Technologien/Technologies: Queer Technology - Gender and Sexuality Today

Learning objectives

Upon completion of the course, students will:

• have learned and critically reflected on how modern science came to understand gender and sexuality in the way that it does today;
• have gained a good understanding of feminist and queer approaches to Science and Technology Studies;
• be able to think critically about a number of key cases in which technology shapes gender relations and sexuality (e.g. dating and pornography);
• understand some of the ways in which technology shapes media representations of gender and sexuality;
• have a better knowledge of 'queer' and LGBT issues.

Course content

This course explores the ways that gender and sexuality are shaped by interactions between culture, science and technology. We look at how these interactions produce and limit our ideas about “normal” gender and sexuality. But we also examine how gender and sexuality have been transformed or subverted by science and technology in ways that have created greater human freedom. The course is organised around three questions.

1. How has the development of modern science shaped thinking about gender and sexuality? Do we today know the scientific “truth” of what gender and sexuality really are?

2. How have science and technology shaped gender and sexuality? This will include asking questions like: How has technology facilitated dating and the search for love and sex over the last 150 years? What problems and possibilities has this history entailed for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and transgender people? How has technology shaped the production and dissemination of pornography – and with what effects?

3. In a technological age of social media and streaming platforms, who controls narratives around gender and sexuality today? Specifically: who tells the stories of LGBT and queer people? Does access to social media allow LGBT and queer people to tell their own stories? Do popular shows like “Heartstopper” or “Euphoria” allow for “authentic” representations?

Course structure and indications of the learning and teaching design

Most seminars will begin with a short presentation by a student, or by a small group of students, lasting at least 15- but no longer than 20-minutes. These presentations should not provide a comprehensive summary of the text(s) due for discussion. Instead, your task will be to clearly set out three claims that you think are the most important or interesting made by the text(s). (If there is more than one text assigned for a seminar, you need still only identify three claims in total.) You should end your presentation by offering 2-3 possible questions for discussion, presented either in a hand-out or via a PowerPoint presentation. These questions should be kept concise (a maximum of 2 short sentences should suffice!) They need not necessarily be related to the three claims that you identify. Contextual Studies are considered part of Contact Learning; thus, taking part properly implies regular attendance. It is the students' own responsibility to ensure that there is no timetable clash between the courses they have chosen. A detailed course outline and all relevant documents will be made available on StudyNet. Only the current timetable as published on Courses does apply.