FALL 2025 COURSES

GWS 200-001: SEX & POWER
INSTRUCTOR: MEL STEIN
MEETING TIMES: HYBRID, MW 1:00-1:50 (IN PERSON) & SOME PORTIONS ONLINE
This course addresses key issues in GWS through a social science perspective that is cross-cultural, transnational, and interdisciplinary in its approach. It will cover such topics as identity and identity politics, sexuality and reproduction, labor and the gender politics of the workplace, health and health activism, feminist thought and action, gendered forms of violence and organized resistance, and the everyday experience of gender. Particular attention will be paid to the intersections of gender with other social categories, such as race, nationality, class, and sexual orientation. This course meets UK Core requirement (Intellectual Inquiry, Social Science) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor, and the sexuality studies certificate.

GWS 201: GENDER & POPULAR CULTURE 
INSTRUCTOR: ANASTASIA TODD 
MEETING TIMES: TR 2:00-3:15 
This course examines the role of popular culture in the construction of gendered identities in contemporary society. We examine a wide range of popular cultural forms -- including music, digital media, movies, and television -- to illustrate how femininity and masculinity are produced, represented, and consumed. This course serves as an introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS) from a humanities perspective. This course meets UK Core requirements (Intellectual Inquiry, Humanities) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.

GWS 201: GENDER & POPULAR CULTURE
SECTIONS:
002: MWF 9:00-9:50AM, TBD 
003: MWF 10:00-10:50AM, TBD
004: TR 9:30-10:45AM, TBD 
201: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS, TBD 
202: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS, TBD, PART OF TERM (OCT 20-DEC 19)
This course examines the role of popular culture in the construction of gendered identities in contemporary society. We examine a wide range of popular cultural forms -- including music, computer games, movies, and television -- to illustrate how femininity and masculinity are produced, represented, and consumed. This course meets UK Core requirements (Intellectual Inquiry, Humanities) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.

GWS 250: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 
SECTIONS: 
001: TR 12:30-1:45PM, TBD
002: MWF 1:00-1:50PM, TBD
This course takes you through some ways in which people have organized themselves around local, national, and international issues pertaining to gender. We engage key theories that explain the origins, strategies, and success of different forms of social movements across the world. We also critically analyze case studies from different parts of the world to understand how social movements work on the ground and in specific cultural environments with unique historical trajectories, attending to ways in which social movements are shaped by, and do or do not result in changes to social structures of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. This course meets UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.

GWS 300-002: TOPICS IN GWS: GENDER, SEXUALITY, & POP MUSIC 
INSTRUCTOR: JENN HUNT 
MEETING TIMES: MWF 2:00-2:50PM
Popular music contains many messages about gender and sexuality, usually in conjunction with other important identities like race and class. In this class, we will analyze popular music across several genres in the past century, from early blues performers like Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton to current stars like Beyoncé, Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift, and Doechii. We will discuss issues such as: How have song lyrics portrayed masculinity, femininity, and gender roles over time? How do artists like David Bowie, Prince, and Harry Styles influence social views about gender expression? What messages about sexuality are expressed in music, and how is that informed by racial politics? How do queer and trans* artists such as Big Freedia, boygenius, and Janelle Monae use music to create awareness and community? How do gender politics influence music-making, including who gets to sing, play instruments, write songs, and produce music? We will pay particular attention to the use of popular music as a form of resistance and protest, from Nina Simone to Riot Grrrl to songs about Black Lives Matter to gay anthems. We will read feminist analyses of popular music (e.g., hip-hop feminism), analyze music videos, and of course, listen to lots of music, including songs selected by students.

GWS 301-001: CROSSROADS IN GWS: INEQUALITIES UNDER THE LAW 
INSTRUCTOR: JENN HUNT 
MEETING TIMES: MWF 11:00-11:50AM 
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution guarantees equal protection under the laws, but as Black Lives Matter and other protest movements indicate, this promise remains unfulfilled. In this course, we will examine the many ways that race, class, gender, and sexuality affect people’s experiences and outcomes in legally-relevant domains. Topics addressed will include: How do race, gender, class, and sexuality affect police encounters, including the use of force, and community members’ trust in the police? How does race influence outcomes in legal cases, including convictions, incarceration, and the death penalty? How do bail and privatization create class barriers in the criminal justice system? How has housing law created an eviction crisis threatening poor and working-class people? How does housing policy discriminate against people of Color who want to rent or buy homes? How does and should the law address employment discrimination and sexual harassment? How does family law reflect assumptions about gender? How has the law evolved (or not) to address the needs of LGBTQ individuals, same-gender relationships, and people with transgender or non-binary gender identities? As a course focused on citizenship, assignments in this course will focus on strategies for promoting social justice, including op-eds to increase community awareness, letters to elected representatives, and policy briefs. This course meets UK Core requirement (Community, Culture, and U.S. Citizenship) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.

