Gay culture courses available through university clearing
The hype over A Level exam results is beginning to fade as students begin to pack their bags for university, for those with an interest in the gay community there are still places left on many suitable courses. Dave McElhill investigates.
You can now get an education in issues such as sexuality in civilisation and the place of homosexuality in modern society.
Universities in Westminster, Sunderland, Southampton, Hull and Aberdeen have added different areas of study to their existing sociology courses in order to embrace decades of social change in Britain for students to study and analyse.
The modules now offered to students include ‘Gender, Sex and Identity’ at Sunderland University’s sociology department and ‘Anthropology of Gender and Sexual Diversity’ at Hull’s Criminology and Sociology studies.
This is part of a new wave of sociological and anthropological studies that embraces changes in both society and politics in the wake of shifting attitudes in the late 20th and early 21st century. The change in how gay couples can have relationships grounded in law by the Civil Partnership Act, for instance.
Other universities, such as Westminster, offer studies in sexuality through master programmes, whilst offering insights into sexuality as part of wider modules in subjects like Social Political Studies.
Edinburgh, meanwhile, also offers several courses involving sexuality, and a number of students have chosen to look at issues surrounding sexual identity in their doctorate work at the university.
The school of Arts, Communication and Culture at Nottingham Trent university offers an internationally recognised department that offers modules looking into new developments in British culture, including gay culture.
Nottingham even has a Professor of Gay and Lesbian studies, Prof. Gregory Woods, who specialises in 20th century gay and lesbian culture.
Essex university goes one better by offering modules looking at the effects of sexuality in both sociological and political science.
It also has the academic journal Sexualities, which deals with all issues regarding sexuality in modern global society and is run by Professor Ken Plummer, a member of the Sociology department at Essex.
It also presents an article entitled “Dude, You’re a Fag:”- Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse.
For those looking to study the forms and identities of sexuality in the UK and the world, there are plenty of courses that deal with the issues either specifically in gender or sexuality courses, or more widely as part of sociology, media or culture degrees.
These courses are available across the UK, and are starting next month.
