All Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies (GWSS) Courses

Recommended Preparation

Interested in exploring this major, but not ready to commit? Consider taking one of the below courses! Any of these selections will help familiarize you with the academic program and prepare you for advanced coursework in the major.

  • BIS 221 Gender and Sexuality
  • BIS 222 Introduction to Human Sexuality
  • BIS 224 Introduction to Feminist Studies 

A. GWSS Core Courses (10 credits)

All students will be required to take 10 credits of core courses.

  • BISGWS 301 Critical Gender and Sexuality Studies (5 credits)
  • BISGWS 302 Histories and Movements of Gender and Sexuality (5 credits) or BISGWS 303 Approaches to Feminist Inquiry (5 credits)

GWSS faculty HIGHLY recommend students take both BISGWS 302 & 303. If a student completes both BISGWS 302 and BISGWS 303, 5 credits from these courses can be applied toward the student's GWSS coursework requirement.

B. GWSS Coursework (30 credits)

GWSS coursework must either focus on gender, women and sexuality studies histories, themes, and experience and/or use theoretical frameworks and methods grounded in gender, women, and sexualtiy studies approaches.

  • BIS 219 The Politics of Sex Education
  • BIS 221 Gender and Sexuality
  • BIS 222 Introduction to Human Sexuality (formerly offered under BIS 316)
  • BIS 224 Introduction to Feminist Studies
  • BIS 227 Rad Women in the Global South
  • BIS 310 Women, Culture & Development
  • BIS 324 Gender, Human Rights, and Global Cinema (formerly offered under BIS 339)
  • BIS 368 Women's Lives in Context
  • BIS 387 Women and American Literature
  • BIS 431 Issues in Sexual Politics and Cultures
  • BIS 433 Gender, Work and Family
  • BIS 436 Comparative Family Systems
  • BIS 455 Literature and Sexuality
  • BIS 471 Women in Art
  • BIS 486 Studies in Women and Literature
  • BISAES 368 Sex, Love, Romance
  • BISSEB 331 The Family in U.S. Society
  • BISSTS 420 Race, Gender, Science and Medicine (formerly offered under BISSTS 497)

GWSS Special Topics Courses

GWSS coursework includes the following approved topics courses.

  • BIS 322 Topics in Performance Studies
    • Performing Race and Gender on Film
  • BIS 341 Topics in the Study of Culture
    • Race, Gender and Sexuality in Museum Archives
  • BIS 351 Topics in American Culture
    • Women in Film
  • BIS 387 Women and American Literature
    • American Women Writers and the Question of Coalition
  • BIS 464 Topics in Advanced Cinema Studies
    • Queer Cinema
  • BIS 480 International Study Abroad
    • Gender, Media and Human Rights in India
  • BIS 490 Advanced Seminar
    • The History and Politics of HIV/AIDS
    • Memory Work and Cultural Production in Diaspora
    • Gender and the Politics of Numbers
    • Regulating Sexuality-Activism Policy and Everyday Life
    • Gender, Law & Policy
    • Women, Race, and Class
    • Hollywood Cinema, Gender and Sexuality
    • Commercial Sex Work, Sexual Health, and Global Human Rights
    • Theory and Practice of Queer and Trans Media
    • Culture and Resistance in the Americas
    • Sex Work, Human Trafficking, and Social Justice
    • Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Science Fiction
    • Gender Violence, Policing and the Law
    • Participatory Action Research to Address Sexual and Relationship Violence @ UWB

GWSS Courses Taught by Other Schools

GWSS courses from other UW Bothell Schools include the following.

  • B EDUC 461 Educational Implications of Gender Inequality
  • B HLTH  223 Feminist Approaches to Women's Health
  • B HLTH  420 Women's Global Health and Human Rights
  • CSS 205 Women in STEM Seminar: College Life
  • CSS 405 Women in STEM Seminar: Career/Professional Life

Sample Plan

View a sample course plan.