Gender Bending: A Cultural History
Gender Bending: A Cultural History (GBEN) was a cancelled CTY course meant for the Institute for Advanced Critical and Cultural Studies at New Haven, but was then discontinued after the announcement of the move to Carlisle.
Course Description
From the CTY Course Catalog (2018):
From birth, we are exposed to cultural messages about gender: to keep us warm, we are wrapped in blue or pink blankets; to entertain us, we are given action figures or dolls; to socialize us, we are exposed to roughhousing or playacting. These approaches to gender perpetuate a particular status quo, one that works against a vast spectrum of lived experiences and possibilities. In this course, students use gender and feminist theories and critical cultural studies to identify and challenge contemporary understandings of gender. As they examine gendered depictions in literature, art, advertising, film, and social media, students become analytical synthesizers of information, casting a critical eye toward coded representations as they conceptualize the fluidity of gender.
