School of Communication and Media
Undergraduate

Term: Fall 2026
Session: 2nd 8 Week On-ground (Oct 26 - Dec 18)
Start Date: Monday, Oct 26, 2026
End Date: Friday, Dec 18, 2026
Availability: On Campus
Day(s): Tues.
Time: 11:30 AM to 01:30 PM

This course is designed to introduce students to issues of sex (biology) and gender (social) in society and in organizations in the US. We hold images and beliefs in our minds about sex and gender often subconsciously handed down from our patriarchal social system into which we are socialized. We will look at how agency is crucial to influencing our trajectories through life and is not available to everyone. We will discuss manhood and masculinities as well as womanhood and femininities and conformity or not to sex/gender roles and expectations. Students will gain understanding about what patriarchy is and how it unconsciously (and often through violence) organizes and controls our culture; is not a referendum on men and in fact why it is bad for them; how it informs us about how status and power are gained maintained and used by the sexes; and how it affects our beliefs about leadership and the performance of leaders in organizations and society.