You are reading the 2025/26 Academic Calendar. The 2024/25 version remains in effect until August 31, 2025 and is available here.

Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

GWST_O: Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies


  1. GWST_O 100 (3) Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Power I: An Introduction

    Cross-cultural and historical antecedents to gender studies and feminist thought. The social construction of knowledge and inequality through gender, race, sexuality, and class; the cultural and structural forces that create the dynamic for change and resistance in the personal and political realms of gendered lives. [3-0-0]

  2. GWST_O 110 (3) Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Power II: Everyday Life

    Applying the conceptual frameworks learned in GWST 100, considers how gender, race, sexuality and power shape social inequalities in such realms as health, violence, poverty, and work. GWST 100 recommended. [3-0-0]

  3. GWST_O 205 (3) Gender, Sexuality, and the Body

    An anthropological exploration of how understandings of gender, sex, and the body are culturally and historically shaped, with a focus on theory as well as case studies. How globalization and transnationalism are changing norms of gender and sexuality is also explored. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST_O 205 or ANTH _O 205. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Second-year standing. Equivalency: ANTH _O 205.

  4. GWST_O 215 (3) Gender and Popular Culture

    Examines how gender, sexuality and race intersect with representation in a variety of genres in popular culture. Considers the production, content, and reception of media texts. Ideological, institutional, social, and personal implications of these representations, and use of media to provoke change. [3-0-0]

  5. GWST_O 216 (3) Critical Foundations: Feminism and Difference

    History of feminist engagements with race, class, nation, and sexuality within an intersectional framework and in the wake of critiques of feminism's exclusivity. GWST 100 and GWST 110 recommended. [3-0-0]

  6. GWST_O 223 (3) Critical Sexuality Studies

    Overview of the historical emergence of critical sexuality studies. Sexological, psychoanalytic, Foucauldian, feminist, and queer theories of sexuality and gender will be examined. 6 credits of 100-level GWST recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Second-year standing.

  7. GWST_O 235 (3) Laughing Feminisms: Gender and Humour

    A survey of theory and humour from second-wave feminism to the contemporary moment, with special attention to women's comedy in literature, performance, and film. [3-0-0]

  8. GWST_O 240 (3) Communication in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

    Practice-based writing course designed to further develop communication skills in genres and media integral to Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies. Attentive to the dynamic relationship between knowledge and power, the course will focus on analysis and communication in written, visual, oral, mixed media, and digital modes. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: One of ENGL 109, ENGL 112, ENGL 114, ENGL 150, ENGL 151, ENGL 153, ENGL 154, ENGL 155, ENGL 156.

  9. GWST_O 272 (3) Feminism and Environment

    Feminist theories and practice to understand and address environmental change. Role of decolonial, antiracist, disability justice and queer feminist perspectives in environmental justice, policy, art, and activism. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST 272 or CULT 272. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: 6 credits of GWST, CULT, SUST 104. Equivalency: CULT 272

  10. GWST_O 295 (3-6) Special Topics in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies

    This course focuses on a selected topic in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies. Content will vary from year to year. Consult course listings for current year's offering. With permission of the program advisor, students may receive credit for this course more than once. 6 credits of 100-level GWST recommended.

  11. GWST_O 313 (3) Anthropology of Gender

    Nature of gender relations, their social and cultural expression, and theories of gender inequality drawn from anthropological research. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST _O 313 or ANTH _O 313. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: ANTH _O 100. Equivalency: ANTH _O 313.

  12. GWST_O 323 (3) Feminist Epistemologies: Gender, Science, and Knowledge

    Introduces foundations of feminist theories of knowledge. Examines critiques of the gendering of scientific knowledge and the relationship between scientific knowledge and social inequality. 6 credits of 100-level GWST recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  13. GWST_O 333 (3) Perspectives on Gendered Bodies

    Interdisciplinary overview of approaches to gendered embodiment at the level of lived experience and of representation. Focus on the relationship of embodiment to social identity. GWST 100 and GWST 110 recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  14. GWST_O 334 (3) Doing Feminist Research

    The study of feminist research methodologies from across disciplinary traditions, including ethical and practical considerations. Opportunities to engage in original research. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: One of GWST_O 323 or GWST_O 335, and third-year standing.