GWS 302-001: GENDER ACROSS THE WORLD: TRANSNATIONAL BODY 
INSTRUCTOR: ANASTASIA TODD 
MEETING TIMES: TR 9:30-10:45AM 
In this interdisciplinary course, students explore how gender, race, class, ability, nationality, and sexuality intersect and inform how the body is produced—materially, affectively, and discursively—under contemporary transnational forces. We zero in on how neoliberal capitalism is an organizing force across borders to investigate how systems of power structure the lived realities of people across the world. In examining the figuration of the global south girl, the female entrepreneur, the global care citizen, the hyper-precarious worker, and the cyborg soldier, the course aims to explore key theoretical concepts such as militarization, body labor, disability, and reproductive justice. This course meets UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor. 

GWS 302-002 (same as ENG 389) GENDER ACROSS THE WORLD: REPRODUCTIVE LIVES IN GLOBAL CINEMA INSTRUCTOR: CAROL MASON 
MEETING TIMES: TR 2:00-3:15PM 
This course examines films that document or dramatize a wide range of reproductive issues as matters of human rights and legal battles around the world, such as IVF in Costa Rica; transnational surrogacy in India; the one child policy in China; abortion in Chad; sterilization in Puerto Rico; prenatal screening for disabilities in Norway; criminal miscarriage in El Salvador; and reproductive health care access on international waters. This course meets UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) OR Inquiry in the Humanities and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.

GWS 302-003: GENDER ACROSS THE WORLD: TRANSNATIONAL SEXUALITIES 
INSTRUCTOR: CHARLIE YI ZHANG 
MEETING TIMES: TR 11:00-12:15PM 
This course examines the politics of sexualities within a transnational frame of analysis and explores the process of “border-crossings” through critical engagements of normative and non-normative sexualities. Using cross-cultural research on sexuality studies, the course will address these key questions: as bodies move across national, cultural, racial, and ideological borders, how is sexuality redefined, named, and leveraged for change? What factors allow for new formations and understandings of sexuality to emerge within an increasingly globalized world? How do social forces such as nationalism, citizenship, global neoliberalism, settler colonialism, and mass media shape and produce desires, sexual identities, sexual labor, sexual practices, bodies and genders? Students will learn key concepts used in discussions of transnational sexuality studies to expand their understanding of intersectional analysis. Topics for study include: queer and LGBTQI organizing; expression of sexual identities, desires, and practices across nation-state borders; queer migration and labor flows; transnational porn industries; sex trafficking and tourism; and settler colonialism, among others. This course meets UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor. 

GWS 302-004 (SAME AS HIS 402): GENDER ACROSS THE WORLD: GENDER AND EMPIRE 
INSTRUCTOR: TAMMY WHITLOCK 
MEETING TIMES: MWF 11:00-11:50AM 
The old stereotype of the lone, male European explorer conquering and discovering new lands is far from the complete story of the role of gender in Empire. Once seen as a masculine endeavor, studies by recent historians and Victorian diaries, letters, and travel accounts reveal the complexities of the role of gender in the founding and continuation of Imperialism in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. We will be examining the ways gender defined, circumscribed, and perpetuated Empire, especially in the 19th c. under British Imperialism. Concentrating particularly on India and Africa with discussions of Empire at home and in other areas of the globe, this course will use a variety of primary and secondary sources including novels and film to analyze gender in the context of Empire. Most importantly we will reveal the connections between modern, post-colonial culture and politics and the legacies of Empire. Requirements for this course include class participation, discussion, one examination, a research essay, and a 5-7 minute presentation. Midterm grades will be posted in Week 8. Please note: All written work in this course is subject to review via plagiarism detection software. This course meets UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.

GWS 309-201 (SAME AS CPH 309): HEALTH, HISTORY, AND HUMAN DIVERSITY 
INSTRUCTOR: TBD 
MEETING TIMES: ONLINE, ASYNCHRONOUS 
Health care reform is often in the news, and everyone has an opinion on why the system is broken, how to fix it, who should have access to good medical care, under what circumstances, and what constitutes “good care.” This online, multi-format course will consider what it has meant to be a good patient or a good doctor at various points in U.S. history, who was included or excluded in each group, how medicine became professionalized, and how people have organized around health issues. Students will engage with primary sources, watch related films, interact with the professor during virtual “office hours,” and participate in online moderated discussions. This course meets UK Core requirement (Intellectual Inquiry, Humanities and/or Community, Culture, and Citizenship in the U.S.) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.

