Looking for some interesting courses this fall? Check out some of our local universities for lessons in human sexuality, gender, and orientation.
If you need to save money or aren’t pursuing a degree, Los Angeles Valley College offers a wonderful introductory human sexuality course that is affordable and enjoyable. Offered through the Sociology Department and taught by several well-qualified professors, this course gives an overview of human sexuality from basic biology to social constructs to psychology to interpersonal relationships. This course is really good for anyone, regardless of gender, orientation, or major. You’ll find a fairly wide range of student ages and backgrounds, and the material can’t help but be fascinating.
If pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Science degree is your thing, than California State University, Northridge offers three minor programs that fit the bill – Human Sexuality, Queer Studies, and Gender & Women’s Studies. Each of these minor programs have overlapping courses and many students work towards acquiring more than one of the minors in addition to their main degree. Although the Queer Studies minor is relatively new (it began only last school year), it is a well-thought-out program that addresses many perspectives, including Philosophy, Media Arts & Communication, Sociology, and more.
The Human Sexuality minor at CSUN has been around for decades, although many students don’t know it exists. In fact, CSUN is the home of the Center for Sex and Gender Research – sort of west coast Kinsey Institute, with a long history of impressionable conferences, student and faculty supported research, colloquium series, and more.
Gender & Women’s Studies has been around for a while, but is growing in popularity. With many high profile universities now offering Doctoral programs in this subject, it may be a good idea to get some of the courses under your belt while you are an undergrad so you can make the grade, so to speak.
Also, some courses from the Gender & Women’s Studies and the Human Sexuality minors at CSUN can also count toward graduate-level credit, although it is best to check with each department to make sure.
If your looking to go even further with your academic pursuits, and wish to make a huge impact on social policy, check out UCLA’s Williams Institute, School of Law. This impressive and forward-thinking program offers an emphasis on sexual orientation policy and law. Some incredible papers and other bodies of work have come from this institution, most recently including work on domestic partnership benefits, how the budget cuts in California specifically effect the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities, and the impact of same-sex marriages.
It is important for us to always be willing to continue our education in any way possible, and hopefully these suggestions will give you a little more to go on while deciding what to do with your time come September.