Human Sexuality in a Social Context

How do we come to know ourselves as sexual beings? How do individuals develop attractions, make sexual choices, define and enact their own sexuality? What is social about sexuality, and how do institutions and organizations influence understandings of human sexuality over time? This course investigates these questions by examining the processes through which the human body is sexed, from without, by the society into which it is born, and from within, through self-definition, desire, and practice. Social science theories of sexuality will be considered, and cross-cultural and historical accounts of sexual practices will be reviewed. Not open to first year students.