SOC 3201 - Gay Around the Globe

Credits: 4
This course will explore the diversity in non-heterosexual identities in Western and non-Western cultures. We will begin by discussing how Western thinking has influenced our contemporary notions of sexuality, with a focus on the past 200 years. We will examine and critique the concept of heteronormativity, the cultural ideology that heterosexuality is the natural-and superior-order and identify the many examples where biological sex, sexuality, gender identity, and gender roles are not in alignment and how these identities are marginalized in Western cultures. Over half of the semester will be spent comparing and contrasting how non-Western cultures conceptualize sexuality through major collaborative research projects, with a focus on East Asia, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Prerequisites SOC 1103 or SOC 1104 or FYS 1104
McDaniel Plan: International Nonwestern