Why did sex evolve? The likely answers, in this essay for the Evolution Web site by science journalist Matt Ridley, may surprise you.

Recommended for: Grades 9-12

This multidisciplinary seminar addresses fundamental issues in global health faced by community-based healthcare programs in developing countries. Students will broadly explore topics with expert lecturers and guided readings. Topics will be further illuminated with case studies from healthcare programs in urban centers of Zambia. Multidisciplinary teams will be formed to develop feasible solutions to specific health challenges posed in the case studies and encouraged to pursue their ideas beyond the seminar. Possible global health topics include community-based AIDS/HIV management, maternity care, health diagnostics, and information technology in patient management and tracking. Students from Medicine, Public Health, Engineering, Management, and Social Sciences are encouraged to enroll. No specific background experience is expected, but students should have some relevant skills or experiences.

This course includes an introduction to the anthropological study of human sexuality, gender constructs, and the sociocultural systems that these are embedded in. Examines current critiques of Western philosophical and psychological traditions, and cross-cultural variability and universals of gender and sexuality.

This course will introduce the student to the psychology behind gender and sexuality. In this course, the student will take a look at how our understanding of one's own gender and sex can affect different aspects of our functioning, while also identifying the factors in our lives that can impact oneŐs gender and sex. This course will begin by introducing and defining the concepts of gender and sexuality, then looking at the similarities and differences between sexes in terms of biological and neurological functioning and development, as well as gender and sexual identity. Also, the student will discuss why and how the sexes are psychologically and cognitively different. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: define and explain specific terms that relate to gender and sexuality; define and explain influences that impact homosexual and heterosexual gender identities; define and explain sexual stereotypes; explain the biologically based characteristics, including differences and similarities, between genders; explain the differences between gender identities, including theoretical approaches; explain the sociobiological and psychoanalytic approaches to sexuality and gender identity; define and explain the social learning and cognitive developmental approaches to gender and sexuality; explain the commonalities and differences between the cognitive abilities of genders; explain the commonalities and differences between gender and aggression. (Psychology 406)

International Women's Voices has several objectives. It introduces students to a variety of works by contemporary women writers from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and North America. The emphasis is on non-western writers. The readings are chosen to encourage students to think about how each author's work reflects a distinct cultural heritage and to what extent, if any, we can identify a female voice that transcends national cultures. In lectures and readings distributed in class, students learn about the history and culture of each of the countries these authors represent. The way in which colonialism, religion, nation formation and language influence each writer is a major concern of this course. In addition, students examine the patterns of socialization of women in patriarchal cultures, and how, in the imaginary world, authors resolve or understand the relationship of the characters to love, work, identity, sex roles, marriage and politics.This class is a communication intensive course. In addition to becoming more thoughtful readers, students are expected to become a more able and more confident writers. Assignments are designed to allow for revision of each paper. The class will also offer opportunities for speaking and debating so that students can build oral presentation skills that are essential for success once they leave MIT. The class is limited to 25 students and there is substantial classroom discussion.

"This course is designed as an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Women's and Gender Studies, an academic area of study focused on the ways that sex and gender manifest themselves in social, cultural, and political contexts. The primary goal of this course is to familiarize students with key issues, questions and debates in Women's Studies scholarship, both historical and contemporary. This semester you will become acquainted with many of the critical questions and concepts feminist scholars have developed as tools for thinking about gendered experience. In addition, we will study the interconnections among systems of oppression (such as sexism, racism, classism, ethnocentrism, homophobia/heterosexism, transphobia, ableism and others.) In this course you will learn to "read" and analyze gender, exploring how it impacts our understanding of the world."

Documentary-style piece in which four celebrities (Quentin Crisp -author, Emily XYZ -poet, Joe Morton -actor, Spider -musician) talk about kissing, seduction, relationships, love, sex, and romance in the U.S., England, and South Africa. Speakers muse about the subjects and talk about their own personal experiences. Shots of speakers talking directly to the camera are interspersed with straightforward and computer-enhanced scenes of couples kissing. Approximately 28 minutes in length.

Subject examines classic texts from the history of Western moral philosophy, and their answers to the question of what is the best way to live. These texts include works by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and J. S. Mill. Among the questions that arise are: What is it to have a good life? How important is moral integrity, personal happiness, individual autonomy, and self expression, if one is to live in the best way that one can? Emphasis on close analysis and the evaluation of philosophical ideas and arguments. This course will focus on issues that arise in contemporary public debate concerning matters of social justice. Topics will likely include: euthanasia, gay marriage, racism and racial profiling, free speech, hunger and global inequality. Students will be exposed to multiple points of view on the topics and will be given guidance in analyzing the moral frameworks informing opposing positions. The goal will be to provide the basis for respectful and informed discussion of matters of common moral concern.

" This course will focus on issues that arise in contemporary public debate concerning matters of social justice. Topics will likely include: euthanasia, gay marriage, racism and racial profiling, free speech, hunger and global inequality. Students will be exposed to multiple points of view on the topics and will be given guidance in analyzing the moral frameworks informing opposing positions. The goal will be to provide the basis for respectful and informed discussion of matters of common moral concern."

Studies the nature of love and sex, approached as topics both in philosophy and in literature. Readings from recent philosophy as well as classic myths of love and sex that occur in works of literature and lend themselves to philosophical analysis.

Through investigating cross-cultural case studies, this course introduces students to the anthropological study of the social institutions and symbolic meanings of family, household, gender, and sexuality. We will explore the myriad forms that families and households take and evaluate their social, emotional, and economic dynamics.

Play in our streams and see how exhibitionism has an evolutionary payoff in this Evolution simulation of Endler's experiment.

This course introduces scholarly debates about sexual identities, gender identities and expressions, and sexual orientation and its representation in film and literature. We begin with a contemporary debate about biology and gender identity, considering its relationship to the historical understanding of sex, gender, and sexual identity. Our investigation continues with the theoretical underpinnings of the emerging field of queer studies, from the nineteenth century to the present day, and considers how subsequent work in transgender studies continues to challenge traditional understandings of sex, gender, and sexuality.

Is marriage a patriarchal institution? Much feminist scholarship has characterized it that way, but now in the context of the recent Massachusetts Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, the meaning of marriage itself demands serious re-examination. This course will discuss history, literature, film, and legal scholarship, making use of cross-cultural, sociological, anthropological, and many other theoretical approaches to the marriage question from 1630 to the present. As it turns out, sex, marriage, and the family have never been stable institutions; to the contrary, they have continued to function as flash points for the very social and cultural questions that are central to gender studies scholarship.