How are women's and men's identities shaped by society? How do we learn to become 'proper' women and men? How do gender relations intersect with race and class and are they still a site of inequality? How are gender ideals changing in the 21^st century? This course introduces the key idea that gender is socially constructed via topics such as gender in the lives of children, sport and the masculine body, femininity and the beauty industry, media images of male and female bodies and contemporary formations of sexual identity and sexual politics.

By the end of this course, students should be able to

1. Analyse the way gender structures our ways of being and thinking.
2. Use specific examples to explain key concepts, themes and theories in Gender Studies.
3. Think, write and argue with these key concepts, themes and theories.
4. Reflect on and discuss your own learning as it relates to the subject matter of the course.

Reading report (15%) (500 words)

Essay (35%) (1500 words)

Reflective Excercise 15%  (500 words)

Tutorial Presentation and Report (25%)  (500 words)

Tutorial Attendance and Participation 10%

Tutorial attendance is compulsory.

24 hours of lectures and 12 hours of tutorials

4-7 hours of independent study depending on assessment schedule.

The prescribed texts for this course are contained in a reading brick. The reading brick includes articles and book chapters by authors such as Particia Hill-Collins, Jeffrey Weeks, Bronwyn Davies, Ann Fausto-Sterling and Emily Martin.

Connell, R.W. (2002) The Question of Gender. From Gender, Cambridge; Polity Press