University offers grad certificate to 'denaturalize heterosexuality'
University of Washington gradudate students may enroll in a program to combat the “naturalized normative forms of (hetero) sexuality.”
Program enrollees are required to learn from “the foundational work of queer scholars and scholars of queer studies,”
The University of Washington (UW) is offering graduate students the opportunity to earn a certificate in Sexuality and Queer Studies.
The program’s curriculum is grounded in helping students study “the foundational work of queer scholars and scholars of queer studies,” develop the “ability to interrogate and analyze the complex intersections of sexualities with other dimensions of societal power,” and gain the “ability to communicate effectively through both writing and speaking on topics related to sexualities and queer studies.”
Considering the overwhelming amount of “historically naturalized normative forms of (hetero) sexuality” when researching human sexuality, UW sought to provide a program that “denaturalizes heterosexuality and interrogates analyses of sexual normativity.”
The Graduate Certificate in Sexuality and Queer Studies application is available to all UW students in a graduate or professional program.
After gaining admission, students must complete either GWSS (Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies) 464 or 564, which both examine “Queer Desires.” Each of these five-credit courses “[e]xplores desire and the politics of sexuality as gendered, raced, classed, and transnational processes. Intimacies and globalization, normality and abnormality, and power and relationships are sites of inquiry into the constitution of ‘queerness.’”
In addition, students must complete at least four 400/500 level classes from an approved list of electives. Potential options include COM 490 (“Representing Beyond the Binaries: Mixing Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Media”), GWSS 453 (“Lesbian Lives and Culture”), and LAW E 542 (“Queer Youth Advocacy”).
The program also requires enrollees to take a final one-credit course, culminating in the students either delivering a public capstone presentation or writing a 5000-word essay. This course is intended to help one “reflect on what you have learned from the graduate certificate and how it has changed/impacted your thinking and/or career goals.”
This is not the first time that UW has espoused far-left ideologies. Last September, Campus Reform reported that the director of the UW Botanic Gardens lamented that “[t]here’s a history of colonialism in many botanic gardens.”
Campus Reform contacted UW for comment. In response, a UW Spokesperson referred to the graduate certificate webpage.
