Course overview
This course examines how experiences of health/illness are influenced by cultural norms of gender/sexuality. You will be introduced to major theoretical approaches to the social study of gendered and sexed bodies from feminist/gender/queer scholars, exploring how historical and contemporary constructions of `un/healthy bodies' are made through the intersecting politics of gender and sex, scientific racism, contested knowledges and discrimination. Through a range of global case studies (such as trans health, reproductive injustice and pharmaceutical markets) we will investigate how contemporary debates about bodies and health are shaped by differing political contexts, which in turn shape care, health inequities, and embodiment.
- Histories of gendered and sexed bodies
- Key theoretical approaches
- Sexuality, gender and reproduction
Course learning outcomes
- Analyse how gender, sexuality, race, and colonialism shape experiences of medicine, health, and embodiment, drawing on feminist, queer, and decolonial perspectives to move beyond description and examine the power relations that produce unequal health outcomes.
- Critically evaluate competing discourses of health and illness (including biomedical, popular, and everyday knowledges) and assess how these discourses construct gendered, sexualised, and racialised bodies as ‘normal’ or ‘deviant’.
- Engage with contemporary feminist and gender theories of the body (including corporeal feminism, intersectionality, crip theory, and queer theory) and apply them to current debates in medicine and health such as medicalisation, reproductive justice, and gender-affirming care.
- Construct and communicate evidence-based scholarly arguments that synthesise competing theoretical perspectives on gender, sexuality, and health, demonstrating critical analysis, academic writing, and the capacity to engage with complex and contested ideas.
Availability
Class details
Adelaide City Campus East
Group 1
Class number 27224
Section TU03
Size 28
Available 19
Class number 28986
Section TU02
Size 28
Available 23
Class number 28987
Section TU01
Size 28
Available 24
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