- Students will be introduced to central approaches and theories in socio-cultural studies of sexuality.
- Students will learn how these approaches and theories can be applied to concrete contemporary and historical case studies of sexuality in various fields.
- Students will learn to assess the usefulness and validity of a social-cultural approach of sexuality
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Sexuality is often studied as a merely biological and physiological phenomenon: a matter of bodies, genes, brains, and hormones. This course introduces students to an approach of sexuality that concentrates on the many ways in which it is shaped by culture and society. We will discuss how sexual desires, identities and acts can be understood as resulting from socio-cultural context and cannot be reduced to ‘nature’ or ‘the body’. Several approaches and theories from the social sciences and humanities (social constructionism, representation, psychoanalysis, queer theory) will be addressed. The discussion of these theories and approaches will start from concrete contemporary and historical case studies of issues such as sexual identity, sexual politics, sex work, sexual violence, and sexual health.
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At least a full year of prior study in the social sciences or humanities is recommended.
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