  15. GWST_O 335 (3) Feminist Theory in the Humanities

    Examines feminist critiques of the history of Western thought and surveys the development of feminist cultural theory. 6 credits of 100-level GWST recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  16. GWST_O 340 (3) Writing the Self: Theory and Practice

    Life writing with a focus on gender. Critical analysis and the production of narrative in such genres as memoir, autotheory, autoethnography, and critical poetics. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST 340 or CULT 370. Prerequisite: Third-year standing or permission of the instructor. Equivalency: CULT 370

  17. GWST_O 358 (3) Gender, Place & Culture

    Examination of the ways in which genders and spaces are mutually constituted. Exploration of the relationship between socially constructed gender relations and spatial concepts of culture, place, nature, and landscape. Gendered nature of everyday space, work, education, and the natural environment. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST_O 358 and GEOG_O 358. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Either (a) 6 credits of GWST_O, or (b) Two of GEOG_O 128, GEOG_O 129, SUST_O 104. Third-year standing. Equivalency: GEOG_O 358.

  18. GWST_O 414 (3) Love, Marriage, and Family: New Kinship Studies

    An anthropological exploration of kinship as a symbolic ordering of human relationships and reproduction. Emphasis is on the naturalization of nuclear family and marriage forms such as monogamy, and on changes in relatedness through new technologies, socio-legal processes, and mobility. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST _O 414 or ANTH _O 414. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: ANTH _O 100. Third-year standing recommended. Equivalency: ANTH _O 414.

  19. GWST_O 415 (3-6) Topics in Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture

    Explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and class in popular culture, through a range of genre and media including, but not limited to, film, music, television, genre fiction, advertising, and the internet. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  20. GWST_O 419 (3) Gender, Dress, and Fashion: Histories and Theories

    Overview of historical and theoretical perspectives on the gendered development of dress and the modern fashion system. Consideration of the relationship of identity and adornment. 6 credits of 100-level GWST recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  21. GWST_O 423 (3) Trans-(Gender) Feminisms

    Overview of the historical emergence of trans-(gender) feminisms. Focus on debates across trans, queer, and feminist scholarship, methodology, and activism. Consideration of the politics of sex/gender transformation vis-a-vis 'race', 'culture', sexuality, class, and social justice. One of GWST 216, GWST 223 recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  22. GWST_O 425 (3) Feminist Geographies of (Un)Belonging

    Transnational and decolonizing feminist approaches to the geography of power as manifested through contemporary political identities. Relationships between state-mediated categories of (un)belonging such as 'citizen', 'migrant', 'refugee', 'aboriginal', and 'illegal'. Emphasis on borders, border-identities, and multicultural/settler societies such as Australia, Israel, Canada, U.S.. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST 425 or GEOG 425. GEOG 358 or 6 credits of 100-level GWST recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing. Equivalency: GEOG425

  23. GWST_O 426 (3) Queer Geographies

    Expands from a singular focus of sexuality and gender to consider how space is also racialized, ableized, and normalized according to hierarchies of power and privilege. Builds a foundational understanding of how queer geographies has emerged, possibilities for 'queering' geographical themes, and queer futurities. Credit will be granted for only one of GWST 426, GEOG 426, GEOG 491 and GWST 495 when the subject matter is of the same nature. Prerequisite: Either (a) 6 credits of GWST, or (b) Two of GEOG 128, GEOG 129, SUST 104. Third-year standing. Equivalency: GEOG426

  24. GWST_O 430 (3) Femininities

    Overview of theoretical and historical constructs of femininity in industrial and post-industrial society. Emphasis on multiple femininities and negotiations of feminine identity. 6 credits of 100-level GWST recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  25. GWST_O 435 (3) Women and Religion

    Overview of women's literary history and religion since the Middle Ages. Contemporary feminist theoretical engagements with religion and secularism, with an emphasis on race, ethnicity, and sexuality. GWST 100 and GWST 110 recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  26. GWST_O 440 (3) Politics of Reproduction

    Examination of feminist approaches to and theories of reproduction, including reproductive politics, technologies, and practices. Emphasis on queer, critical race, and science and technology studies perspectives. GWST 100 and GWST 110 recommended. [3-0-0] Prerequisite: Third-year standing.

  27. GWST_O 486 (3) Student Directed Seminar

    Self-directed, collaborative studies, in a group-learning environment, initiated and coordinated by senior undergraduate students with the supervision of a faculty sponsor. Course structure, enrolment and delivery methods will comply with the Student Directed Seminars Guidelines. At least third-year standing and permission of the Department are required. [0-0-3]

  28. GWST_O 491 (3-6) Directed Studies

    Individualized reading or research project on an assigned topic in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, under the direction of a faculty member. Independent reading and analysis, and a major term paper. Prerequisite: Third-year standing; 6 credits of GWST; permission of the Department.

  29. GWST_O 495 (3-6) Topics in Women's Studies

    This course focuses on a selected topic in women's studies. Content will vary from year to year. Consult course listings for current year's offering. With permission of the Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies program advisor, students may receive credit for this course more than once. Prerequisite: Third-year standing and 6 credits of GWST.


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