Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Major
Program Requirements
- Total Units Required: 27
- Grade Requirement: C- or better; Pass/No Pass grades do not count for the major.
Required Courses
Requirements for the Major
The following six requirements must be fulfilled through WGSS courses or WGSS-approved courses in another department taken at Washington University. The theory and methods/service learning requirements must be completed at Washington University. Students requesting an exception and who wish to transfer credits in the theory or methods/service learning category must petition the department chair or the director of undergraduate studies, who will consider the request.
Only one course may fulfill two requirements (i.e., one course may double count for two of the six required areas). Students on approved study abroad programs may petition for one course to count toward one of these six requirements.
1. One 1000-Level Introductory Course: 3 credits
Students must complete the following course and file a copy of a paper from this course with the WGSS office (McMillan Hall, Room 210):
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| WGSS 1500 | Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | 3 |
2. One Theory Course: 3 credits
Choose one of the following:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| WGSS 3020 | Justice as Failure: Abolitionist Theory and Praxis | 3 |
| WGSS 3045 | Queer Theory | 3 |
| WGSS 3215 | Bodies Out of Bounds: Feminist and Queer Disability Studies | 3 |
| WGSS 3340 | Feminist Theory | 3 |
| WGSS 3475 | Queering the History of Health | 3 |
| WGSS 3575 | Confronting Capitalism: Feminism, Work and Solidarity | 3 |
| WGSS 3615 | Topics in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Spectacular Blackness, Race, Gender, & Visual Culture | 3 |
| WGSS 4006 | Advanced Topics in Trans Theories: Femme | 3 |
| WGSS 4015 | Feminist and Queer Media Studies | 3 |
| WGSS 4016 | Queer of Color Critique | 3 |
| WGSS 4045 | Queering Theory: Collaborating, Solidarity, and Working Together | 3 |
| WGSS 4085 | Everyday Unruliness: Feminist and Queer Resistance | 3 |
| WGSS 4135 | The Politics of Pleasure | 3 |
| WGSS 4150 | Feminist Literary and Cultural Theory | 3 |
| WGSS 4165 | From Mammy to the Welfare Queen: African American Women Theorize Identity | 3 |
| WGSS 4200 | Feminist Political Theory | 3 |
| WGSS 4245 | Transnational Feminisms | 3 |
| WGSS 4350 | Queer and Feminist Geographies | 3 |
3. One Feminist Research Methods or Community-Engaged Learning Course: 3 credits
Choose one of the following:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| WGSS 3176 | Community Engaged Learning: Feminist and Queer Community Praxis | 3 |
| WGSS 3690 | Community-Engaged Learning: Projects in Domestic Violence | 3 |
| WGSS 4141 | Feminist and Queer Research Methodologies | 3 |
| WGSS 4280 | Sex and Gender in Public | 1.5 |
| WGSS 4440 | Sex and Gender in Public | 1.5 |
Note:
- Students who plan to write an honors thesis must take WGSS 4141 Feminist and Queer Research Methodologies and must also enroll in the 1-credit WGSS 4142 Thesis Proposal Workshop offered concurrently with WGSS 4141. WGSS 4142 is restricted to students who plan to submit an honors thesis proposal. Both WGSS 4141 and WGSS 4142 should be taken during the fall semester of the student's junior year unless special departmental approval has been given.
- Students who take WGSS 4141 Feminist and Queer Research Methodologies must submit a copy of their final paper from this course to the WGSS office at wgss@wustl.edu. After the successful completion of WGSS 4141 and WGSS 4142 and the approval of their honors thesis proposal, students enroll in WGSS 4991 Honors Thesis: Research and Writing during the time they are writing the honors thesis, which is usually two semesters.
