Utah college offers 'Dead White Women' course

Westminster College in Utah is offering a course called ”FILM*300M Dead White Women” that aims to critically assess why popular TV shows center “around the horrifying deaths or near deaths experienced by white women.”

The 4-credit course is offered for Spring 2023 and is being taught by Professors Stephanie Stroud and Eileen Chanza Torres.

[RELATED: ‘Angry White Male Studies’ course comes to campus this fall]

The course description begins by stating, “[W]ith programing that holds salacious titles such as Stalked, Last Seen Alive, Surviving Evil, Southern Fried Homicide, House of Horrors: Kidnapped, Beauty Queen Murders, Dates from Hell and Swamp Murders the Investigative Discovery (ID) channel is the go to place to marvel at the frequency of violent deaths white women suffer at the hands of deranged murderers.”

“What is so attractive about watching dead white women? What is it about white women’s deaths that peeks our voyeuristic instincts? Do we as a culture find pleasure at the horrifying deaths of white women at the hands of abusive lovers and husbands?” are just some of the questions the course will ask students to ponder.

“It also needs to be noted that in between true crime stories about the murder of beauty queens, southern belles and the young white woman last seen walking home from school, the ID channel also includes series of white women as murderers,” the course description reads.

Students will also be required to have a Netflix account in order to watch required programs for this course.

[RELATED: Course at Utah college lets class ‘watch pornographic films together’]

Westminster’s film studies program aims to teach students “how film influences and is influenced by the culture in which it is made; influences the ways we view ourselves and others in cultural terms such as race, gender, economics, and history; and is both an agent and result of social change.”

Campus Reform previously covered another controversial course held by Westminster College’s Film department: FILM-3000 Porn.

”Hard core pornography is as American as apple pie and more popular than Sunday night football. Our approach to this billion-dollar industry is as both a cultural phenomenon that reflects and reinforces sexual inequalities (but holds the potential to challenge sexual and gender norms) and as an art form that requires serious contemplation,” the course description reads.

It continues, “We will watch pornographic films together and discuss the sexualization of race, class, and gender and as an experimental, radical art form.”

Campus Reform has reached out to each professor, the Westminster College Media Relations Department and Office of Communications, and a faculty member from both the film studies and gender studies programs. This article will be updated accordingly.