Previously Offered As GLQS 200

GLQS 100

(previously offered as GLQS 200)

Introduction to LGBTQ Studies

Your Instructor

·  Name: Anuj Vaidya

·  Office: Dickson Hall 154

·  Office Hours: By Appointment (Online or In-Person)

·  Email:

·  Phone: 510-529-8917

Course Introduction

Content: This course introduces students to current research in the study of same-sex individuals, relationships and communities and the social construction framework for analyzing contemporary gendered identities, sexualities, and the discourses and practices that maintain them. The course will address both contemporary and historical issues, and will explore local, national and transnational perspectives relating to these communities. The course will use an inter-disciplinary framework to examine these issues, including selections from History, Art History, Psychology, Science Studies, Literature, Film Studies, Queer Studies, Gender Studies, and more.

The course will examine Histories of Sexuality including attitudes and perspectives relating to homosexuality from antiquity to contemporary times, including the gay liberation movement of the 20th century, attitudes towards homosexuality in the medical establishment; Representations of Sexuality including issues related to the representation and visibility of lesbians and gays in the mainstream media, film, and television; Politics of Sexuality including issues related to contemporary issues in LGBTQ social/political movements of the 20th and 21st centuries including HIV/AIDS, gay marriage, the nature versus nurture debate, and hate crime/bullying; and Intersections with Sexuality including issues of race, class, religion, globalization and how they intersect with LGBTQ issues. Special attention will be given to transnational issues and to the intersections between gender and sexuality.

Activities: You will be expected to participate in group discussions, maintain a journal, take quizzes, and undertake research projects. Collaboration and interaction with the rest of your cohort is just as important for your final grade, as your individualized work – so please keep that in mind.

Structure: This course is a hybrid course, which means that we will be meeting once as as group on a weekly basis, and the rest of the work will be conducted online. In order to complete the course, you must complete the readings and activities under each of the learning units listed below. Each unit will have multiple modules, and more details for each of the modules will be posted every Tuesday at 9am. Please make sure to complete the required readings/viewings/activities before coming to class the following Monday.

Required Text

• There are no required texts for this course. All readings will be posted with the appropriate modules, either as online links or as pdfs.

• This course will have weekly viewings, most of which will be accessible via free streaming on the internet. There might be a few films that will require purchase through amazon (or another online source), but costs related to these will be minimal (no more than $50 total for the semester, possibly much lower).

Assessment and Grading

The final course grade will be based upon the following activities:

Journal: All students will be expected to complete 3 journal entries through the semester in response to specific questions, readings/viewings, or issues that arise out of class discussions. (20% of grade)

Discussions: All students will be expected to participate in discussions (both in-class and possibly online). (25% of grade)

Quizzes: There will be one exam at end-semester - in addition to pop-up quizzes throughout the semester. (25% of grade)

Research Projects: Students will participate in two collaborative research projects/presentations based around specific research topics or field trips/activities. More details on these will be available with the appropriate modules. (30% of grade)

PART 1: HISTORIES AND REPRESENTATIONS

Week 1 & 2

Gay Liberation in America

To examine the origins of the gay and lesbian liberation movement; To understand the social, political and historical contexts that led to the movement; To understand how perceptions of gays and lesbians in America changed over the first half of the 20th century; To examine the history, legacy and social politics of the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis; to examine the legacy of the Stonewall riots and how things have changed since the 1970s

Readings:

• Wikipedia entry for the Mattachine Society

• Wikipedia entry for the Daughters of Bilitis

Viewing:

• Before Stonewall (1984) Directors: Greta Schiller, Robert Rosenberg

• AARP TV: Stonewall, 40 Years Later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTujTI8rGBg

Weeks 2 & 3

Homosexuality and the Medical Establishment

To examine attitudes towards homosexuality in the medical establishment in the West in the 20th century; To examine the legacy of psychologist Evelyn Hooker, and her pioneering work on de-pathologizing homosexuality; To examine the issue of gay conversion therapy

Readings:

1. UN Panel Questions Gay Conversion Therapy in US (MSNBC Online, November 2014): http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gay-conversion-therapy-un-committee

Viewing: Changing our Minds: The Story of Dr. EvelynHooker(1992), Dir: Richard Schmiechen

Weeks 4 & 5

Homosexuality in the Ancient World

To examine attitudes towards homosexuality in the ancient world, specifically Greece and Rome; To compare attitudes towards homosexuality between the past and the present; To explore historical representations of homosexuality in art (paintings, pottery, etc)

Readings:

1. Excerpt from Gay Life and Culture (Ed, Robert Aldrich): Charles Huppert's Homosexuality in Greece and Rome

2. The Image of Ganymede in France, 1730-1820: The Survival of a Homoerotic Myth, Michael Preston Worley (Art Bulletin, Dec 1994)

Viewing: Zeus & Ganymede: Two Loves (2012), Dir: Mark Pope

Collaborative Research Project: This is a research-based group assignment where each group will be examining representations of homosexuality in non-contemporary and primarily non-western cultures (Turkish/Arabic/Persian, East Asian, South Asian, African/Egyptian, The Americas) through art. Each group is responsible for presenting two works of visual art (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc) as part of the project - preferably one that represents gay love and one that represents lesbian love. Along with the works of art, you must include a one-page statement on: why your group chose that particular piece of art, details about the art work, and the socio-cultural and political context - both in terms of artistic production and in terms of attitudes towards homosexuality.

