PHIL/WGST 275.001 – Moral and Philosophical Issues of Gender in Society

Instructor: Shanna Slank. This course meets TR 8:00 – 9:15 a.m. in CW 105.

In this course, we will consider the many ways that gender shapes our lives. We’ll examine the role that gender norms and gendered institutions play in what we come to prefer, what we come to expect of ourselves and others, what we come to value, and what we come to choose. We’ll ask what gender justice looks like.

The first part of this course will be an introduction to some of the canonical analyses of core feminist concepts such as ‘oppression,’ ‘misogyny,’ ‘intersectionality,’ and ‘mansplaining.’

We’ll then turn our attention to specific gender-centric moral questions. For instance: Does feminism necessarily discriminate against men? Is there such thing as a gender-just marriage? Is it okay to consume pornography? What about deepfake-pornography? Are TURFs transphobic? Are Tradwives feminists (even if they don’t think of themselves that way)?