Gender Diversity, Sexuality, and Sexual Health

This course seeks to introduce the core conceptual and theoretical approaches to applied sexual health care. The first portion of the course will provide an overview of the components of sexual identity, including gender identity, sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, and gender expression. The second portion of the course will introduce the theoretical and empirical literature within public health, epidemiology, sex therapy, and sexology fields regarding sexual health issues with TGD communities. 

The course will provide deeper exploration of these broader introductory topics from a sex positive and pleasure oriented framework, including medical and relational impacts of medical transition, sex therapy interventions, gender euphoria and dysphoria, and gender embodiment. Students will complete a number of case studies to critically engage and apply learnings from the course, as well as be exposed to empirical and conceptual readings from an interdisciplinary gender affirming perspective. The course will culminate in a student-directed final project that asks them to reflect on how they might apply this knowledge to their specific career trajectory.