4. Two 4000-Level Courses or an Honors Thesis: 6 credits
Courses taken in any of the above categories will satisfy this requirement, or the student may choose to write an honors thesis. One of the 3-credit courses must be a 4000-level WGSS course from the following list:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| WGSS 4006 | Advanced Topics in Trans Theories: Femme | 3 |
| WGSS 4016 | Queer of Color Critique | 3 |
| WGSS 4017 | Healing and Social Justice | 3 |
| WGSS 4115 | Gender, Religion, Medicine and Science | 3 |
| WGSS 4153 | Decolonization to Globalization: How to End an Empire | 3 |
| WGSS 4165 | From Mammy to the Welfare Queen: African American Women Theorize Identity | 3 |
| WGSS 4200 | Feminist Political Theory | 3 |
| WGSS 4245 | Transnational Feminisms | 3 |
| WGSS 4350 | Queer and Feminist Geographies | 3 |
| WGSS 4370 | Reformers and Radicals: Feminist Thinking Through History | 3 |
| WGSS 4991 | Honors Thesis: Research and Writing | 3 |
The second may be either a 4000-level course in WGSS or a 4000-level course approved for this degree offered by another program.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ARTARCH 4913 | Queer: Arts, History, Theory | 3 |
| ELIT 4102 | Medieval English Literature II: Medieval Womens Writing | 3 |
| HISTORY 4124 | Advanced Seminar: Women and Religion in Medieval Europe | 3 |
| WGSS 4006 | Advanced Topics in Trans Theories: Femme | 3 |
| WGSS 4016 | Queer of Color Critique | 3 |
| WGSS 4017 | Healing and Social Justice | 3 |
| WGSS 4115 | Gender, Religion, Medicine and Science | 3 |
| WGSS 4153 | Decolonization to Globalization: How to End an Empire | 3 |
| WGSS 4165 | From Mammy to the Welfare Queen: African American Women Theorize Identity | 3 |
| WGSS 4200 | Feminist Political Theory | 3 |
| WGSS 4245 | Transnational Feminisms | 3 |
| WGSS 4350 | Queer and Feminist Geographies | 3 |
| WGSS 4370 | Reformers and Radicals: Feminist Thinking Through History | 3 |
| WGSS 4991 | Honors Thesis: Research and Writing | 3 |
5. One Historical Context Course: 3 credits
Students must choose one course that explores gender, sex, or sexuality in historical context or that studies the history of these categories. A single course may not fulfill both the historical context category and the ethnic/global/racial context category. In other words, one may not double count a class even if it is listed in both categories. This course must be a WGSS course or a WGSS-approved course in another department. Note: A course that satisfies one of the previous four requirement areas in this list may also fulfill this requirement.
Choose one of the following:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AMCS 3705 | Topics in Gender and American Culture | 3 |
| ELIT 3501 | Topics in English and American Literature (30 Years of Queer) | 3 |
| ELIT 3502 | Topics in American Literature: Girls' Fiction | 3 |
| ELIT 4102 | Medieval English Literature II:Medieval Womens Writing | 3 |
| FILM 3450 | Sexual Politics in Film Noir and Hard-Boiled Literature | 3 |
| GLOBAL 3890 | Furies and Die-Hards: Women in Rebellion and War | 3 |
| HISTORY 3146 | Topics in European History: Modern European Women | 3 |
| HISTORY 3259 | I Know IT When I See It. a History of Obscenity & Pornography in the United States | 3 |
| HISTORY 3226 | Gender and Sexuality in 1950s America: Writing Intensive Seminar | 3 |
| HISTORY 4124 | Advanced Seminar: Women and Religion in Medieval Europe | 3 |
| JIMES 3870/JIMES 4850 | Topics in Jewish Studies | 3 |
| KOREA 4550 | Topics in Korean Literature and Culture: Gender in Korean Literature and Film | 3 |
| REST 4061 | Nuns | 3 |
| WGSS 2118 | First Year Seminar: Angels, Prostitutes and Chicas Modernas: Women in Latin American History | 3 |
| WGSS 3002 | Feminist Fire!: Radical Black Women in the 20th Century | 3 |
| WGSS 3055 | Making Sex and Gender: Understanding the History of the Body | 3 |
