Gender, Sexuality and Society

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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 a Jewish Studies lecturer at Smith College. He has a PhD in Near Eastern & Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, where he also earned a joint masters degree in Jewish Studies and Women's & Gender Studies. His scholarship focuses on relationships between Jewish studies and queer theory, intergenerational post-Holocaust perspectives, the life and work of Maurice Sendak, the history of the Jewish family and Jewish childhood, and comics and graphic narratives. Golan also holds a BA in Art from Vassar College, and his teaching continues to draw from the visual arts, integrating creative approaches to analyze intersections between the personal, the historical, and the political. His work has been recognized with honors including an Andrew W. Mellon Dissertation Year Fellowship and a Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Award.

Meet our Genesis faculty.