Feminist, gender, and sexuality studies (FGSS) explores the significance of gender and sexuality in all areas of human life, charting a course of study that focuses on the social construction of gender as a category of analysis within the broader matrix of race, class, ethnicity, and sexual identity.

At Wesleyan, FGSS majors develop critical thinking, research, analysis, and problem solving skills. Students who major in FGSS often pursue careers in community development, advocacy, social service, government, and more.

What You'll Study

  • As an FGSS major at Wesleyan, the core of your studies will be an individually designed four-course concentration representing a coherent inquiry into some issue, period, area, discipline, or intellectual approach related to feminist, gender, and/or sexuality studies.
  • Other major requirements include a gateway course examining gender as a factor in the politics and practices of the production of knowledge and of social and cultural life, with particular attention to the intersection of gender with other identity categories and modes of power: race, class, sexuality, and ethnicity.

  • Courses in feminist theories, a senior seminar, a capstone experience, and a two-course distribution area also required.