No one is normal. Seriously, try to think of a few friends you consider to be pretty normal. And then remember the quirky things they do around you sometimes. And then imagine the freaky stuff they probably do that you don’t even know about. Think how cool it would be if every one of your friends and family members and co-workers knew about the freaky stuff you do (or maybe just contemplate doing) and didn’t even think it was freaky. In this course, we’ll be exploring how some stuff gets to be called “normal” and other stuff gets to be called “freaky,” and how we might be able to fuck with all that. In the first part of the course, we’ll turn our attention to the constant stream of messages about gender we’re exposed to every day, and try to think critically about them.
Common questions posed will be:
- Where do my ideas about normal gender come from?
- How do I regulate my thoughts and behavior based on those ideas?
- What are the rewards associated with meeting standards of gender?
- What are the consequences of failing to live up to gender norms?
- What would I be like if I didn’t feel compelled to act like one particular gender?
In the second part of the course, we’ll consider examples, both famous and mundane, that fuck with normal conceptions of gender. Students will be encouraged to share their own experiences and observations of genderfuck, and to challenge themselves to leave their prejudices at the door of the classroom. Gender really doesn’t work for anyone the way it’s supposed to. No one is normal. Everyone breaks the rules of gender at some point. Now we just need to figure out how to generalize that rule-breaking so as to make the rules recede from view.
Our ultimate goal for the course will be to identify and embrace the moments in our culture where normal stops being so important, in the interest of making the world a more comfortable place for everyone.
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