HST 377, 378 - Gender & Sex in European History

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirement HU.
Meets requirement: W when offered as 378
Over the past six hundred years, definitions of what it means to be male and female have changed remarkably. This course explores the changing nature of men’s and women’s identities, conditions, social status, and thought, as well as the development of their political, social, and cultural powers from the fifteenth century to our day. Special emphasis is placed on the history of gender in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia. The course examines gender as an analytical category, distinguishes gender from sex, and raises our consciousness of gender’s variability. It exposes the forces - cultural, social, economic, and political - that have altered gender in history.