ARTH 1710 - Visual Constructions of Gender

Goals: This interdisciplinary themed course focuses on visual images of gender in modern and contemporary western culture. From the “Fallen Woman” to the “Queer Eye”, our understanding of masculinity(ies) and femininity(ies) has been determined in part by the visual images we encounter in the media and the art world; these images reflect societal imperatives and anxieties regarding sex and gender relations, and simultaneously help to construct our ideas about them.

Content: Explores such questions as: To what degree are these images artificially constructed and to what purposes? How do such constructions cross national/international borders? How do they relate to verbal and literary constructions of the period? Also explores literary and theoretical writings, and images from both art and the media.

Taught: Alternate years

Credits: 4 credits