GSFS 319 - Sexual “Absences”

FC ARHU CD WADV

4 credits
This course explores how the absence of sex has been uniquely constructed through American histories and politics of race and sexuality. Several scholars have charted the history of sexuality through desire, practice, and identity, which resulted in the invention of sexual categories like heterosexuality and homosexuality. But few have looked at the history of sexuality in America through the lens of absence. In this course, we will explore how abstinence, celibacy, virginity, chastity, and asexuality have been historically and rhetorically shaped by the sexual revolution, capitalism and the industrial revolution, sexology, religion, and social justice movements in the United States.

Prerequisites: CAST/GSFS 100 and GSFS 101.

This course is cross-listed with CAST-319