History of Sexualities

50 hours - 5 credits

Prof. von Germeten – Oregon State University

Summer 2016

ALBA Study Aboad in Barcelona

The purpose of this course is for students to learn about the history of sexualities, the complexity of gender in the Spanish-speaking world over the course of time, how repressive laws have affected individual experiences of sex and gender, and how more recently both activists and scholars have challenged normative sexualities, offering new opportunities for community and support. While based in academic theory and readings, this course encourages student experiential learning onsite in Barcelona.

Course Organization:

  • 5-week class with 50 contact hours.
  • 30 hours of reading/project discussion in the classroom over 4 weeks.
  • In the final two week of the term, we will have additional excursion contact hours (possibly in evenings) as we visit local community organizations (from Monday July 18 to Friday July 29).
  • Outside the classroom, students will need to prepare for class for approx. five hours per week.
  • assignments:
  • regular short HW summaries of readings 20%
  • class discussion participation 50%
  • experiential learning project 30%
  • each week (one through four)
  • meet four sessions of approx. 90 mins each
  • students will have a reader with selections from books listed below
  • also each session will discussstudent’s daily progress towards reaching out to community organizations in the local area
  • week 5 meet at organizations where students have made connections/volunteered
  • suggested organizations (abbreviated list):
  • street health care outreach or self care promotion for sex workers
  • community building, health, safety for LBGTQ youth
  • migrant outreach
  • feminist activism
  • historical/cultural organizations promoting knowledge of above

Week 1

  • Introduction to gender, law, sexuality in Spanish history.
  • Research local activist organizations, prepare a list of potential groups to contact by Session 4 of this week.

Session 1

  • Introduction to gender roles in Spanish History
  • Kelleher, The Measure of Woman: Law and Female Identity in the crown of Aragon

Session 2

  • Women and Sexual Agency
  • Poska, Women and Authority in Early Modern Spain: The Peasants of Galicia

Session 3

  • Women, agency, and empire
  • Townsend, Malintzin’s Choices

Session 4

  • Gender and the Law in Spanish Empires
  • Lavrin, Sexuality and Marriage

Week 2

  • non-conforming gender identities in history.
  • Identify a local community group you would like to visit, present to the class on this organization by no later than Session 4 this week, to allow for follow up over the weekend.

Session 1

  • Questioning gender in Spanish History
  • Soyer, Ambiguous Gender in Early Modern Spain and Portugal: Inquistors, Doctors, and the Transgression of Gender Norms

Session 2

  • Women’s same sex sexuality in Spanish History
  • Velasco, The Lieutenant Nun: Transgenderism, Lesbian Desire, and Catalina de Erauso
  • Velasco, Lesbians in Early Modern Spain

Session 3

  • Sex and the “unnatural”
  • Tortorici, Sexuality and the Unnatural in Colonial Latin America

Session 4

  • Male same sex sexuality
  • Sigal, Infamous Desire: Male Homosexuality in Colonial Latin America

Week 3

  • Criminalizing and theorizing sexuality
  • Student updates on your community outreach/volunteer projects: Who have you contacted? How can you participate?

Session 1

  • Sex Work and the Law in History
  • Nicole von Germeten, From Whores to Prostitutes in Mexico

Session 2

  • “Modernizing” Legal Codes and Sex
  • Guy, Sexuality and Danger
  • Bliss, Compromising Positions

Session 3

  • Laws and Sex in recent decades
  • Weitzer, Legalizing Prostitution: From Illicit Vice to Lawful Business

Session 4

  • Creating Political Sexual Identities
  • Nagle, Whores and Other Feminists

Week 4

  • Sex industry and transnationalism
  • Ongoing student updates on your community outreach/volunteer projects and start visiting/participating in the activities of these organizations (if you have not already)!

Session 1: community

  • Prieur, Mema's House, Mexico City: On Transvestites, Queens, and Machos

Session 2: challenges of transnationalism

  • Brennan, What's Love Got to Do with It? Transnational Desires and Sex Tourism in the Dominican Republic

Session 3: Sex and migration

  • Agustin, Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry

Session 4: Sex work activism internationally

  • Chi Adanna Mgbako, To Live Freely in This World: Sex Worker Activism in Africa

Week 5

Student led and organized meetings at community centers or with community leaders. This will require students attending both our regular class time, and potentially evening/weekend events.Excursion sessions will last approx. 2 hours.