Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for WS 210 Winter 2025


Course Number:
WS 210
Course Title:
Introduction to Queer Studies
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Focuses on the lives and contributions of queer people in cultural, historical, and social context, including identities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, asexual, pansexual and gender non-binary. Uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore the complex social constructions of sex, sexuality, race, class, gender identity and gender expression. Explores the institutional and cultural factors that create and maintain systems of oppression. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

  1. Identify the contributions of queer people to art, culture, history, and politics.
  2. Analyze changing political, social, economic, racial, historical, and cultural patterns in the construction of sex, sexuality, and gender.
  3. Describe one's own relationships to intersecting systems of power.
  4. Communicate about queer issues in writing, collaborating, and speaking.

Integrative Learning

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.

General education philosophy statement

This course aligns with the PCC General Education philosophy by providing an appreciation of history both from a global perspective and from a personal perspective, including an awareness of the role played by gender and by various cultures, This course also provides an understanding of the ethical and social requirements of responsible participation in society. It accomplishes these goals by centering intersectional feminism and analyzing the creation and maintenance of systems of oppression such as sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, racism, classism, ableism, among others.

Course Activities and Design

  •  Individual reading assignment
  •  Group discussions
  • Collaborative groups
  •  Lecture
  • Panel discussion
  • Videos
  • Review difficult concepts
  • Case studies
  • Presentations
  • Creative or artistic projects

Outcome Assessment Strategies

  • essays
  • research projects
  • participation in class discussion, exercises, small group activities or role plays
  • oral or visual presentations
  • written or oral examinations
  • participation in organizing community events

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

  • systems of oppression (institutional, structural, internalized, cultural)
  • gender, sexuality, race, class and other tools of critical analysis
  • heterosexism, heteronormativity
  • homophobia, transphobia
  • sexual and gender identities, intersexuality, asexuality
  • passing, visibility, information management, disclosure
  • birth family as a source of oppression or resilience
  • chosen family, alternative families
  • reproduction politics and technologies
  • the role of religion and science both in legitimizing and resisting queer oppression
  • politics, law, literature, art, popular culture, media
  • non-binary identities, androgyny
  • identity politics
  • queer social movements and activism
  • feminist epistemologies
  • queer theories