240016 SE VM3 / VM7 - Sexual orientations, identities, relationship models, and the western view (2024S)

Aim of the course:At the end of the semester, the students should be capable of• Knowledge of supranational (WHO, UN, etc.); national (Austrian Government, ministries ect.); and activist (Amnesty International, QWien, etc.) definitions of sexual identities and orientations.• Relate to the westernness of those concepts and its current critiques.• Knowledge of western as well as non-western concepts of gender.• Knowlegde of the historical development of the wider topic, including knowledge of the ICD-10 and ICD-11 catalogue.• Engaging in current debates on gender, sex, identities, sexual orientations, and related relationship models that don’t fall in an according category, based on up-to-date scientific discussions.

Goals/content:According to the World Health organization, applied then by the European Commission into European law, as well as most national governments, being lesbian, gay or bisexual is a sexual orientation; while trans identity is an identity - hence the acronym “LGBT”, of which members have legal minority rights, at least in the majority of Western countries.The most comprehensive activist acronym currently used is “LGBTTIQQ2SAA+”, standing for “lesbian-gay-bisexual-transsexual-transidentity-intersex-queer-questioning-2spirit-asexual-alies-plus”, extending the western categorization in only one aspect by a native interpretation of gender. Also, for all kind of “alternative” relationship forms (usually found by the acronym CNM, so consensual non-monogamy), it is the western idea of monogamy from which alternatives are derivated.Why is that so? Where are the according origins, the historical roots? Who sets the legal, who sets the social norms? Was the so-called sexual revolution also a female empowerment movement; and how much feminism is in today’s alternative relationship models? Can a liberated approach towards sexual orientation and identity lead to a fairer world for all? Is it monogamy we have to fight for equal rights, or is there something else big coming up? These and further questions will be discussed in the seminar, and ideally answered at least in some aspects by the end of the semester within the framework of a seminar paper.

Methods:Seminar lectures / discussion in class / Group discussions / Group work / presentations / technical realisation via the web-platform “Moodle”.

Implementation:The first half of the semester is dedicated to reading relevant texts, followed by discussion (based on individual small assignments) in class. The second half of the semester is dedicated to specific topics that students in group of 3 pick themselves on bases of their interest. Those topics will be developed by a small seminar work (theory-based only, no empiric survey), and presented and discussed in class.