Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Space

Black and White Picture of Women Voting Rights

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) originated from the contemporary feminist and women's rights movements in the United States. The goal of the studies was to bring knowledge to women and their experiences and focus on women in a serious academic perspective. The mission for the WGSS program at SJSU is teach students to integrate academic and experiential knowledge, thereby contributing to social change and justice. WGSS students will meet this vision through cultivating critical thinking, engage in dialogue, coalition building, appreciation of diversity, and contribution of social change based on feminist frameworks.

For Further Research

Research Resources
SJSU King Library Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Page
SJSU Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies on Facebook

Organizations

Related Organizations
National Women’s Studies Association - promotes and supports the production and dissemination of knowledge about women, gender, and sexuality through teaching, learning, research and service in academia and beyond.
American Association of University Women- national membership organization founded in 1881, whose mission is to promote equity for all women and girls, lifelong education, and positive societal change.
Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs - Provides leadership and support for the LGBTQ+ communities
Santa Clara County Office of Women's Policy - Developing policies and programs that meet the needs of women and are gender-responsive
YWCA Crisis Intervention - for survivors of intimate partner abuse, sexual assault and abuse, and human trafficking (800) 572-2782.
Maitri - supports survivors of domestic violence from South Asia
Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence - supports domestic violence survivors and provides free bilingual services for all people.
United Nations Women - working to develop and uphold standards and create an environment in which every woman and girl can exercise her human rights and live up to her full potential
Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective (Sister Song) - Advocates for improving institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities.
National Latina Institute for Repro Justice - fights for equal access to reproductive health for Latina/x communities and empowers their voice to make informed decisions about our bodies, families, and futures.
The Body is not An Apology - A global digital media and education company exploring the intersections of identity, healing, and social justice through the framework of radical self-love.
Center for Women & Politics at Rutgers - a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, that is the leading source of scholarly research and current data about women’s political participation in the United States.
Institute for Women's Policy Research - a nonprofit organization that engages in research and dissemination to shape public policy and improve the lives and opportunities of women from diverse backgrounds.
Transgender Law Center - the largest national, trans-led organization working to advocate for the rights of all transgender and gender-nonconforming people to make their own choices and live freely, safely, and authentically.
Somos Familia Bay Area - builds leadership in our Latinx families and communities to create a culture where people of diverse genders and sexual orientations can thrive.

Carol Mukhopadhyay Feminist Lecture Series

The SJSU Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies program is home to the biannual Carol Mukhopadhyay Feminist Lecture Series endowed in 2014 by Emeritus SJSU Anthropology Professor Carol Mukhopadhyay. Each year, these lectures bring to campus a prominent or emerging feminist scholar doing cross-cultural or transnational work with a feminist anthropological lens.

Recent lectures that have been featured:


When	Speaker	Description
Spring 2024	Mama Gunuush & Zachary Kloes	"Existence is An Act of Resistance"
Spring 2023	Dr. Anila Daulatzai and Dr. Najwa Mayer	"The Possibilities and Limits of Transnational Feminist Critique in the Context of Afghanistan"
Spring 2022	Irene Berrones-Kolb	"Feminist Creativities: A chat with local artist Irene Berrones-Kolb"
Spring 2021	Maribel Martinez	"A chat with Maribel Martinez"
Fall 2019	Dr. Maria Cotera, Osa Hidalgo de la Riva, Dr. Susana L. Gallardo, Dr. Maylei Blackwell, Anna Nieto Gomez, and Deanna Romero	"Chicanas Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era"
Spring 2019	Dr. Elizabeth Sweet	"She’s a Dream Come True…’: Gender and Representations of Femininity in 20th Century Doll Advertisements"
Spring 2019	Dr. Theodorea Berry	"Black America Women's Experiences in China and Germany: Examining Intersectionality and Multidimensionality in Alternate Home Spaces"
Fall 2019	Antonia Grace Glenn	"The Ito Sisters" Documentary Screening
Spring 2018	Karen Branan	“Women and Lynching: Lessons for Today”
Spring 2018	Dr. Gohar Shahnazaryan	“Women’s Rights in Contemporary Armenian Society: Between Modernization and Traditions”
Fall 2017	Judy Juanita	“Female Foot Soldiers and DeFacto Feminists: The Unseen Skeletons of Social Movements”
Spring 2017	Dr. Yvonne Y. Kwan	“Queering Transgenerational Trauma: Depathologizing Pain and Navigating Narratives of Suffering”
Spring 2017	Dr. Huma Ahmed-Gosh	"Globalization and Muslim Women's Lives in Asia: Contesting Islamic Feminisms"
Spring 2017	Dr. Mythri Jegathesan	"Stately Discomforts: Labor, Reproductive Rights,and Sexuality Among Women Workers in Postwar Sri Lanka"
Spring 2016	Dr. Amy Moff Hudec	“Unsettled and Lost: The Consequences of Being Single in the Mormon - Church”
Fall 2015	Dr. Pat Wasielewski	"Emotional Geography of Living Abroad"
Spring 2015	Dr. Samantha Gottlieb	"Marketing the HPV Vaccine and Women's Health"
Spring 2015	Natalie Valdez	"Food, Fat, Fetus, and the Future: An Ethnographic Examination of Two Clinical Trials"
Spring 2014	Dr. Kathleen Coll	"What the Domestic Workers' Rights Movements is Teaching US About Citizenship"