Investigating Gender, Sexuality and Society
Video: About the Genesis Investigating Gender, Sexuality and Society Course
What does it mean to be a man? A woman? Genderqueer? How much control do we have over our gender and sexual identities and how much is controlled by biology, society or other factors? This course will delve into questions of gender and sexual identity, studying cutting edge theories in concert with art, literature, religious texts and personal narratives in a safe, supportive and open environment.
Key Questions
- What is gender? How is it different from sex and sexual identity?
- What is at the core of our gender identity?
- What role does society play in our understanding of our gender and sexual identities?
- What role do factors like biology and personal choice play?
You Will
- Critically investigate movies, television, advertisements, and other forms of media that create cultural norms
- Explore Jewish texts (from the Torah to current day Jewish scholars) that look at Jewish views of gender roles and sexuality
- Visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and look at gender expression through centuries of art
- Explore our own identities through storytelling and dramatic improvisation
- Go into Boston and observe the role of gender identity in everyday life
- Meet with Idit Klein, Executive Director of Keshet, the national organization for LGBTQ inclusion in the Jewish world
- Examine laws in the Unites States and other countries related to the criminalization of homosexuality and LGBTQ rights
Meet the Instructor
Golan Moskowitz is an advanced doctoral candidate at Brandeis University, where he earned a joint masters degree in Near Eastern & Judaic Studies and Women's & Gender Studies, and where he currently offers editorial assistance for academic books published by the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry. His scholarship, which he has published and presented at various conferences and invited lectures, focuses on post-Holocaust identity, the history of the Jewish family and Jewish childhood, gender and queer theory, and comics and graphic narrative. Golan also holds a BA in Art from Vassar College, and his teaching continues to draw from the visual arts, integrating creative approaches to organizing and understanding intersections between personal identity, gender and sexuality, family mythology, collective histories, and wider social power structures. He has taught in settings ranging from Jewish adult education programs to the college classroom. His work has been recognized with honors including an Andrew W. Mellon Dissertation Year Fellowship and a Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Award.