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Critical Gender Studies is an undergraduate program specializing in the study of gender and sexuality. We came to life as a program in Women’s Studies, but at the urging of faculty and students, reconstituted ourselves in 1998 by pairing gender studies and sexuality studies in one course of study. Since these are interdisciplinary fields, students are free to pursue their interests, to follow the road of inquiry where it takes them. As a result, our students learn to think in creative and productive ways, gaining analytic strengths and conceptual agility by frequently crossing the boundaries of established disciplines.

The program’s core curriculum builds upon feminist scholarship and queer studies, incorporating the interdisciplinary agendas, intellectual debates, changing methodological practices, and major scholarly shifts that have reshaped the fields of gender and sexuality studies over the last decade. Students round out their program by taking courses offered by CGS affiliate faculty in a variety of topics. Students may major or minor in CGS; many students choose to pursue a double major, finding the interdisciplinary approach in CGS to be a valuable complement to their training in more traditional fields. CGS also offers students the opportunity to graduate with honors by enrolling in a special program of writing and research during their senior year.

As a small, enthusiastic program, we take pride in our ability to get to know our students well, and in fostering a lively community of students and faculty who share a commitment to innovative scholarship and creative thinking.

Core Courses

Lower Division Courses

Course Code	Course Title
CGS 2A	Introduction to Critical Gender Studies: Social MovementsThis course will examine the role of social movements in contesting rights and representation in comparative and historical contexts. Historical examples may include: civil rights, men’s movements, anti-racist feminism, women’s movements, AIDS activism, transgenderism, immigrant rights, and the labor movement.
CGS 2B	Introduction to Critical Gender Studies: Gender & Institutions This course examines how gender organizes and is organized by institutions. Domains of inquiry may include family, education, medicine, technology, law, media, the workplace, immigration, and citizenship.
CGS 87	Freshman Seminar (One unit; not for major or minor credit)The Freshman Seminar Program is designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small seminar setting. Freshman seminars are offered in all campus departments and undergraduate colleges, and topics vary from quarter to quarter. Enrollment is limited to 15-20 students, with preference given to entering freshmen.

Upper Division Courses

Course Code	Course Title & Description
CGS 100	Conceptualizing Gender: Theories & Methods This course will compare the uses of gender as a category of analysis across academic disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences with particular attention to research methodologies.
CGS 101	Gender, Modernity, & Globalization An interdisciplinary course that considers how men and women in societies around the globe are impacted differently by modernity, modernization, and globalization. Possible topics include: gender and colonialism; the construction of sexuality and gender in the context of global movements and migrations of people, capital, and culture; the international division of labor; and gender and revolution.
CGS 102	Selected Topics in Critical Gender Studies An interdisciplinary course focusing on one of a variety of topics in gender studies, such as gender and science, the body, reproductive technologies, public policy. May be taken for credit three times when topics vary. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.
CGS 103	Feminist Theory An interdisciplinary course in feminist theory. Topics may range from a general survey of feminist theory in a variety of disciplines to a more focused interdisciplinary theoretical topic such as postmodernism and feminism. May be taken for credit three times when topics vary. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.
CGS 104	Advanced Topics in Comparative Perspectives Focuses on the relationship between gender and culture from a multiplicity of perspectives. Possible topics could include gender and ethnicity, gender across class, and other topics to be examined in a cross-cultural framework. May be taken for credit two times when topics vary. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.
CGS 105	Queer Theory Examines the different methodologies and disciplinary histories that together constitute the interdisciplinary project called queer studies. Of particular interest will be how these different methodologies and histories construe and construct the relations between sexuality, gender, race, class, and nation.
CGS 106	Gender Equality & the Law Explores the legal treatment of discrimination on the basis of gender, including equal protection doctrine and some statutory law such as Title VII. Topics include the meaning of gender equality in such areas as single sex education, military service, sexual harassment, discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, and other current issues.
CGS 107	Gender & Reproductive Rights Legal treatment of gender, reproductive rights, and the family, particularly as evolving law, primarily in the U.S., has created conflicting rights, roles, and responsibilities. Topics include abortion, fetal rights, surrogacy, marriage, and child custody issues. Prerequisite: upper division standing or consent of instructor.
CGS 109B	Gender & Information Technology Explores how gender and racialized gender affect and are affected by information technology. Through the use of feminist and race-critical approaches, the course examines the impact of information technology on workplaces, the family, gender identity, and the environment. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.
CGS 111	Gender & the Body Various approaches to the study of gendered bodies. Possible topics to include masculinities/feminities; lifecycles; biology, culture and identity; medical discourses and health issues. May be taken for credit three times when topics vary.
CGS 112	Sexuality & Nation (Cross-listed with ETHN 127) This course explores the nexus of sex, race, ethnicity, gender and nation and considers their influence on identity, sexuality, migration, movement and borders, and other social, cultural, and political issues which these constructs affect. Prerequisite: upper division standing or consent of instructor.
CGS 113	Gender & Sexuality in the Arts Examines gender and sexuality in artistic practices: music, theater, dance, performance, visual arts, and new media. Topics may include study of specific artists, historical moments, genres, cross-cultural analyses, and multiculturalism. May be taken for credit three times when content varies.
CGS 114	Gender, Race, Ethnicity, & Class (Cross-listed with ETHN 183) Gender is often neglected in studies of ethnic/racial politics. This course explores the relationship of race, ethnicity, class, and gender by examining the participation of working class women of color in community politics and how they challenge mainstream political theory.
CGS 115	Latina/o Sexualities (Cross-listed with ETHN 187) The construction and articulation of Latina/o sexualities will be explored in this course through interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives. We will discuss how immigration, class, and norms of ethnicity, race, and gender determine the construction, expression, and reframing of Latina/o sexualities.
CGS 116	Girls & Sexuality: Moral Panics, Perils, and Pleasures Explores how girls' sexualities are shaped by gender, race, class, educational and penal institutions, and sexual norms. Engages with interdisciplinary scholarship that examines how and why the topic of girls and sexuality has become a volatile subject of public debate, and the manner in which girls' sexualities are represented in various media, particularly film.
CGS 137	Special Topics: Latina Issues & Cultural Production (Cross-listed with ETHN 137) This course will focus on the intersection of labor, class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and immigration in Latina cultural production. Examined from a socio-economic, feminist, and cultural perspective, class readings will allow for historically grounded analyses of these issues. Course may be repeated as topics vary.
CGS 147	Black Feminisms, Past & Present (Cross-listed with ETHN 147) An advanced introduction to historical and contemporary Black feminisms in the US and transnationally. Students will explore the theory and practice of Black feminists/womanists, and analyze the significance of Black feminism to contemporary understandings of race, class, gender, and sexuality.
CGS 150	Visuality, Sexuality, & Race (Cross-listed with ETHN 150)Examines the role of the visual in power relations; the production of what we see regarding race and sexuality; the interconnected history of the caste system, plantation slavery, visuality and contemporary society; and decolonial and queer counternarratives to visuality.
CGS 165	Sex and Gender in African American Communities (Cross-listed with ETHN 165) This course will investigate the changing constructions of sex, gender, and sexuality in African American communities defined by historical period, region, and class. Topics will include the sexual division of labor, myths of black sexuality, the rise of black feminism, black masculinity, and queer politics.
CGS 180	Labor's Relations (Cross-listed with ANSC 180) This course examines how work gives shape to our lives: how having a job relates to our sense of self, our gender, our racial identity, how it organizes our time and space, and how it affects our relationships with family and friends.
CGS 192	Senior Seminar (One unit; not for major or minor credit)The senior seminar is designed to allow senior undergraduates to meet with faculty members in a small group setting to explore an intellectual topic in critical gender studies at the upper-division level. Topic will vary from quarter to quarter.
CGS 190	Honors Seminar Interdisciplinary readings in feminist theory and research methodology to prepare students for writing an honors thesis. Open to Critical Gender Studies majors who have been admitted to the Critical Gender Studies Honors Program. (May be applied toward primary cluster in the Critical Gender Studies major.)
CGS 196A	Honors Research A program of independent study providing candidates for Critical Gender Studies honors to develop, in consultation with an advisor, a preliminary proposal for the honors thesis. An IP grade will be given at the end of the quarter; a final grade for both quarters will be given upon the completion of Critical Gender Studies 196B.
CGS 196B	Honors Thesis Honors thesis research and writing for students who have completed CGS 190 and 196A. A letter grade for both CGS 196A and 196B will be given at the completion of the quarter.
CGS 198	Group Study Directed group study on a topic not generally included in the Critical Gender Studies curriculum. Prerequisites: consent of instructor and director of Critical Gender Studies Program. Department stamp required.
CGS 199	Independent Study Tutorial; independent study on a topic not generally included in the Critical Gender Studies curriculum. Prerequisites: consent of instructor and director of Critical Gender Studies Program. Department stamp required.

