Women’s and Gender Studies is a broad, interdisciplinary field that covers a vast range of issues. As an introductory course, this class will give you a first insight into some of the historical foundations, theoretical concepts, political manifestations, and social issues at stake. Our course will begin with an overview of the women’s movement in the U.S. and a discussion of what this legacy means to feminism today. The second section of this course will explore gender and sexuality as social constructions and their application to feminist scholarship; we will give special attention to how women and men negotiate these categories of identity on a personal-political level by looking at literature and contemporary media and art. We will focus especially on how gender norms shape identity and influence the distribution of power and the creation of oppression and on how feminist theory gives us the tools to become aware of these issues, to discuss them effectively, and to promote justice and equality. Toward the end of the semester, we will broaden our scope and look at global gender issues, multicultural feminism(s), and consider the future of the discipline.