Politics 248GE - Topics in Politics: 'Sex, Gender, and American Law'

How does the law police or protect sexuality? Why do activists and attorneys spar over theories of gender identity? How did abortion become the seeming center of American politics? This course examines sexual and gender oppression and liberation in the U.S. from the nineteenth century to the present. We will explore how sexual and gender minorities won civil rights struggles, how those rights have been rolled back, and how these political conflicts have transformed the meanings of liberty and equality. In this pursuit, we will consult court cases, social movement histories, police records, "gayborhood" maps, labor union contracts, and other means by which law shapes identity and desire.

Prereq: POLIT-104.