Depth and breadth across disciplines.

Our curriculum analyzes how gender and sexuality operate in politics, popular culture, the workplace, health, science, sports, intimate life and the very production of knowledge itself. Our classes emphasize that gender and sexuality are not stand-alone categories but rather take shape through their intersection with outer relations of power, including race and ethnicity, religion, class and nationality.

For full details on each course, visit the USC Catalogue

  • Meet your freshmen General Education Seminar (GESM) requirement with a GESM taught by GSS faculty! Students may count only one GE Seminar for degree credit.

    GESM 120 – Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry
    theses courses satisfy GE-B and Dornsife Core Literacy

    • Gaming Gender, with Eli Dunn
    • That Teenage Feeling, with Chris Belcher
    • Feminist Science Fiction Studies, with Atia Sattar

    Learn more about GESM courses  –>

  • All of our lower division courses meet one or more GE requirements, as noted below.

    • SWMS 105g Identity Development of the Contemporary Female
    • SWMS 210gmw Social Analysis of Gender
    • SWMS 212gp Introduction to Gender and Sexuality: American Perspectives
    • SWMS 215gw Introduction to Gender and Sexuality: International Perspectives
    • SWMS 219gp Introduction to Feminist Theory
    • SWMS 221g Introduction to Queer Theory
    • SWMS 227gp Death and Gender in Urban Contexts

    Learn more about USC GE requirements –>

    • SWMS 306 Contemporary Issues in LGBTQ Studies
    • SWMS 308 Advanced Gender Theory
    • SWMS 310 Gender and Social Justice
    • SWMS 311 Gender and Sexuality Studies: Internship
    • SWMS 325 The Science of Sex Differences: A Gender and Sexuality Studies Approach
    • SWMS 336 Health, Gender and Ethnicity
    • SWMS 338 The Undisciplined Mother
    • SWMS 348 Women, Gender and Sexuality in Hip Hop
    • SWMS 349 Women and the Law
    • SWMS 355 Transgender Studies
    • SWMS 358 U.S. Gay and Lesbian History
    • SWMS 367 Gender and Creative Labor
    • SWMS 385m Men and Masculinity
    • SWMS 389 Gender, Sexuality and Food Cultures in the U.S.
    • SWMS 392 Junior Seminar in Gender and Sexuality Studies
    • SWMS 410 Senior Seminar in Gender and Sexuality Studies
    • SWMS 425 Queer Los Angeles

  • Many of our courses are housed in academic units across the University. These courses are listed below with both their GSS and home department designations, for your convenience.

    • SWMS 104 (PBHS 104) Identity Development of the Contemporary Male
    • SWMS 300 (CLAS 300) Women in Antiquity
    • SWMS 305 (ANTH 305) Childhood, Birth and Reproduction
    • SWMS 316 (IR 316) Gender and Global Issues
    • SWMS 321 (JS 321) Gender and Judaism
    • SWMS 324 (COLT 324) Women in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
    • SWMS 330m (ANTH 330m) Culture, Gender and Politics in South Asia
    • SWMS 335 (REL 335) Gender, Religion, and Sexuality
    • SWMS 337 (COMM 337) The LGBTQ Revolution and the Media
    • SWMS 344m (ENGL 344m) Sexual/Textual Diversity
    • SWMS 350g (ITAL 350g) Gender and Sexuality in Renaissance Italy
    • SWMS 370 (ANTH 370)Sex, Love, and Marriage: An Introduction to Kinship
    • SWMS 372 (PSYC 372) Human Sexuality
    • SWMS 374gm (COLT 374gm) Women Writers in Europe and America
    • SWMS 375 (EALC 375) Women and Gender in China: Past and Present
    • SWMS 378 (COLT 377) Gender and Sexuality in Literary Theory
    • SWMS 380 (ANTH 380) Sex and Gender in Anthropological Perspective
    • SWMS 381 (POSC 381) Sex, Power, and Politics
    • SWMS 383 (FREN 383) French Women Writers
    • SWMS 395m (COMM 395m) Gender, Media and Communication
    • SWMS 402 (SOCI 402) Human Trafficking
    • SWMS 412 (CTCS 412) Gender, Sexuality and Media
    • SWMS 415 (COLT 415) Queer Cinema, Literature and the Visual Arts
    • SWMS 430 (EALC 430) Gender and Sexuality in Korean Literature and Culture
    • SWMS 434m (GERO 435m) Women and Aging: Psychological, Social and Political Implications
    • SWMS 435m (SOCI 435m) Women in Society
    • SWMS 442m (ARCH 442m) Women’s Spaces in History: “Hussies,” “Harems,” and “Housewives”
    • SWMS 445 (FREN 445) Feminism, Gender and Sexuality
    • SWMS 456 (POSC 456) Women in International Development
    • SWMS 467 (JOUR 467) Gender and the News Media
Current & Upcoming Courses