| WGSS 3081 | From Hysteria to Hysterectomy: Women's Health Care in America | 3 |
| WGSS 3101 | An Intellectual History of Sex and Gender: Text and Traditions | 3 |
| WGSS 3121 | Topics in American Literature: Girls' Fiction | 3 |
| WGSS 3130 | Sexuality in Early Christianity | 3 |
| WGSS 3135 | The Racial and Sexual Politics of Public Health | 3 |
| WGSS 3152 | Sex and Gender in Greco-Roman Antiquity | 3 |
| WGSS 3153 | The Women of Greek Tragedy | 3 |
| WGSS 3165 | Queer Histories | 3 |
| WGSS 3175 | Community-Engaged Learning: Documenting the Queer Past in St. Louis | 3 |
| WGSS 3405 | Revolutionize It! the Radical History of Second-Wave Feminism | 3 |
| WGSS 3416 | War, Genocide and Gender in Modern Europe | 3 |
| WGSS 3446 | No Boys Allowed: Girlhood and Programming for Girls in 19th and 20th Centuries, United States | 3 |
| WGSS 3475 | Queering the History of Health | 3 |
| WGSS 3510 | Women and Social Movements: Gender and Sexuality in U.S. Social Movements | 3 |
| WGSS 3548 | Gender, Sexuality & Communism in 20th-Century Europe | 3 |
| WGSS 3555 | Caste: Sexuality, Race and Globalization | 3 |
| WGSS 3650 | The Global History of HIV/AIDS | 3 |
| WGSS 3700 | Gender and Social Class | 3 |
| WGSS 3740 | Imperialism and Sexuality: India, South Asia, and the World: Writing-Intensive Seminar | 3 |
| WGSS 3751 | Topics in Women's History: Women, Gender and Sexuality in Postwar America | 3 |
| WGSS 4115 | Gender, Religion, Medicine and Science | 3 |
| WGSS 4153 | Decolonization to Globalization: How to End an Empire | 3 |
| WGSS 4231 | Topics in American Literature I | 3 |
| WGSS 4551 | Intersectional Identities in Medieval France | 3 |
| WGSS 4700 | Ancient Greek and Roman Gynecology | 3 |
| WGSS 4918 | Advanced Seminar: Sexuality in the United States | 3 |
| WGSS 4993 | Advanced Seminar: Women and Religion in Medieval Europe | 3 |
6. One Ethnic/Global/Racial Context Course: 3 credits
Students must choose one course that considers gender and ethnicity, gender and race, or gender in a global context. This course must be in WGSS or a WGSS-approved course in another department. Note: A course that satisfies one of the first four requirement areas in this list may also fulfill this requirement.
Choose one of the following:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AFAS 2232 | Gender and Sexuality in the African Diaspora | 3 |
| AFAS 4040 | Gender, Sexuality, and Change in Africa | 3 |
| AMCS 3705 | Topics in Gender and American Culture | 3 |
| GLOBAL 4414 | Gender Analysis for International Affairs | 3 |
| HBRW 3090 | Israeli Women Writers | 3 |
| HISTORY 4993 | Advanced Seminar: Women and Religion in Medieval Europe | 3 |
| ITAL 2800 | Sex in Italian Culture and Media | 3 |
| ITAL 3500 | Topics: Global Italy: Race, Gender, Migration and Citzenship | 3 |
| JAPAN 4455 | Japanese Fiction | 3 |
| KOREA 4550 | Topics in Korean Literature and Culture: Gender in Korean Literature and Film | 3 |
| LATAM 3110 | The Body in Brazil: Race, Representation, Ontologies | 3 |
| POLSCI 3151 | Gender and Politics in Global Perspective | 3 |
| SOC 3003 | Black Feminist Theory | 3 |
| WGSS 1102 | First Year Seminar: Gender, Sexuality and Settler Colonialism | 3 |
| WGSS 2080 | Constructions of Black Womanhood and Manhood in the Black Community | 3 |
| WGSS 2101 | Sophomore Seminar: Globalization and Its Disguises | 3 |
| WGSS 2118 | First Year Seminar: Angels, Prostitutes and Chicas Modernas: Women in Latin American History | 3 |
| WGSS 2232 | Gender and Sexuality in the African Diaspora | 3 |
| WGSS 3002 | Feminist Fire!: Radical Black Women in the 20th Century | 3 |
| WGSS 3020 | Justice as Failure: Abolitionist Theory and Praxis | 3 |
| WGSS 3030 | Queering Citizenship: Gender/Abolition | 3 |
| WGSS 3135 | The Racial and Sexual Politics of Public Health | 3 |
| WGSS 3152 | Sex and Gender in Greco-Roman Antiquity | 3 |
| WGSS 3153 | The Women of Greek Tragedy | 3 |
| WGSS 3181 | Gender, Sexuality and Power in Brazil | 3 |
