Note:  The title of S422 has been changed from “Variations in Human
Sexuality II” to “Constructing Sexuality.”  It is, however, the same
course.  If you have already completed it under the old title, you
will not receive credit for the current course.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The aim of the course is to provide an understanding of the social
constructionist perspective and the development of its various
strains in the area of human sexuality.  It will cover its sources:
symbolic interactionism (and other interpretive approaches) in the
United States, what developed out of the U.S. perspective in England,
the influence of the French post-structuralists, the role played by
feminist scholars and queer theorists, and the contributions of
postmodernism and cultural studies.  Students will see how these
different origins have converged in this contemporary approach to the
study of human sexuality.  Basically, the course examines how the
constructions (i.e., interpretations, meanings) of various forms and
facets of sexuality are related to the evaluator’s historical,
cultural, and social location.  We look at the role of power and
politics in shaping constructions of sexualities and the processes
that underlie certain interpretations.  This analysis casts into
relief the role of macro-sociological factors as well as those on the
interpersonal level (such as the “slight of hand” used in
transforming notions about statistical normality into imputations
about psychiatric abnormality – e.g., most people are heterosexual,
so bisexual and gay/lesbian people are psychologically abnormal).
A “sex radical pluralist” model of interpretation (one that has been
delineated by social constructionists) is proposed as an alternative
to the conservative traditional one.  The specific sexualities to be
discussed usually include nudism, forms of sex work,
intergenerational sex, homosexuality, bisexuality, sexual contact
with animals, transgender variations, fetishism, sadomasochism,
fisting, urine play, and the playing with and eating of feces.  The
course will be organized around lectures, guest speakers, audio-
visual materials (explicit sexual materials of many of the behaviors
listed above), and discussions.  If you will be offended by these
videos or by explicit sexual language, please do not take this class.

BOOKS/READINGS (The reader is available at Collegiate Copies; the
book at TIS)

	(RDR)	Xeroxed Reader: Constructing Sexuality, 2001

	(AS)	Arlene Stein, Sex and Sensibility: Stories of a
Lesbian Generation, Berkeley: University
		of California Press, 1997.

GRADING:	Three in-class essay examinations, weekly take-home
essay questions, preparation and participation grades.