Sexuality & Society
Course Description
This course is an exploration of sociological approaches to sexuality. We examine the ways that society shapes sexual identities, politics, and behaviors. And we confront the ways societies are structured by sex and sexuality. The course critically considers legal and medical designations of normality and dysfunction, and addresses the construction of sex and gender, otherness, exoticism, pornography, global politics, marriage, partnership, family, fertility, repression, and panic. Together we examine the linkages between social structures and human experience. The course also emphasizes theoretical research issues, especially how and to what degree our understanding of sexuality is a direct result of the processes we use to define sexuality. Students learn to critique popular discourses with critical sociological perspective and are encouraged to form their own opinions.
Students Said…
“This course is unlike any other I have taken at Boston College. It explores contemporary issues of sexuality that are so normalized many of us often fail to acknowledge them. I think this class could open a lot of students eyes and inform a more tolerant community.”
Student, Fall 2018
“It challenged me to question my own way of thinking about what is the norm, what is accepted, what is valued…”
Student, Fall 2018
“This course provided space for students to think and learn about gender and sexuality that is not otherwise offered at Boston College. This course is extremely relevant to our world today; It not only provides space to understand concepts that may have been previously confusing or unknown to students but also new ways of thinking about sexuality and the role it plays in our everyday lives.”
Student, Fall 2018