Sociology concentrator Samantha A. Meier ’12, who has taken a number of WGS classes, says she is acutely aware of how WGS concentrators are perceived around campus.

“There’s this idea that only people who already care about ‘women’ and ‘women’s issues’ would want to be WGS concentrators. That if you’re interested in the study of women, you probably are a woman, and it’s also probably your thing,” Meier says. “Gender is your thing and you can’t talk about anything else.”

Meier further describes how concentrators who identify as men are commonly assumed to be gay.

“The fact that it is ‘gender and sexuality’ leads people to believe that if you’re a guy interested in it, then probably your sexuality is not mainstream,” Meier says.

But while these stereotypes may reflect an element of truth, they do not encompass the full breadth of the discipline and the undergraduates who study it. It is true, however, that well more than half of the 19 junior and senior concentrators identify as female.

In addition, some concentrators agree that the focus on sexuality in the concentration does indeed attract students whose sexuality is “not mainstream” but say that the stereotypes regarding concentrator sexuality have become exaggerated.

“In terms of how [WGS concentrators] identify their sexual orientation, WGS is very diverse,” says Jia Hui Lee ’12, who identifies as queer.

What ties WGS concentrators together, however, is not just a spirit of feminism or interest in LGBTQ issues.

WGS concentrator Teake ’12 says that WGS has evolved from its roots in feminism to incorporate a broad spectrum of identity issues.

“It’s not just orientation that people bring to the table, but also maybe racial background or citizenship status,” he says. “People come to these classes to explore many, sometimes overlapping, issues of marginalization.”

MORE THAN A CONCENTRATION

Although the concentrators may vary in their use of identity as an academic lens, they attest to the way in which the WGS concentration facilitates a welcoming community.

By the end of four years, all the concentrators are quite familiar with one another, according to concentrator Keith W. Grubb ’13. Even WGS Director of Undergraduate Studies Caroline Light knows everyone by name.

“Our program’s faculty have worked over the years to provide a welcoming intellectual environment for all kinds of students,” Light says. “My hope is that people of all gender identities and orientations—not to mention races and ethnicities, class backgrounds, and nationalities—will recognize the value of gender and sexuality as categories of analysis.”

Lee describes the intimate nature of the concentration as one of its greatest strengths.