Upon graduation, a major in the Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies department should:

  • have mastered an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach to the creation, meaning, function, and perpetuation of gender in human societies, both past and present.
  • gain an understanding of women's material, cultural, and economic productions, their self-descriptions and collective undertakings. (See Writing a SWAGS Thesis for Honors and Special Topics/Independent Study)
  • be able to analyze the intersection of gender with other categories of difference such as race, class, sexuality.
  • have a global perspective on women, gender and sexuality and take classes that focus on the global south.
  • Have a greater understanding of sex as a category of difference while also theorizing LGBTQ+ identities in a variety of historical, political, and cultural contexts

In order to achieve these goals, students should be able to analyze women and gender in the context of:

  • forming an argument and using evidence to support it in both written and oral form;
  • analyzing texts from a variety of disciplines and cultures;
  • producing a coherent narrative and critically evaluating the narratives of others;
  • understanding social and political issues from a comparative, transnational perspective;
  • exploring the relationships between activism, advocacy, and intellectual inquiry.