Courses

Our wide range of classes explore the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality; the institutional structures that have an impact on people’s lives; and the broad range of feminist theory that seeks to explain and influence women’s status in society. Since feminist studies, gender studies, queer studies are interdisciplinary by nature, many other UO departments incorporate them into their classes. Students can use approved courses across the UO to satisfy their major requirements.


Explore Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Courses

The University of Oregon course catalog offers degree plans and a complete list of courses in the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies.


Featured Courses

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WGS 101 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies

Interdisciplinary examination of the diverse experiences, status, and contributions of women in the United States. Topics include social construction of gender, race, sexualities, work, class, violence, and health.

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WGS 250 Gender, Literature, and Culture

Examines literary and other cultural representations of gendered experiences using novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and visual cultural production. Gen Ed Requirements: Arts and Letters; Identity, Pluralism and Tolerance

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WGS 361 Gender, Film, and the Media

Students read, view, examine, discuss, and write about film and media in terms of feminist, gender, and queer theory.


Finding Courses in Other Departments

Students can take courses outside of the WGSS department that will meet their chosen major or minor degree requirements. There are several ways to find more courses outside of the WGS code that you can use to count for your major or minor.

Gender studies, queer studies and feminism are interdisciplinary by nature. You will find many other fields incorporate them into other classes. Check the schedule or course catalog for your major and look for courses that mention gender, sexuality, feminism or women in the title.

If you see or hear about a class that sounds like it should count for WGS credit, check our website and our class schedule to see if we are already aware of it. If not, email us! It is difficult to keep tabs on every class and to list them all on our schedule.

Use the form below if you have a course in another subject code or from another university that you’d like to apply to your WGSS major or minor or QST minor. Transfer students please note: Many courses are automatically imported. Use this form only if one is not applied to UO WGSS automatically and you believe it is relevant.

Check the Areas of Inquiry List

The registrar maintains a list of courses that satisfy group requirements/general ed requirements called the Areas of Inquiry (formerly group-satisfying) list. It is linked on the class schedule page.

Scroll down until you see the table with class names. Use the search field on top of it to filter by keywords. Suggestions: ‘Gender’, ‘Sexuality’, ‘Queer’, and etc. This should help you start your search; you can investigate more about each course that sounds interesting to you by finding it in the class schedule or on the course catalog, the master list of all UO courses.

Note that since these are just courses that satisfy area of inquiry requirements, the list may exclude some courses.

Check our “Courses in Other Codes” List

The courses listed below will also satisfy the upper division requirements of the WGSS major/minor. These are courses that have been historically counted for various students.

Please note that this list is always under construction as faculty continually devise new classes. There may be courses in other codes that are not yet listed here but that will in fact count. There may be courses on this list that we once counted for a student but are no longer offered. When in doubt, email us and ask!

WGSS Major/Minor Satisfying Classes

Anthropology

ANTH 314 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective  
ANTH 315 Gender, Folklore and Inequality

Arts and Administration

AAD 252 Art and Gender

Comparative Literature

COLT 360 Gender and Identity in Literature

English

ENG 496/596* Feminist Film Criticism  
ENG 496/596* Top Gender and Global Cinema

Ethnic Studies

ES 310* Top Race and Sexuality in Hip-Hop Culture  
ES 330 Women of Color: Issues

Geography

GEOG 466 Gender and Environment

History

HIST 121 Women in World History  
HIST 308/309 History of Women in the US  
HIST 399* Special Studies: African American Women  
HIST 410* US Politics of Sex  
HIST 415* Topic: Women and Globalization  
HIST 463 Topic: American Consumerism

International Studies

INTL 465 Global Reproductive Health

Philosophy

PHIL 170 Love and Sex  
PHIL 315 Feminist Philosophy  
PHIL 463/563* Irigaray  
PHIL 463/563* Beauvoir  
PHIL 607 Feminist Philosophy Proseminar  
PHIL 620 Feminism and Pragmatism

Psychology

PSY 380 Psychology of Gender

Art History

ARH 407 Gender in Greek and Roman Art

Classics

CLAS 314 Gender and Sexuality in Antiquity

Counseling Psychology

CPSY 410* Psych of Masculinity

Environmental Studies

ENVS 410* Nature in Popular Culture (Spring 2015, Sarah Wald)

Folklore

FLR 370 Folklore and Sexuality  
FLR 418/518 Folklore and Gender

German/Scandinavian

GER 354 German Gender Studies  
GER 440* Gender/Fascism in Germany

Honors College

HC 231H Gender and Sexuality in the West to 1500  
HC 232H Women, Gender and Society in Modern Europe

Journalism

J 320 Gender, Media and Diversity  
J 412* Top LGBTQ Issues and the Media

Political Science

PS 348 Women and Politics  
PS 368 Gender in the Law  
PS 380 Women and Gender in Developing Countries  
PS 458* Feminist Political Theories  
PS 465 LGBT Rights in the Courts

Sociology

SOC 355 Sociology of Gender  
SOC 455 Issues in Sociology of Gender  
SOC 456 Feminist Theory  
SOC 457 Sex and Society

QST Minor Satisfying Courses

Cinema Studies

CINE 350 Gender and Sexuality in European Cinema

Education

EDST 455 Homophobia

English

ENG 410* Queer Life Writing

Folklore

FLR 370 Folklore and Sexuality  
FLR 418/518 Folklore and Gender

Comparative Literature

COLT 360 Gender and Identity in Literature

Education

EDST 455 Homophobia

Ethnic Studies

ES 407 Queer Ethnic Lit  
ES 410* Queer Migrations

Case-by-Case Basis Evaluation

Psychology

PSY 388 Human Sexuality

* Part of a topic-changing course code. In the instance given, the course had a gender studies focus and was counted. Topic-changing courses are not always the same. Check with your advisor if you are unsure if a class will count.