Weeks 5 & 6

Same-Sex Love in South Asia

To examine historical attitudes towards homosexuality in South Asia; To examine how these attitudes have changed over time and the reasons for these changes; To explore historical representations of homosexuality in literature

Readings:

1. Rohit Dasgupta's Queer Sexuality: A Cultural Narrative of India's Historical Archive (Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, Vol 3, No 4, 2011)

2. Lihaaf: The Quilt, a short story by Ismat Chughtai

Viewing: Fire (1996), Dir: Deepa Mehta

Week 7

Coming Out of the Celluloid Closet

To examine the history of gays and lesbians in Hollywood cinema; To examine how these representations have changed over time; To examine how these changes reflect, or go against, social and cultural politics of the time

Readings:

1. Chapter 1, New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut, B. Ruby Rich (Duke University Press, 2013)

Viewing:

1. The Celluloid Closet (Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, 1995)

2. Selections from Television including The Ellen Show, Morning News with Anderson Cooper, Empire, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, etc.

SPRING BREAK

PART 2: POLITICS AND INTERSECTIONS

Weeks 8 & 9:

Race and Sexuality

To examine the intersections of race and sexuality in America; To examine the similarities between the invention race and the invention of sexuality; To examine how these 'scientific' readings have shaped the social and cultural politics of our time

Readings:

1. Scientific Racism and the Emergence of the Homosexual Body, Siobhan Sommerville (Journal of the History of Sexuality, June 1994)

Viewings:

1. Tongues Untied (1989), Dir: Marlon Riggs

2. Watermelon Woman (1997), Dir: Cheryl Dunye

Week 9:

The Gay Gene

To examine the politics of the hunt for a gay gene; To examine eugenics in relation to the hunt for a gay gene

Readings:

1. The Problematic Hunt for a 'Gay' Gene (The Daily Beast, Nov 2014): http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/20/the-problematic-hunt-for-a-gay-gene.html

2. Heterosexuality as a Prenatal Social Problem, Jose Gabilondo (from Baby Markets, Ed: Michele Bratcher Goodwin)

Week 10:

The Politics of AIDS

To examine the political and scientific history of the AIDS virus; To examine how the gay community was implicated in the politics of AIDS; To examine LGBTQ activism around AIDS

Readings:

1. Zachary Quinto Responds to Controversy Around his PrEP Remarks (Towleroad.com, November 2014): http://www.towleroad.com/2014/11/zachary-quinto-responds-to-controversy-surrounding-his-prep-remarks.html

2. CDC Report on HIV in Youth: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/age/youth/index.html?s_cid=tw_std0141316

Viewings:

1. And the Band Played On (1994), Dir: Roger Spottiswoode

2. Excerpt from Democracy Now! Interview with Peter Staley

3. Excerpt from United in Anger: A History ACT UP (2014), Dir: Jim Hubbard

Weeks 11 & 12:

Queering Gender

To examine the theory of gender performativity; To examine the differences between sex and gender; To examine transgender and intersex identities and rights

Readings:

1. What Chelsea Manning Has Won, Emily Greenstone (Bloomberg Politics, March 2015): http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-03-10/chelsea-manning-s-next-chapter

2. The Fire on the 57 Bus in Oakland, Dashka Slater (New York Times, January 2015): http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/magazine/the-fire-on-the-57-bus-in-oakland.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Viewings:

1. XXY (2007, Argentina), Dir: Lucia Puenzo

2. Judith Butler, Your Behavior Creates Your Gender (Big Think):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc&list=PLF3F0D9C9D5CF1569&index=3

3. Excerpt from Barbara Walters interview with Jazz (11 year old transgender kid): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJw3s85EcxM

4. A Boy, A Girl, A Gender Revolutionary: An interview with iO Tillet Wright (Style Like U): http://stylelikeu.com/the-whats-underneath-project-2/boy-girl-gender-revolutionary/#K4TTGypBY0sB703J.01

Week 12:

Queer Politics

To examinehow heteronormativity works; To understand how sexual politics is used to establish social order; To understand the ethos and ethics of queer politics

Readings:

1. Introduction from Fear of a Queer Planet, Michael Warner (Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1994)

Weeks 13 & 14:

Student Presentations

In-class group presentations and student-led discussions on a variety of topics including LGBTQ Representations in the Media, Gays and Religion, Gays in the Military, Issues related to gay youth, Issues related to ageing in the LGBTQ community, Bullying in Schools, Gay Marriage, etc