2009 - 2010 University Catalog
Women’s Studies
521 S. Mountain, Lower Level
541-552-6750
Barbara Scott Winkler, Director
The women’s studies program is part of the Department of Social Sciences, Policy, and Culture. Women’s studies at Southern Oregon University is an interdisciplinary program emphasizing the teaching and study of women and gender in society, culture, and history. We focus on women as a diverse, heterogeneous group; courses in women’s studies examine the numerous ways in which gender intersects with multiple social forces and shapes human experience.
Students learn about themselves and the world through critical thinking and personal and social empowerment. Integrating various disciplines, women’s studies provides a supportive and challenging liberal arts education for students of any gender. Women’s studies also provides its own interpretive framework and emphasizes the relationship of classroom learning to social awareness and community involvement. The women’s studies program provides general education or service courses and offers a minor. The minor is supported by courses from other departments and programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, in addition to courses offered by the program under the WS prefix.
Students may also enroll in the Independent Interdisciplinary Minor (IIM) with women’s studies as either a primary or secondary area. For more information about the women’s studies minor or IIM, contact the program coordinator.
Requirements for the Minor
Required Courses (8 credits)
| Women in Society: Introduction to Women’s Studies (WS 201) | 4 |
| Feminist Theory in Action (WS 410) | 4 |
Electives (16 credits)*
| Gender Issues (ANTH 340) | 4 |
| Seminar: Women in Development (ANTH 407) | 4 |
| Activist Art (ARTH 399) | 4 |
| Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Art (ARTH 450) | 4 |
| Gender and Human Communication (COMM 425) | 4 |
| Gender, Politics, and Media (COMM 460) | 4 |
| Women Transforming Language (COMM 460B) | 4 |
| Culture, Identity, and Communication (COMM 460C) | 4 |
| Gender, Race, and Media (COMM 470) | 4 |
| Gender Issues in Economics (EC 340) | 4 |
| Class, Culture, and Feminism in Victorian and Edwardian England (ENG 341) | 4 |
| British Women Writers (ENG 367) | 4 |
| Women Writers in the U.S. (ENG 368) | 4 |
| British Novel After 1850 (ENG 418) | 4 |
| Chicano Subjectivities and the Intersection of Race, Gender, Class, Sexuality, and Religion (ENG 447) | 4 |
| Wilde’s Worlds: 1880s–1890s (ENG 447) | 4 |
| England’s Others: Victorian Literature of Immigration and Empire (ENG 447) | 4 |
| Nonwestern Literature (ENG 455) | 4 |
| Topics in Women’s Writing (ENG 498) | 4 |
| Human Sexuality (PSY 369) | 4 |
| Seminar: Feminism as Therapy (PSY 407) | 4 |
| Psychology of Women (PSY 492) | 4 |
| Lesbian and Gay Studies (PSY 495) | 4 |
| Women in Science (BI 385) | 3 |
| Poverty, Family, and Policy (SOC 304) | 4 |
| Sociology of the Family (SOC 312) | 4 |
| Sociology of Gender Roles (SOC 340) | 4 |
| Feminist Social Thought (SOC 407) | 4 |
| Social Inequality (SOC 434) | 4 |
| International Women’s Movements (WS 301) | 4 |
| Contemporary U.S. Women’s Movements (WS 302) | 4 |
| Gender and the Body (WS 343) | 4 |
| Reading and Conference (WS 405) | TBA |
| A Cultural History of the Breast (WS 407) | 4 |
| Sexual Politics in U.S. History (WS 417) | 4 |
Note: Other SSC 399 and 407 courses are occasionally offered for women’s studies credit.
Courses from the Women’s Studies Summer Forum, which is offered through Extended Campus Programs, also count toward credit for the women’s studies minor. See the summer course listing or contact the program office for more information.
Students are strongly advised to plan their course of study with the program director. They are also urged to complete an application for minor degree status. Applications are available at the program office.
*The 16 elective credits for the women’s studies minor must be upper division. Of these 16 elective credits, no more than three courses can be from the same prefix.