Requirements

UC College Preparatory Courses ("a-g" courses)

Must be completed with a C grade or better.
Complete at least 11 of the 15 courses before your senior year of high school.
California residents: courses must be on your high school's UC-approved course list.
There is no pre-approved course list for schools outside of California.
International applicants: read the Freshman Admission for International Students webpage for additional information.

"a-g" Courses	Years
a. History/social science	2
b. English	4
c. Mathematics	3 (4 recommended)
d. Laboratory science	2 (3 recommended)
e. Language other than English (or other second language)	2 (3 recommended)
f. Visual and performing arts	1
g. College preparatory elective	1

Scholarship Requirement (GPA you must earn)

California residents: You must earn a GPA of 3.0 or better with no grade lower than C.
Non-California residents: You must earn a GPA of 3.4 or better with no grade lower than C.

GPA is based on “a-g” courses taken during 10th and 11th grades. See Subject Requirement for “a-g” course explanation.

You must submit scores from either:

ACT Plus Writing OR
SAT Reasoning Test with critical reading, math and writing; scores must be from same sitting
2 SAT Subject Tests closely related to your major are recommended for engineering, biological or physical sciences majors. If taking math subject test, Math Level 2 is required. All tests must be taken by December of your senior year (the year before you plan to enroll).
Only your highest scores from a single sitting will be considered.
When you report your ACT or SAT scores to one campus they will be shared with every UC campus to which you've applied.
Official test scores must be reported no later than January for students applying for the fall term.

Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate

If you complete Advanced Placement courses, we recommend that you complete the related AP examination to demonstrate subject mastery.
Similarly, International Baccalaureate scores can be used to showcase academic mastery.
To receive unit credit toward the baccalaureate degree, you must submit an official copy of your AP or IB scores directly from the testing agency. This can be done in the summer following high school graduation.

Other Entrance Exams

Entrance exams taken after high school graduation are not considered.

International Students

If your native language is not English and your secondary/high school education was in a country where English is not the language of instruction, you must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination (academic modules) and have the scores reported to the UC San Diego Office of Admissions. A minimum score of 83 is required for the TOEFL, or a minimum score of 7 is required for the IELTS.
Attestat/Certificate of (complete) General Secondary Education