ESP Biography

Everyone knows that the Disney Princesses get to live happily ever after, but how did they get there and what does that journey tell us? From the passive Cinderella to the headstrong Ariel, we will examine the journeys of the different princesses with an eye to the movies' historical context. In looking at these stories, we will also think carefully about how we judge the princesses. Who is strong, who is weak, why do we perceive them this way and what does this perception tell us about modern conceptions of gender and strength? Of course, discussion will be supplemented with original source material (i.e. watching clips of Disney movies).

Everyone knows that the Disney Princesses get to live happily ever after, but how did they get there and what does that journey tell us? From the passive Cinderella to the headstrong Ariel, we will examine the journeys of the different princesses with an eye to the movies' historical context. In looking at these stories, we will also think carefully about how we judge the princesses. Who is strong, who is weak, why do we perceive them this way and what does this perception tell us about modern conceptions of gender and strength? Of course, discussion will be supplemented with original source material (i.e. watching clips of Disney movies).

We all know it is common practice for a physician to look between the legs of a newborn child and pronounce them a girl or a boy, but how did those differences get there in the first place? And are the physician's proclamations always correct? This class aims to give a brief introduction to the mechanisms behind human sex determination as it occurs in the fetus and how that impacts a newborn. At the end of the class, we will explore what happens if something in this process goes awry. Note: This class will make use of some explicit images of neonatal genitalia.