Introduction to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches

by L. Ayu Saraswati, Barbara Shaw, Heather Rellihan

Women's and Gender Studies departments and programs are undergoing rapid transformation, creating the need for a comprehensive and accessible introductory textbook that addresses the current state of the field. Introduction to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches is the first text to reflect the exciting changes taking place in this field. Emphasizing both interdisciplinarity and intersectionality, this innovative mix of anthology and textbook includes key primary historical sources, debates on contemporary issues, and recent work in science, technology, and digital cultures. Readings from a range of genres including poetry, short stories, op eds, and feminist magazine articles complement the scholarly selections and acknowledge the roots of creative and personal expression in the field. While the majority of selections are foundational texts, the book also integrates new work from established scholars and emerging voices to expand current debates in the field. The text is enhanced by thorough overviews that begin each section, robust and engaging pedagogy that encourages students to think critically and self reflexively and also to take action as well as supplemental online resources for instructors.

Genres: Nonfiction, School, LGBT

656 pages, Paperback

Published February 15, 2017

Reviews

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wildly innovative, differently-organized, and truly intersectional and transnational new approach to an Intro to Gender and Women's Studies text. It took me several days and some serious unpacking to understand the authors' unusual structure for grouping and linking topics and concepts which is totally different than anything I've ever used before. I will admit I was very skeptical and prepared to hate it, but I've been totally converted -- I'll be adopting this for all my classes from now on. (Even though it will mean complete reorganizing my syllabus! The logic of this approach is THAT convincing.) And the up-to-date research and content has me confident I'll be able to use it for years without the major reworking or warnings to students about outdated/accidentally offensive sections that so often become needed in this fast-changing field.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

[this review is for the 2nd edition of this text only] I'd never found an Intro to Gender and Women's Studies textbook I liked... until this one. The other texts I'd try to use were all extremely second-wave-white-feminism focused, woefully behind on developments in LGBTQ+ issues and Queer Theory, too US-centered, full of outdated terminology and concepts, etc, so that choosing any of them felt like dropping students into a pedagogical minefield. I'd been assembling course materials from a hodgepodge of textbooks and other resources, which took a huge amount of time and was confusing/distracting for students. So I was THRILLED when the second edition of this textbook arrived in 2020. It's fully up-to-date, extremely intersectional in outlook and approach, de-centers outdated "white/western feminist" perspectives appropriately and explicitly, engages with the interdisciplinary 'overlap' of the field in ways that beginning students find especially exciting and useful, and is just an all-around nearly perfect resource.

The content is broad in scope and extremely well chosen, with the traditional "must-haves" supplemented with brilliant and often unexpected work by a diverse range of feminist and queer theory writers, scholars and activists. The organization of the book - what's grouped with what - is also unusual, creating opportunities for more 'natural conversations' between readings and topics that are often siloed off from one another. I was impressed enough by this "reshuffle" to rewrite my entire course structure/syllabus to echo it. The included "discussion questions" etc for each section are also far above the usual level of quality and are genuinely useful classroom tools.

I've now been using this text in all my intro classes for two years, and my students have LOVED it. I've also noticed a marked improvement in the quality of classroom discussions, students' ability to 'think across disciplines/topics,' and in their general enthusiasm for/engagement in the course material.

My only minor critique is that the section on media/pop culture analysis is extremely limited and weirdly narrow in focus - which is fairly surprising given that Intro GWS courses usually spend quite a bit of time on media analysis/critique, and it's usually one of most students' favorite topics? But I'm very aware the editors of any Intro textbook have to make millions of painful "kill your darlings" decisions - so this is less a complaint than just an 'informational note' for anyone thinking of using the book.

tl;dr: Anyone looking for a thoughtful, intersectional, rigorous, yet engaging and accessible text for their Intro GWS classes (or even just for their own personal learning!), I highly recommend checking out this one. IMO it's head and shoulder above the rest, and I look forward to using it for many more years.

[Brigitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for my intro to WGS class and thought that it had a wonderful variety of perspectives, movements, and times represented by the sources included. It also provided a lot of vocabulary for present day WGS and explained past verbal faults well. I find it easier to discuss these topics now as I have the vocabulary to better describe my thoughts.

[So Pear · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories are all interesting and valuable

[chelsea]

read for school

[skylar lokota]

no rating since I read for class!

[Janaye Acosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better of the majority of textbooks I've had to get.

[Edie Walls · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really excellent tool in my intro class! There were some great reads in here, highly recommend.