With the start of fall classes, the first women’s, gender and sexuality studies courses are being offered after the program changed its name from women’s and gender studies in July.
Professors in the department said that the new name more accurately reflects the program’s historical interest in studying the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
WGSS and religion professor Susan Ackerman said that the new name reflects recent innovations in sexuality studies within the program, and that last year the program appointed its first full-time faculty specializing in sexuality studies.
WGSS professor Michael Bronski agreed with Ackerman, saying he thinks that the revision is part of a greater trend within women’s and gender studies. He added that several of the College’s peer institutions have already revised their programs’ names to include sexuality studies.
“This sort of change is trending up,” Bronski said. “I would say that Dartmouth is in the middle of this trend,” though he added that several programs still have not made the change at all.
As a part-time lecturer who only teaches at the College in the winter, Bronski said that he was not a part of the discussions about the recent change of name.
Bronski said that colleges and universities around the country began to develop women’s studies programs in the 1970s and eventually expanded to include gender studies.
With changes in the field, he said that the new name of WGSS programs more accurately portrays the interests present in the field of women’s and gender studies. Sexuality deserves its own intersection within the program, as shown by student interest in the subject and an increase of literature on the topic within the discipline, he said.
“It’s truth in advertising — it’s what we know and what we do,” Professor Bronski said.
Bronski also added that several programs, such as that of Skidmore College, have dropped the term “women’s” from their program’s name all together, opting for the broader “gender studies” title.
“The point of view is that if they just say something like gender, women will be included within that,” Bronski said.
The omission of “women” in the title of a program sends a very clear and pointed message, though it potentially raises concerns — while taking the word “women” out of the title theoretically broadens the subject, many academics and experts within the field fear that this sort of change might devalue the importance of women’s studies within the programs, he said.
“Women tend to historically be left behind,” Bronski said.
Ackerman echoed Professor Bronski’s sentiments, saying that the new name honors both the history and the future of the program.
“I think the ‘women’ part of our name reflects back to our history in the same way our new name reflects our more recent innovations,” she said.
Ackerman said that she is very proud of the advancements and successes of the program, which began in 1978, adding that it was the first women’s studies program of its kind among the previously all-male Ivy League universities.
Lulu Riley ’16, a WGSS major, said that the new name of the program makes sense, as many classes within the program focus on the relationship and intersection between sexuality and gender.
“The new name reflects a better understanding of what the major is about, not only women and gender, but the spaces they each occupy,” she said.
Riley also said that most of the classes she has taken within WGSS have discussed the name of the program.
“If it was possible, the department would probably have added in a few more intersections, like women, gender, sexuality and social class study,” Riley said.
