Thinking Sex (CULS30004)
Undergraduate level 3Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
| Availability | Semester 1 |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
How do we come to experience ourselves as having a gender and a sexual orientation? How do social constructions of gender relate to understandings of sexuality? How have categories like masculinity and femininity; heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality transformed over time? This subject approaches gender and sexuality as historically and culturally contingent rather than as natural expressions of a private self. It provides the historical and theoretical frameworks for understanding the rise of specific genders and sexualities in relation to available medical, psychoanalytic, philosophical, political and popular discourses. Drawing from recent formations in both feminism and queer studies, this subject engages with a diverse range of cultural texts from the proceedings of court cases to personal advertisements, from celebrity gossip columns to popular film. On completion of this subject students should be able to explicate the complex imbrications of gender and sexuality and to analyse the representation of gendered and sexual identities and desires in selected cultural texts, which may include television, film, Internet and print media.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students should have:
- a well-developed ability to apply critical and analytical skills and methods to identifying the imbrications of gender and sexuality within the complex, changing contexts of contemporary cultural life, especially in the West but also to some extent in non-Western contexts;
- a detailed knowledge and critical understanding of how contemporary gendered and sexual identities developed in the West as an aspect of cultural modernity;
- Have developed a mastery of the central concepts and principles in key approaches to gender and sexuality in contemporary humanities scholarship (including post-structuralist feminism and queer theory), and contextualise this learning in relation to the discipline;
- demonstrated high level analysis, conceptual sophistication and critical thinking on gender and sexuality, including on how these relate to other facets of social identity such as race, generation and nationality;
- the ability to apply critical skills and methods to analyse the representation of gendered and sexual identities and desires in selected local and specific cultural texts across a range of forms and genres; and
- an appreciation of national and international debates on specific contemporary issues and complex problems connected with sexuality, with an awareness of the wider community.
Generic skills
At the completion of this subject, students should gain the following generic skills:
- social, ethical, and cultural understanding of self and others through detailed analysis of contemporary culture in its various local, national and transnational contexts;
- the reception of new ideas and the contextualization of judgments;
- the adaptation of knowledge to new situations;
- critical analysis and synthesis through the study of competing theories of contemporary culture and their application to diverse examples;
- the engagement with and processing of different critical perspectives across the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies;
- the development of independent thought and arguments;
- effective written and oral communication through tutorial discussions and debates;
- the preparation and execution of written assessment exercises;
- exposure to and emulation of competing genres and protocols of critical writing;
- information management and information literacy through the practice of library and archival research;
- engagement with electronic databases;
- teamwork, flexibility, and tolerance through group discussions in tutorials;
- reception of new ideas and opinions;
- engaging and cooperating with other people from diverse backgrounds; and
- time management and planning through managing and organizing workloads for recommended reading and assessment requirements.
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
SCRN30003 Sex and the Screen; SCRN20012 Sex and the Screen; 106-243 Sex and the Screen; 106-367 Gender, Sexuality and Culture; 107-079 Sex and the Cinema
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Assessment
Additional details
- A 1,000 word LMS-based blogging assessment exercise (30%), done throughout the semester
- A 1,000 word essay (25%), due mid-semester
- A 2,000 word essay (45%), due in the examination period
- This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 80% attendance and regular participation in tutorials. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. All components of assessment must be completed in order to pass this subject
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Dates & times
- Semester 1
Principal coordinator Gilbert Caluya Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total 30 hours: a 1.5-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial per week. Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 27 February 2017 to 28 May 2017 Last self-enrol date 10 March 2017 Census date 31 March 2017 Last date to withdraw without fail 5 May 2017 Assessment period ends 23 June 2017 Semester 1 contact information
Time commitment details
170 hours
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Major Gender Studies Informal specialisation Graduate Certificate in Arts - Gender Studies Informal specialisation Graduate Diploma in Arts - Screen and Cultural Studies Major Screen and Cultural Studies Informal specialisation Graduate Diploma in Arts - Gender Studies Informal specialisation Graduate Certificate in Arts - Screen and Cultural Studies - Breadth options
This subject is available as breadth in the following courses:
- Bachelor of Biomedicine
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Design
- Bachelor of Environments
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Science
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 14 March 2025