Sex, Gender and Technology 3000-PIS-K-PT
This course explores how the internet and new technologies are reshaping traditional institutions and practices related to gender, sexuality, and romantic relationships from an anthropological perspective. We will examine how social media has become a key arena for renegotiating and redefining contemporary gender categories.
At the same time, the post-digital condition is marked by constant change. A central goal of the course is therefore to observe, document, and analyze emerging online phenomena related to shifting gender roles, gender discourses and performances, and user practices around sexuality. We will approach these issues through the lens of cultural studies and using methods drawn from digital ethnography and internet sociology.
The syllabus outlined below is provisional and will include the topics listed but may be adjusted based on the research interests of participants.
- Media as extensions and prosthetics: Technologically mediated and assisted sexuality
- Tradwives on TikTok: Resentment, backlash, and countercultural narratives
Witches, cycle coaches, and the “ovulatory discourse”: The rise of digital bioessentialism
- The manosphere, female safe spaces, and queer micro-communities: Who seeks refuge online, where, and why?
- Pop-feminism on the Instagram carousel: Do social media polarize the discourse and trivialize feminist gains?
- Incels and “crazy cat ladies”: Who isn’t having sex today—and why?
- Is ChatGPT a woman?: Gender and technological imagination
- Discourses of pornography
- Sexual literacy: Moral panics and public debates around sex education
- Fertility: From antinatalism to Silicon Valley’s new eugenics
- Did algorithms kill romance?: Partnering in the age of dating apps
- Sex sells: Femvertising, yoghurts for “real men,” and the commercialization of queerness
- Gamers, gender, and geeks: Representations and performances of gender in gaming culture
- Gender-based cyberviolence: Slut-shaming, deepfakes, doxxing, and revenge porn
- Algorithms of inequality: Automated discrimination and its material consequences
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
The student understands the distinctive nature of cultural studies and their relevance for analyzing how the internet shapes the social dimensions of gender and sexuality.
The student is able to apply anthropological knowledge to independently identify and analyze emerging cultural practices related to gender and sexuality in the post-digital context, and to initiate and participate in discussions that account for diverse audiences, worldviews, and value systems.
The student demonstrates readiness to critically assess both their own knowledge and the content they encounter.
Assessment criteria
The primary requirement for passing the semester is attendance. Absences must be justified with the lecturer. A student is allowed up to two justified or unjustified absences per semester. If a student has between three and five absences, they must make up for them in a manner determined by the lecturer (on an individual meeting during office hours to review the missed material). Absences (even justified ones) from more than five classes will result in disqualification from passing the course — only students with an Individual Study Arrangement approved by the BOK may have an increased absence limit, but no more than up to 50%.
Estimated Student Workload:
Class attendance: 30 hours (1 ECTS)
Assigned readings: 30 hours (1 ECTS)
Preparation for final assessment: 30 hours (1 ECTS)
Total: 90 hours (3 ECTS)
The basis for passing the course is attendance and active participation in discussions. The course will conclude with a final assessment in the form of a short presentation in class or during the final exam. The specific form of assessment will be discussed with participants during the first meeting.
The use of artificial intelligence tools in theses, written assignments, and presentations is regulated by the provisions of § 3 and 4 of Resolution No. 98 of the University Council for Education of December 8, 2023, regarding guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence tools in the educational process.
Bibliography
Selected literature:
Banet-Weiser S. (2018). Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny.
Connell R. (2009). Gender: in world perspective.
Criado Perez C. (2019). Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.
Evans A., Riley S. (2014). Technologies of Sexiness: Sex, Identity, and Consumer Culture
Illouz E. (2007). Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism.
Haraway D. (1985), A Cyborg Manifesto.
Herzyk A., Wieczorkiewicz P. (2023). Przegryw. Mężczyźni w pułapce gniewu i samotności.
Jemielniak D. (2019). Socjologia internetu.
Jurgenson N. (2019). The Social Photo: On photography and social media.
Kamińska M. (2011). Niecne memy. Dwanaście wykładów o kulturze internetu.
Kamińska M. (2017). Memosfera. Wprowadzenie do cyberkulturoznawstwa.
Lupton D. (2016). The Quantified Self: A Sociology of Self-Tracking
Milner Ryan M., Phillips W. (2017). The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online.
Nagle A. (2017). Kill All Normies. Online Culture Wars from 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right.
Wajcman J. (2004). Technofeminism.
The list of texts may be adjusted to the interests of the participants. The texts will be shared via Classroom.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: