Sexual and Gender Identities

Provides an introduction to the history of gender, sex, and sexuality in the modern United States, from the end of the 19th century to the present. Surveys historical approaches to the field, emphasizing the changing nature of sexual and gender identities over time. Traces attempts to control, construct, and contain sexual and gender identities. Examines the efforts of those who worked to resist, reject, and reform institutionalized heterosexuality and mainstream configurations of gendered power.

Related Subjects

Offered Fall 2025

Catalog	Subject	Faculty	Level	HASS
21H.181 17.035	Libertarianism TR 11-12:30, E51-285	Malick W. Ghachem	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.227	History of the US Supreme Court MW 2:30-4, 66-156	Christopher Capozzola	Intermediate	HASS-S
21H.315	History of Consumerism T 3-5, E51-393	Caley Horan	Seminar	HASS-H

Not Offered This Term

Catalog	Subject	Faculty	Level	HASS	Category
21H.061	The History of American Presidential Elections Not offered regularly; consult department	Christopher Capozzola	Intermediate		Half term subject
21H.101	American History to 1865 Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.102	American History since 1865	Staff	Introductory	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.106 24.912 21L.008 21W.741 CMS.150 WGS.190	Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies	Michel DeGraff D. Fox Harrell Danielle Wood	Introductory	HASS-H HASS-A	CI-H
21H.107 21G.043	From Yellow Peril to Model Minority: Asian American History to 1968	Emma Teng	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.109 U WGS.303 U 21H.983 G WGS.310 G	Gender: Historical Perspectives W 2-5, 4-144	Elizabeth A. Wood	Introductory Graduate	HASS-H
21H.187	US Environmental Governance: from National Parks to the Green New Deal	Megan A. Black	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.201	The American Revolution	Marjoleine Kars	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.203	The History of American Presidential Elections Not offered regularly; consult department	Christopher Capozzola	Intermediate	HASS-S
21H.205 STS.427	The Civil War and the Emergence of Modern America: 1861-1890	Merritt Roe Smith	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.211	The United States in the Cold War Era Not offered regularly; consult department	Caley Horan	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.213 17.28	The War at Home: American Politics and Society in Wartime	Christopher Capozzola Adam Berinsky	Intermediate	HASS-S
21H.214	War and American Society Not offered regularly; consult department	Christopher Capozzola	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.217 11.013	American Urban History	Ezra Glenn	Seminar	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.218	History of the Built Environment in the US Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.220 11.150	Metropolis: A Comparative History of New York City	Craig Steven Wilder	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.226 11.015	Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History	Staff	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.228	American Classics Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.229	The Black Radical Tradition in America Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.263 WGS.220	Women and Gender in the Middle East and North Africa	Lerna Ekmekcioglu	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.281	MIT and Slavery: Research	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H	CI-H
21H.282	MIT and Slavery: Publication Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.283	The Indigenous History of MIT Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.319	Race, Crime, and Citizenship in American Law	Malick W. Ghachem	Seminar	HASS-S
21H.320	Gender and the Law in US History Not offered regularly; consult department	Christopher Capozzola	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.321 11.026	Downtown Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.322	Christianity in America Not offered regularly; consult department	Craig Steven Wilder	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.358 U 21H.958 G WGS.315 G	Colonialism in South Asia and Africa: Race, Gender, Resistance	Sana Aiyar	Graduate Seminar	HASS-H
21H.361	Echoes of Slavery: Recovering the Histories of Enslaved People	Marjoleine Kars	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.381 WGS.222	Women and War	Lerna Ekmekcioglu	Seminar	HASS-S
21H.388 U 21H.988 G	Global Commodities, American Dreams	Megan A. Black	Graduate Seminar	HASS-H