Starting this semester, the OER team is highlighting open educational resources in underrepresented disciplines with an emphasis on sharing high quality open materials.

This post focuses on gender and sexuality studies and was compiled by Jo Thompson. The materials within this post may be of interest to those in Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as those working across the Social Sciences and Humanities. Enjoy!

  • Gender: Reflections and Intersections (2022). Vancouver Island University. License: CC BY-NC-ND
    • “Gender: Reflections and Intersections is the collaborative culmination of student contributions in the Sociology of Gender Relations class (SOCI 322) in the Fall term of 2022 at Vancouver Island University.” Topics covered include gender and sports, gender bias in medicine, gender-expansive early childhood education, and more. 
  • Gendered Lives: Global Issues (2021) by Nadine T. Fernandez and Katie Nelson. License: CC BY
    • “Gendered Lives takes a regional approach to examine gender issues from an anthropological perspective with a focus on globalization and intersectionality. Chapters present contributors’ ethnographic research, contextualizing their findings within four geographic regions: Latin America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and the Global North. Each regional section begins with an overview of the broader historical, social, and gendered contexts, which situate the regions within larger global linkages.”
  • Global Women’s Issues: Women in the World Today, extended version (2012) by Bureau of International Information Programs, United States Department of State. License: CC0
    • “We cannot solve global challenges unless women participate fully in efforts to find solutions. Female participation in the private sector is a crucial economic driver for societies worldwide. Economic security benefits every facet of a woman’s life, with positive effects on the health, education and vitality of families. Learn about women who are changing their societies for the better. This extended version of Global Women’s Issues: Women in the World Today includes, for each chapter, a summary, key words, multiple choice questions, discussion questions, essay questions, and a list of additional resources.”
  • The Homosaurus by The Digital Transgender Archive. License: CC BY-NC-ND
    • “The Homosaurus is an international linked data vocabulary of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) terms. This vocabulary is intended to function as a companion to broad subject term vocabularies, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions are encouraged to use the Homosaurus to support LGBTQ research by enhancing the discoverability of their LGBTQ resources.”
  • Introduction to Human Sexuality (2022) by Ericka Goerling, PhD and Emerson Wolfe, MS. License: CC BY-NC-SA
    • “[The] first section, Reflections and Explorations in Human Sexuality, includes ten chapters ranging from Sexology to Gender to Sexual Behaviors. In many ways, Part 1 is a great example of introductory human sexuality and many of the subjects have personal application to one’s experiences and learning. Our second section, Part 2, is Professional and Clinical Topics in Human Sexuality and covers topics such as Sexuality Over the Lifespan, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Sexual Dysfunctions and Treatment. While our Part 2 is still considered introductory in nature, it does have a more clinical/professional approach to topics in terms of learning. [The authors feel] that all these subjects hold value for students’ personal and professional development whether they’re going into psychology, social work, gender and sexuality studies, nursing, public health, anthropology, or something else entirely.”
  • Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach (2022) by Deborah P. Amory, Sean G. Massey, Jennifer Miller, and Allison P. Brown. License: CC BY
    • “Designed for an introductory course, this textbook takes a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of LGBTQ+ issues that helps students grasp core concepts through a variety of different perspectives.”
  • Introduction to Women and Gender Studies (2020) by Deborah Holt. License: CC BY
    • “The overall goal of the content selected for the creation of this book is to [b]roaden understanding and awareness of Women and Gender studies in the Humanities produced within the cultural and historical contexts of social groups throughout the world drawing upon such fields as art, literature, religion, philosophy, and music.”
  • Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies (2017) by Miliann Kang, Donovan Lessard, Laura Heston, & Sonny Nordmarken, University of Massachusetts. License: CC BY
    • “This textbook introduces key feminist concepts and analytical frameworks used in the interdisciplinary Women, Gender, Sexualities field. It unpacks the social construction of knowledge and categories of difference, processes and structures of power and inequality, with a focus on gendered labor in the global economy, and the historical development of feminist social movements. The book emphasizes feminist sociological approaches to analyzing structures of power, drawing heavily from empirical feminist research.”
  • Marking Gender in Spanish by Silvia Rivera Alfaro. License: CC BY-NC
    • “This open educational resource is created for language learners who want to make independent decisions on the politics over their bodies and identities and determine how they would like to be called while learning Spanish. The material can also serve teachers and professors as a resource to help navigate this challenging topic of our current times. This guide allows the learner to gain a basic understanding of Spanish grammar and its relationship to gender in an independent way. It intends to be not only a resource to decide how you would like to be named but also to understand the complexity of the subject, in relation to Spanish-speaking societies.”
  • Persistence is Resistance: Celebrating 50 Years of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies (2020) by Julie Shayne. License: CC BY-NC
    • “Persistence is Resistance is a collection celebrating 50 years of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies. Contributors are a diverse group of scholars, from undergraduate students to faculty emeritus, representing twenty-four institutions. Essays cover GWSS’s history, praxis, and implementation. The book also includes artwork by GWSS undergraduates and alumni, and their answers to “why GWSS?” Persistence is Resistance is ideal for the classroom because the essays are short, jargon light, and inspire feminist inquiry, activism, and pride.”
  • The Psychology of Gender (2023) by Suzanne Valentine-French and Martha Lally. License: CC BY-NC-SA
    • Topics covered include and introduction to the psychology of gender, methods for studying gender, theories of gender identity, and more.
  • Sexuality, the Self, and Society (2022) by Susan Rahman, Nathan Bowman, and Dahmitra Jackson. License: CC BY
    • “Content included in Sexuality, the Self, and Society is aligned with the typical scope for an introductory, interdisciplinary Human Sexuality Textbook. It is written to be a complete text for a semester length course but could be used, in part, reorganized, or edited in true OER fashion. It is meant to be accessible, relevant, and inclusive. It also will not remain static meaning that the author will continue to update periodically and those who adopt may do so as they see fit.”
  • Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Employment Discrimination (2017) by Matthew William Green. License: CC BY-NC-SA
    • “This Chapter will address the current protections that are available to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) individuals who allege they have been victims of employment discrimination. The Chapter’s primary focus will be on federal statutory law, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although the focus here is on federal law, Appendix I to this Chapter lists the states that protect individuals from public and/or private discrimination under state laws.”
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