"We'll talk about whips and chains in a political, social, cultural, religious
context of sexuality and how that sexuality affects those institutions."
The Sexual Diversity program appears one of the edgier ones on offer at the
university, which was founded in 1827 and is best known for its science and
medical research. Alumni include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lester B. Pearson,
insulin inventors Frederick Banting and Charles Best, author Margaret Atwood
and film director David Cronenberg.
The program promises an academic approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender and heterosexual issues -- from history and law to the performance
of sadomasochism.
"It's a very serious analytical exercise and it isn't what a lot of people
think it is," director David Rayside told Reuters during a visit to the school,
which is located in the original Romanesque-style University College building
at U of T's leafy downtown campus.
The program, established eight years ago, got a C$1 million ($900,000) boost
this week with a donation from Canadian winemaker Mark Bonham to expand the
curriculum. There are plans for Canada's first undergraduate major in sexual
diversity studies, and for master's and doctorate programs from 2008.
"This is a long-neglected area and Canada provides an ideal environment to take
up these questions creatively," said Bonham in a statement.
The program includes a drama course called "Sexual Performance: Case Studies in
S/M (sadomasochism)" and the arts and literature course "Queerly Canadian," for
which one student wrote an in-depth review of a male strip show.
But it also focuses on traditional academic discussion -- from Plato to
same-sex marriage, with courses like "Theories of Sexuality" and "Sexual
Diversity Politics."
Canadian provinces were the first jurisdictions in North America to legalize
gay marriage -- and Toronto, with one of the largest gay and lesbian
communities in the world, is a perfect backdrop for such a program, said
Rayside.
"This is a city that has diversified a lot, and is muddling through how to
recognize that diversity in ways that are quite interesting," he said.
"We're located in the heart of a tremendous laboratory where cultural and
international differences actually play a role, and that's part of what we do."
Students were keen to dispel the perception that the program caters only to
activists and gays.
"The stereotype is it's a bunch of queers talking about sex and gay rights,"
says Kirstin Caspersen, 22, who wants to apply her degree with criminology to
look at how gender and sexual issues affect people in the justice system.
Rayside said the sexual orientation of students in the program is as diverse as
the studies themselves.
"I would estimate -- of course I don't ask -- that 50 percent of our students
are not queer-identified by any use of that term, which is great," he said.
"A lot of the people from the university, from the president on down, think
that what we're doing is important work. But there's still a lot entailed at
persuading more and more people that what we're doing is legitimate."
Reuters
