About

Social + cultural inquiry

Our department is recognized as one of the top three Gender Studies programs in the country. We engage students in the study of gender as a fundamental category of social and cultural analysis, considering the intersection of gender with other substantive categories of identity, including sexuality, race, religion, class, disability, and nationality.

Our curriculum challenges students to think beyond common sense accounts of gender to examine its complex construction in a range of historical epochs, cultural arenas, and global processes. The field of gender studies utilizes a wide variety of innovative approaches and methodologies—broad in reach, yet unified through a critical angle of vision.

Interdisciplinary perspectives

While representing many specializations and perspectives, our faculty is dedicated to the effort of elevating social consciousness concerning the significance of gender. Recognized for their global scholarship, they work across many fields to develop compelling interdisciplinary perspectives from which to study the diversity of human experience.

Our students learn to contribute to one of the most crucial conversations of the day. Their work considers the impact of gender on our lives, with ramifications in politics, the arts, economics, and scientific inquiry. Our students learn to use mixed strategies for problem solving and persuasion, grounding their scholarship though meaningful social engagement.

View our research

Questions investigated in Gender Studies include:

What is ‘gender’?
When and why was the concept first used?
How is ‘gender’ different from ‘sex’?
Are human gender divisions the product of biology, cultural construction, both, or neither?
How does gender interact with other identity markers, such as ethnicity, sexuality, nation, religion, class, and culture?
How does popular culture shape experiences of gender?
How do gender concepts influence mass media?
How has gender influenced the development of technology, science, research, and medicine?
How are concepts of beauty, sexuality, and pornography shaped by gender prescriptions?
How have debates about gender varied historically and cross-culturally?

Statement on inclusion + civility

The Department of Gender Studies at Indiana University Bloomington is dedicated to the values of fair treatment, civility, and non-discrimination. In this we follow IU’s stated commitment to the achievement of equality of treatment and opportunity, last reaffirmed by the Trustees of Indiana University in 2014.

As a community where inquiry is nurtured and theories are tested, the university must be a place where every individual has the right to feel safe to express ideas that differ from those held by others. At the same time, inquiry cannot thrive in an environment of intolerance, bigotry, or derision. This means that we hold to the highest standards of civility in our classrooms and department cultures; we are committed to the inclusion of diverse voices, experiences, and opinions, and we commit to the value of dignity in all our dealings with one another.

This policy is meant neither to proscribe nor to inhibit discussions, in or out of the classroom, of complex, controversial, or sensitive matters, including those involving sex, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, sexual behavior, race, or gender identity or expression, when in the judgment of a reasonable person they arise for legitimate pedagogical purposes.

In and through the Department of Gender Studies, we join together in the spirit of mutual concern, good will, and respect.

Interested in learning more about Gender Studies at IU?

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