Women's and Gender Studies

Feminist film studies. Uses an intersectional lens to analyze women's roles in cinema as filmmakers and actors from its origins to the present.

This course focuses on historical and contemporary methods of individual and collective storytelling. Through study and critical analysis of texts and oral histories, the course offers a framework to examine larger social contexts and appreciate diverse ways of being human. The course offers some production skills in the form of practice with documentation skills, creating story structure, formatting, copyediting, production, strategic and creative storytelling, and multimedia design.

Introduction to the origins, purpose, subject matter, and methods of Women's and Gender Studies and to feminist perspectives on a range of social issues affecting women of diverse backgrounds. Study of the formation of gender and its intersections with race, class, sexuality, dis/ability, age, religion, and other systems of difference.

An interdisciplinary and intersectional study of masculinities within US culture and society. Special attention will be given to how masculinity is represented and constructed along axes of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, class, and ability, as well as possibilities for challenging hegemonic masculinity and building new masculinities.

An examination of the political, social, and psychological causes of sexual violence, its connections to other forms of violence, and strategies for addressing the social problem of sexual violence and transforming a rape culture, including prevention education and the healing function of writing. Field project required.

Education and skills training in peer education to promote healthy relationships and reduce sexual violence, specifically intimate partner violence and acquaintance rape. Peer education activities include preparation of a facilitation plan, campus-wide visibility projects, presentations to CCSF classes and volunteer work in community-based organizations. Field project required.

Instruction and practice in physical and psychological aspects of self-defense. Emphasis on developing strategies to emerge from threatening situations without sustaining serious physical or psychological trauma. The attainment of these skills can boost self-esteem, facilitating the pursuit of life and career goals.