The Body: History, Sex & Gender

This subject is not offered in 2008.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The human body is a social construction which has its own history. Beauty, desire, and even sex, have been read into the body in different ways in the past. This subject explores the ways in which the body was read in earlier societies and how those readings have changed. In particular, we examine the development of the bourgeois body; the 19th century's inscription of new, stricter genderings onto the body; and the concomitant development of the homosexual body. Students should complete the subject with an understanding of the different readings of the body in recent and contemporary society, and of the construction of the slender body, the gay and lesbian body, and the gendered body of the late 20th century.

Information Not Available

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• demonstrate research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;

• show critical thinking and analysis through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument;

• demonstrate understanding of social, ethical and cultural context through the contextualisation of judgements, developing a critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and possibilities and by constructing an argument;

• be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion.

Formerly available as 131-207/307. Students who have completed 131-207 or 131-307 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.