How does being a woman affect our behavior, our evaluations of ourselves, and our interactions with others? This course examines psychological science on women and girls in western industrialized societies, addressing such topics as gender stereotypes, girlhood, women and work, relationships, pregnancy and motherhood, mental health, violence against women, and women in later adulthood. We will consider these topics through an understanding of gender as a social construction, being mindful of the intersections of gender, sexuality, class, and race. Although focused on women’s lives and experiences, this course is highly relevant to people of all genders.
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The word 'love' is almost never used in any portrayal or description of the African American community's daily life in contemporary media and in the social sciences. But love, as a human experience, is central to our understanding of what it means to be a vital member of a culture and society and thus respected, nurtured, etc. This seminar examines the love that difference makes.... Read more about How Sweet is it to be Loved By You: Black Love and the Emotional Politics of Respect

What is feminism? What is patriarchy? What and who is a woman? How does gender relate to sexuality, and to class and race? Should housework be waged, should sex be for sale, and should feminists trust the state?... Read more about Feminist Political Thought

This class explores the relationships of passion, love, and obligation that bound men and women over the course of nearly two millennia, from Rome in the first century B.C.E. to sixteenth-century Italy. In particular, it focuses on how those relationships were organized legally and institutionally, on the social roles created by such relationships, and on the connection (or lack thereof) between marriage, love, and sexual passion.... Read more about Sex, Love, and Marriage in the Middle Ages

In this course, we will explore how the family impacts psychopathology, including relapse, recovery, and resilience, for a member with a mental disorder. We will examine the relationship between the family and mental health conditions like anxiety, autism, depression, personality disorders, and schizophrenia from a life course and a family systems perspective.... Read more about Psychopathology and the Family

This course provides an introduction to Christian conceptions of conduct, character, and community, as well as contemporary disputes over their interpretation and application. What do Christian ideals imply for issues related to race, gender, religious pluralism, and secularism?... Read more about Christian Ethics and Modern Society

This course explores the ways in which the law intersects with gender identity and sexual orientation, examining this complex and evolving area of law in the context of a changing judicial and political landscape. Taught by a leading practitioner in the field, this course emphasizes the legal tools and decision-making processes involved in doing pathbreaking civil rights work.... Read more about Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, and the Law

Both demographic and cultural reproduction pose critical challenges to minority religions, placing pressure on personal decisions, group dynamics, religious practices, and intergroup relations.  This course follows the navigation of these pressures by American Jews, and explores the formations of gender and sexuality that result.... Read more about Gender and Judaism in Modern America

What assumptions about race and sex are embedded in the term 'interracial,' and why are different types of interracial relationships viewed differently? How did White fears of relationships between Black men and White women influence the creation of the Ku Klux Klan? How did the story of Pocahontas influence the development of a settler colonial state?... Read more about Interracial Intimacy: Sex, Race, and Romance in the U.S.

This course explores histories of women from diverse indigenous nations within the current boundaries of the United States. We will attend closely to methods and sources employed in historical inquiry about Native women even as we track change over time in a range of contexts.... Read more about Native American Women: History and Myth

What does it mean to “do” feminism, or to “be” a feminist in the 21st-century United States? What can we make of the dominant social expectations for a woman’s life?... Read more about Leaning In, Hooking Up: Visions of Feminism and Femininity in the 21st Century

This course is an in-depth exploration of close relationships. Examples of topics to be covered include the biological bases of attraction; relationship formation; the end of relationships through break-up, divorce, or death; relationship satisfaction; deception; gender roles; same-sex relationships; loneliness; relationships and well-being; and public perceptions about relationships.... Read more about Psychology of Close Relationships

In the face of political and social change, and demands for racial, gender and economic justice, religious traditions struggle to respond while maintaining identity.  As an example, the Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s brought the Roman Catholic Church to a deeper engagement with modern academic scholarship such as historical critical methods of interpreting texts, environmental and evolutionary sciences’ relation to the Church, and the fundamental importance of modern philosophical and political thought to the institution’s self-understanding.... Read more about Roman Catholic Christianity and Contemporary Crises

How do love, care, and desire influence the value of work, and why is emotional labor – which is vital to child or elder care, domestic labor, nursing, teaching, and sex work – often considered to be something other than work? How and why do the racial and gender identities of workers affect the economic, social, and emotional value of their labor?... Read more about Love's Labors Found: Uncovering Histories of Emotional Labor

Weekly seminar on topics in Maternal and Child Health/Children, Youth and Families. Required for: doctoral students either majoring or minoring in Maternal Child Health/Children Youth and Families (MCH/CYF) until they defend their thesis; masters students concentrating in MCH/CYF for the duration of their program. The MCF/CYF concentration in open to masters and doctoral students in all departments at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.... Read more about Maternal and Child Health/Children, Youth and Families Seminar

What is feminism? What is patriarchy? What and who is a woman?  How does gender relate to sexuality, and to class and race?  Should housework be waged, should sex be for sale, and should feminists trust the state?  This course is an introduction to feminist political thought since the mid-twentieth century. It explores the key arguments that have preoccupied radical, socialist and liberal feminists, and how debates about equality, work, and identity matter today.

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