
The Major
Students explore and analyze the creation, meaning, function and perpetuation of gender in human societies.
Learn MoreWe examine feminist and queer thought in a variety of global and historical contexts. Faculty specialize in literature, history, anthropology, film, and politics.
Students explore and analyze the creation, meaning, function and perpetuation of gender in human societies.
Learn MoreSWAGS theses are interdisciplinary. Recent graduates have worked on projects such as the poetry of Alice Fulton, queer activism on the internet, and public health and abortion rights, among others.
Learn MoreFounded in 1986 by prominent feminist scholars on campus, the department grew out of the intellectual and political excitement generated by women's and gender studies, broadly, and the growing presence of women at Amherst College.
Learn MoreOur faculty and students work closely with the WGC, which promotes learning about and exploring gender through personal experience, academic inquiry, community organizing, activism, and discussion.
Learn MoreThe Queer Resource Center serves as the hub of the queer community on campus. The Center provides numerous events, resources and leadership opportunities for all students at Amherst College.
Learn MoreThe Center initiates and supports collaborative projects dedicated to engaged, critical feminist scholarship from diverse perspectives.
Learn MoreSWAGS majors go on to graduate school at top universities, and work in fields ranging from academia, to journalism, to medicine, to the law.
Learn More
Congratulations to Jade DuVal '22 and Sophie Ewing '22, co-winners of the Rose Olver Prize!
Congratulations to Kayla McKeon '22 and Lisa Zheutlin '22, co-winners of the David Kirp '65 Stonewall Prize!
What was it like to trans gender if you were living in 18th or 19th century England or America? This week, History and SWAGS Professor Jen Manion joins Jonathan to explore the world of “female husbands,” people who were raised as girls but lived as men.
Professor Rose Olver of Psychology and SWAGS was interviewed in 2008 as part of the Friends of the Amherst College Library: Oral History Project to capture on video interviews with members of the Amherst community whose involvement with the college has been long-standing and whose reminiscences seem likely to be of historical significance.
Q&A with new faculty member Christine Peralta in the Amherst Student.
The Guardian speaks to SWAGS Professor Katrina Karkazis about the rules that ban female athletes with naturally high testosterone.
Amherst College alumnae and students are telling their stories to bridge historical and present-day experiences and to illuminate the accomplishments and wisdom of the Black women of Amherst College.
Using an intersectional approach, the course traces how issues related to gender and sexuality impact Asian American racial formation in the U.S. Major themes include labor migration, community formation, U.S. imperialism, and social movements.
What does it mean to be a “real man” in the contemporary United States? This course critically analyzes manhood and masculinity as socially constructed and ever-changing concepts deeply entangled with race, class, disability, and sexuality.
The past decade has witnessed the dramatic rise of populist parties, movements, and leaders. We will explore the ways populists enact hegemonic forms of masculinity and femininity and employ binary constructions of gender to differentiate allies from enemies.
Students delve into the social, economic, legal and political conditions that influence reproduction through a variety of classes across the five colleges. Students graduating in May 2020 should submit documents to their RHRJ advisor by April 20.
Students critically examine the relationship between sexual and gender identities, experiences, cultures and communities in a wide range of historical and political contexts through a variety of classes across the five colleges.
The Rose Olver Prize is for the senior thesis that best analyzes the construction of gender. The David Kirp 1965 Stonewall Prize is for student work on some facet of LGBTQ+ experience.