Women’s Studies Courses
See Course Prerequisites PolicyLower Division Courses
| WS 201 Women in Society: Introduction to Women’s Studies |
| 4 credits |
| Provides an introductory survey of the concepts, issues, and new scholarship on women and gender in American society. Sources and readings are drawn from different disciplines, including literature, history, philosophy, sociology, psychology, communication, economics, and the arts. Topics may include gender relations in the home and workplace, language and gender, body image, media, sexuality, intimate relationships, the dynamics of patriarchy, diversity and differences among women, the intersection of gender with race and class dynamics, violence against women, feminism, and women’s movements. Approved for University Studies (Explorations). |
Upper Division Courses
| WS 301 International Women’s Movements |
| 4 credits |
| Examines contemporary feminist movements worldwide. Explores the emergence or re-emergence of feminist organizing in the U.S., Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Topics include the relationship of religion, race, class, and sexual orientation to conceptualizations of feminism worldwide; women’s rights as human rights; economic development, transnational corporations and their impact on women’s roles; and sexual rights and reproductive freedom. Prerequisite: Completion of all lower division University Studies requirements. |
| WS 302 Contemporary U.S. Women’s Movements |
| 4 credits |
| Explores the origins of contemporary feminist movements in the U.S. Examines such controversial topics as pornography, date/acquaintance rape, sexual harassment, abortion, and reproductive rights. Studies the history of feminist social movements, organizations, and the development of feminist social theory. Includes the contributions of feminists of color and lesbian feminists and looks at the ways in which race, class, and sexual orientation affect women’s lives. Approved for University Studies (Integration). |
| WS 343 Gender and the Body |
| 4 credits |
| Explores how bodies are gendered in social contexts with an emphasis on U.S. society and Western culture. May include, but is not limited to, an exploration of women’s and men’s body images, identities, relationships with food and eating, health and healthcare, sexualities, (dis)abilities, bodies and sports, commodification, reproduction, deviant bodies, transgendered bodies, and intersexuality. Examines gendered bodies as expressions of the self and of society, as objects of social control, and as sites of resistance and transformation. May be applied to the women’s studies minor. Approved for University Studies (Integration). Prerequisites: SOC 204 or WS 201 and completion of all lower division University Studies requirements. (Cross-listed with SOC 343.) |
| WS 399 Special Studies |
| Credits to be arranged |
| WS 401 Research |
| Credits to be arranged |
| Stresses the development of research and writing skills. Research projects must be approved by the program director and Women’s Studies Council. |
| WS 405/505 Reading and Conference |
| Credits to be arranged |
| WS 410 Feminist Theory in Action |
| 4 credits |
| Examines the relationship between feminist theory and related action, application, or activism. In addition to class attendance and participation, all students are required to engage in thirty hours of projects or placements that may include service learning, community-based learning, or independently devised individual or group projects involving social and cultural action. In-class time is divided between analyses of diverse feminist theories and collective discussion of student projects. Required of women’s studies minors and IIMs whose primary field is women’s studies. Open to all students with junior or senior standing. Prerequisites: Upper division standing and instructor consent. WS 201 highly recommended. |
| WS 417 Sexual Politics in U.S. History |
| 4 credits |
| Examines historical changes in and struggles over the meaning, regulation, and politics of sexuality in the United States from the period of settlement to the present. Explores the relationship of gender, race, class, and region to sexual experience and identity. Focuses on the rise of gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity and politics. Also investigates debates over sex education, birth control, prostitution, pornography, AIDS, and the moral panics elicited by these issues. Topics vary each term. |
| WS 418 Intimate Violence Victim Advocacy Skills |
| 4 credits |
| Provides forty hours of advocacy skills training for those interested in working with victims/survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, and other forms of sexual and domestic violence. Topics include: understanding the impact of sexual violence on victims/survivors, the social and cultural contexts in which sexual and domestic violence occurs, public policy and laws related to sexual and domestic violence, and the roles and limitations of services from advocates while they assist victims/survivors with law enforcement, the legal system, social services, and medical services. Prerequisite: Instructor consent or successful completion of WS 201. |
Graduate Courses
| WS 501 Graduate Research |
| 4 credits |
|
