Gender and Sexuality Studies

The multi-disciplinary Gender and Sexuality Studies Sequence is committed to the critical analysis of gender and sexuality. Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS) investigates the meaning, expression, and social construction of gender across cultures and historical periods. The Sequence aims to raise important methodological questions by crossing disciplinary boundaries including the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences.

GSS courses offer students an opportunity to consider how assumptions about gender and/or sexuality operate in society and shape class, racial/ethnic, gender and sexual identities. Students analyze how such assumptions inform social and political structures. In exploring gender as a central category of social and cultural analysis, students also think critically about how gender and sexuality shape our lives as individuals and as members of larger communities and institutions, from the local to the global.

GSS students are encouraged to engage with the Claremont consortium by taking courses across the Colleges. At least one of the five courses must be completed at CMC.

Majors in Gender and Women’s Studies

CMC students may elect to complete a full major in gender-related studies through Pomona College, Scripps College, or Pitzer College, as follows: Gender & Women’s Studies through Pomona College; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies through Scripps College; or Gender and Feminist Studies through Pitzer College.

Primary Contacts: Professor Ellen Rentz and Professor Sarah Sarzynski, Faculty Advisors