DePaul Teaches How To Use Social Media

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Are they catching up with technology or duplicating what is already going on off campus? DePaul is offering a course on Sex, Gender and Social Media that promises to “ground our understanding of social media platforms in the context of established scholarship on social community development, cultural and media studies, and feminist and queer (LGBTQA) studies.”

Yet and still, a look at the course description might make you wonder if the “nation’s largest Catholic university” is contributing to the hook-up culture, although even that may be passe, or even stalking: “Although our emphasis is on sexual and gendered aspects of identity, we will always view subjects as multiply-identified according to, most prominently, class, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and ability. We will examine how these platforms offer new opportunities for sexual education, sexual and erotic/romantic expression, the negotiation and exploration of sexual and gender identities, and feminist/queer media criticism, social activism, and community.”

Nevertheless, they close out the description with a politcal attack: “We will also explore the more troubling aspects of social media, particularly its connection with global capitalism and neoliberal ideology, as well as how these platforms have provided new forums for public attacks on women and queer people.”