constructing an argument;

• be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion.

A 200 word essay proposal and bibliography for the research essay 10% (due early semester), a 300 word research essay 40% (due mid-semester) a 1500 word reflective essay 40% which can be taken, at each students's option, either as a 1500 word take-home paper or a 1.5 hour unseen paper and class participation 10% during the semester.