This course provides students with an introductory understanding of identity, focusing specifically on the concepts of gender and sexuality as they intersect with race, class, ethnicity, and other aspects of social location and identification. The course also includes an analysis of the appearance of gender and sexuality as integrated social concepts by reading and discussing contemporary American texts across multiple genres and media. This open educational resource was created specifically for English 2180 (Studies in Identity and Orientation) at New York City College of Technology, CUNY. If you have been assigned to teach this course or one like it, feel free to use and adapt the materials posted here. I have suggested a reading schedule under “Required Readings,” but you will find additional readings under “Recommended Readings” that you may use to replace or supplement the required readings. If you find any errors or broken links or if you have any suggestions for additional readings to add to this resource, please contact me at lwestengard@citytech.cuny.edu.

Is marriage a patriarchal institution? Much feminist scholarship has characterized it that way, but now in the context of the recent Massachusetts Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, the meaning of marriage itself demands serious re-examination. This course will discuss history, literature, film, and legal scholarship, making use of cross-cultural, sociological, anthropological, and many other theoretical approaches to the marriage question from 1630 to the present. As it turns out, sex, marriage, and the family have never been stable institutions; to the contrary, they have continued to function as flash points for the very social and cultural questions that are central to gender studies scholarship.

Survey and special topics designed for graduate students in the brain and cognitive sciences. Emphasizes ethological studies of natural behavior patterns and their analysis in laboratory work, with contributions from field biology (mammology, primatology), sociobiology, and comparative psychology. Stresses human behavior but also includes major contributions from studies of other vertebrates and of invertebrates.

An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of women. From the first and second waves of feminism to
grrl power's cyberactivism and empowerment through femininity. Material and social constructions of sex
and gender. Power and dynamics, which drive and structure women's lives. Expressions and
representations of women's experiences. Starting fall 2018 satisfies Pathways Flexible Core US
Experience in Its Diversity requirement.