GWS 350-001: INTRODUCTION TO FEMINIST THEORIZING 
INSTRUCTOR: ELIZABETH WILLIAMS 
MEETING TIMES: TR 12:30-1:45PM 
This course will introduce students to some of the ways that feminist thinkers have conceptualized concepts like sex, gender, race, class, and ability. What are some of the major debates within various feminist movements? What are the differences between theory and praxis– and to what extent do they work well together? How have both scholars and activists approached feminist theory? And what is feminist theory anyway? Students in this course will gain an understanding of major feminist theoretical frameworks, including Black feminist theory, intersectionality, queer and trans theory, disability theory, and de/anti colonial theory. We will also consider how feminist theory might apply to our own lives, experiences, and activisms. This course is one of the core courses required for the undergraduate GWS major and minor. 
Students in this course will:
• Gain an understanding of different feminist theoretical frameworks.
• Learn about the histories that have informed these frameworks.
• Consider how factors like gender, race, sexuality, and ability have shaped the perspectives of feminist theorists.
• Learn how to read academic texts strategically, looking for argument, evidence, and approach.
• Apply feminist theory to their own lives and experiences.
• Understand the connections (and ruptures) between feminist theory and activist projects.

GWS 430-001: GENDER, POWER, AND VIOLENCE 
INSTRUCTOR: SRIMATI BASU 
MEETING TIMES: MW 3:00-4:15PM 
This course examines the relations between the three terms gender, power and violence. The course is interdisciplinary and transnational in its scope and examines scales of violence from intimate to community to State, bodily to psychological, economic to cultural. We will read some conceptual pieces on gender and power, look at a number of films and shows, and read a number of studies of gender-based violence drawing on a variety of disciplines. You will also work on an independent project where you apply these theories and studies to your scholarly or field research. Note: much the focus of the course is on assault and domestic violence, so you are advised to evaluate your own ability to discuss and analyze these issues – it is an elective class, so no texts are exempt.

ADDITIONAL COURSES FOR GWS CREDIT

MAS 590: SPECIAL TOPICS IN SOCIO-CULTURAL ISSUES: GENDER
INSTRUCTOR: ERIKA ENGSTROM 
|MEETING TIMES: TR 11:00-12:15PM 
This course covers hegemony, media literacy, and stereotypical and progressive gender portrayals across television and film. Femininity and masculinity will be explored in popular film and texts, with course topics including the woman's film genre of 20th century Hollywood, gender portrayals in Disney princess films, the Bechdel Test, and how films and television shows depict the gender roles. Starting-point texts for examining gender portrayals across media include NBC's Parks and Recreation in additional to other contemporary film and TV texts. Students will analyze a media text of their choosing that illustrates concepts and theories related to gender representation. This course emphasizes a prosocial perspective of media entertainment, and students will learn of positive portrayals of gender that advance feminist and egalitarian ideals.

WRD/ENG 401-001: SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING: RHETORICS OF REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE 
INSTRUCTOR: SHARON YAM 
MEETING TIMES: TR 11:00-12:15PM 
Studies of special topics in writing, in areas such as literary nonfiction (essays), responding to literature, cultural critique, and composing law and justice. In this course, we will examine the historical background and current applications of reproductive justice in relation to the following issues: abortion, reproductive healthcare access for Indigenous communities, queer/trans family formation, assisted reproductive technologies, environmental toxicity, disability, incarceration, and racism. The course is organized around the three pillars of reproductive justice: the right to have children, the right not to have children, and the right to parent one’s children in a safe environment. 

WRD 569-001/HIS 595-002: COMPOSING ORAL HISTORY: BOURBON ORAL HISTORY 
INSTRUCTOR: JAN FERNHEIMER 
MEETING TIMES: TR 12:30-1:45 
Have you ever wanted to make history? In this class we will do just that! We will build the historical bourbon record by interviewing women bourbon industry experts, leaders, insiders. Students will learn about oral history as a method, bourbon as an industry, and the art of interviewing itself. By semester’s end students will know how to craft a strong set of questions, conduct an original oral history interview, reflect on their process, and create persuasive materials aimed at public audiences. Interviews will be archived in the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History as part of the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project. https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt714ts3s4gjp This course fulfills part of the requirements for the Certificate in Distillation, Wine, and Brewing (DWB). *Students must be 21 or older to enroll in this course. 

Note: Students who have enrolled in the past have gone on to launch their own bourbon brands; become distillers at Willet, Bulleit and other distilleries; become Bourbon educators, or work at Heaven Hill learning about bourbon law as paid interns.

TEK300/ISC 497-004:  GENDERED VIOLENCE AND SOCIAL MARKETING
INSTRUCTORS:  JENNIFER SCARDUZIO AND KIMBERLY PARKER
MEETING TIME:  M 2:00-4:45