Queer Courses in US Varsities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't realise that increasingly, more and more US tertiary institutions are starting to offer queer courses until I came across a New York Post news article "Princeton to offer classes on erotic dance, sex work, and ‘queer spaces’" on Tuesday. 

 

[Note: Queer studies, sexual diversity studies, or LGBTQ+ studies refer to the study of topics relating to gender identity and sexual orientation].

 

Princeton University, one of the most prestigious institutions in the US, are introducing courses on traditionally taboo subjects as part of their spring 2025 semester curriculum, according to their published online course listing.

 

The offerings, part of the school’s gender and sexuality studies program, will cover topics such as queer theory, prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, and architectural histories viewed through feminist and LGBTQ+ perspectives.

 

One course called "Love: Anthropological Explorations" is said to explore links between love and technology, gender, race, law, capitalism, colonialism, and religion. Another course on prostitution, "Power, Profit and Pleasure: Sex Workers and Sex Work", is pitched as a discussion about sex workers and their clients, and will cover stigmatization and controversies regarding the topic, as well as race, class, and queer dynamics. And a course on "Queer Spaces in the World" will delve into the history of “groups and institutions that have actively resisted dominant regimes of power” and analyze institutional and historical power dynamics through gender-related theories.

 

Stanford University in California, announced last week a course called "Queer Electronic Music Composition", which will focus on LGBTQ+ contributions to electronic music and creative projects. 

 

The University of Chicago’s 2023-2024 program had included a religious studies course called "Queering God", which was promoted as applying LGBTQ+ ideology to different religions. 

 

Even Texas Christian University offered a "Queer Art of Drag" class last year that required students to create a “drag persona” and “engage queer theories in relation to performance practice”.

 

I'm sure there are many more colleges and universities offering queer courses too. 

 

I suppose these queer courses help promote diversity, equity and inclusion. But they also aim to dismantle traditional assumptions about gender and sexual identities. And if you don't already know, DEI is a big thing in the US and Western societies in general.

 

To many people, DEI goes beyond addressing gender and race discrimination as it prominently focuses on LGBTQ+ issues just as much, if not more.  

 

In any case, some sections of American society are staging a fightback. And so, DEI programs in higher education have been targeted by a wave of anti-DEI legislation and political pressure: 

• Number of bills. Since 2023, more than 85 anti-DEI bills have been proposed in 28 states, and 14 have become law. 
• States with DEI bans. Florida, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas have signed laws banning DEI initiatives.