COMM 215L: Gender & Communication

This course explores a variety of topics and concepts related to gender, sex, and communication using an intersectional, feminist approach. Specifically, this course examines the ways that individuals and society create, reinforce, and challenge the meaning of gender. This course will discuss and examine how we develop gender identities (and how these identities differ from biological sex), how this identity is shaped through the messages we receive from a number of communication systems (family, education, media, etc.), and how our gender identities in turn influence our communication patterns. As we go through the course, we'll examine various masculine and feminine roles and stereotypes, and the impact of gender stereotypes on communication. We will also consider the limitations of gender binaries, and explore a diverse array of gender identification and expression.