PHIL 355 Feminist Philosophy

This course introduces students to debates in feminist philosophy with a particular focus on contemporary theory. Students will learn that feminism is best understood not as a unified theory but a field of ongoing contestations. Throughout the course, students will wrestle with the following questions: What is oppression? Who is accurately characterized as an ‘oppressed’ subject? What are sexism and misogyny? Can privileged men be victims of sexism too? How best to define the categories ‘male’ or ‘female,’ ‘woman’ or ‘man’? How should genderqueer, intersex and transgender identities inform our answer to this question? Topics to be discussed include: sex, gender, gender identity, oppression, sexism, misogyny, adaptive preferences and more. Offered every other year; contributes to GSS minor.