124268 AR Cultural/Media Studies 1/2 (AR) (2024W)

In recent decades, Western cultures have witnessed a tremendous cultural and social transformation of sexuality.Also, ideas about sexualized bodies, desires and practices have changed considerably. Still, sexuality, especially women's sexuality, continues to be a taboo topic. In this course, students will become acquainted with major ideas concerning sexuality and sexual health in contemporary Western cultures, with special emphasis given to female bodies and sexualities. They will also become acquainted with necessary critical instruments that will help them read, analyze and interpret contemporary representations of sexuality, sexualized bodies and practices across media. We will look at and read about ideal, naked/nude bodies, examine sexualized and gendered bodies but also bodies in pain, bodies that bleed, bodies that undergo menopausal changes. We will deal with such issues as ideology, heterosexual matrix, power relations, gaze and objectification.

By the end of term, students will have:
- familiarized themselves with and have practiced the use of select cultural studies' concepts, theories and methods
- analyzed a spectrum of media texts and acquired media-critical competences
- offered critical reflection on representations of sexuality
- practiced constructing careful arguments to make their points in the appropriate language and in a suitable format.

The class will be based on teacher's input and students' prior reading, which will enable engaged discussions, either in small groups or in a larger forum.