| WGSS 3201 | Gender, Culture, and Madness | 3 |
| WGSS 3416 | War, Genocide and Gender in Modern Europe | 3 |
| WGSS 3548 | Gender, Sexuality & Communism in 20th-Century Europe | 3 |
| WGSS 3555 | Caste: Sexuality, Race and Globalization | 3 |
| WGSS 3560 | Black Women Writers | 3 |
| WGSS 3575 | Confronting Capitalism: Feminism, Work and Solidarity | 3 |
| WGSS 3615 | Topics in Women,gender, and Sexuality Studies: Spectacular Blackness, Race, Gender, & Visual Culture | 3 |
| WGSS 3650 | The Global History of HIV/AIDS | 3 |
| WGSS 3740 | Imperialism and Sexuality: India, South Asia, and the World: Writing-Intensive Seminar | 3 |
| WGSS 3861 | Psychology of Black Women | 3 |
| WGSS 4016 | Queer of Color Critique | 3 |
| WGSS 4134 | The AIDS Epidemic: Inequalities, Ethnography, and Ethics | 3 |
| WGSS 4135 | The Politics of Pleasure | 3 |
| WGSS 4153 | Decolonization to Globalization: How to End an Empire | 3 |
| WGSS 4231 | Topics in American Literature I | 3 |
| WGSS 4245 | Transnational Feminisms | 3 |
| WGSS 4401 | Intersectionality | 3 |
| WGSS 4675 | Beyond the Harem: Women, Gender, and Revolution | 3 |
| WGSS 4720 | Race, Reproduction, and Justice | 3 |
| WGSS 4993 | Advanced Seminar: Women and Religion in Medieval Europe | 3 |
General WGSS Education Credits: 6 credits
6 credit units of general WGSS and WGSS-approved courses are required to complete the major. Students may earn elective credits abroad or at another university. General education may be chosen from the following or from courses listed above under other WGSS requirements.
General WGSS education credits may be chosen from the following:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ARTARCH 4913 | Queer: Arts, History, Theory | 3 |
| COMPLITTHT 4270 | Technology and Feminist Practice: Gender Violence Prevention Tools | 3 |
| EDUC 3030 | Gender and Education | 3 |
| GLOBAL 4414 | Gender Analysis for International Affairs | 3 |
| IPH 4270 | Technology and Feminist Practice: Gender Violence Prevention Tools | 3 |
| POLSCI 4218 | Gender and the Future of Work | 3 |
| WGSS 1006 | First-Year Seminar: Feminist and Queer Science and Technology Studies | 3 |
| WGSS 1101 | First Sem:Sex & Gender in the Gutter: An Intro to Gender and Sexuality Studies Through Comics | 3 |
| WGSS 1102 | First Year Seminar: Gender, Sexuality and Settler Colonialism | 3 |
| WGSS 2060 | Introduction to Queer Studies | 3 |
| WGSS 2070 | Sexuality and the State: Introduction to Sexuality Studies | 3 |
| WGSS 3012 | Gender and Politics | 3 |
| WGSS 3070 | Masculinities | 3 |
| WGSS 3090 | Sex and Money: Economies of Desire | 3 |
| WGSS 3155 | Gender, Health, and Society | 3 |
| WGSS 3240 | Girls' Media and Popular Culture | 3 |
| WGSS 3256 | Sex Trafficking | 3 |
| WGSS 3410 | Gender in Society | 3 |
| WGSS 3470 | Law, Gender, and Justice | 3 |
| WGSS 3500 | Trans Studies | 3 |
| WGSS 3522 | Topics in Literature: Drama Queens: Cleopatra in Elizabethan England | 3 |
| WGSS 3685 | Gender Violence | 3 |
| WGSS 3943 | Violence Against Women Court Project | 3 |
| WGSS 4331 | Topics in Feminist Theory: Feminist Philosophy | 3 |
Additional Information
Study Abroad
We strongly encourage and support students who wish to study abroad. Therefore, we accept up to 9 credits from study abroad (3 of those credits could fulfill the historical context or ethnic/global/racial requirement). Please contact Amy Cislo, WGSS Study Abroad Faculty Advisor, about this option.
Transfer Credit
Current students who wish to take courses at other universities during the summer may transfer up to 6 credit units. However, these credits cannot be used to fulfill the introductory course or the theory or methods/service-learning requirements. Students transferring to Washington University who wish to complete the major in WGSS may transfer no more than 9 credits of coursework taken elsewhere.
Contact Info
| Phone: | 314-935-5102 |
| Email: | wgss@wustl.edu |
| Website: | https://wgss.wustl.edu |