Netherlands: International Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender

Key Features

SIT Netherlands student engages with Reina Buijs, Head of the Health & AIDS Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Amsterdam (program base)
Based in Amsterdam, this program offers rich opportunities for students to explore issues of gender and sexuality based on their interests. Amsterdam’s wealth of community organizations focused on sexuality and gender issues allows students to get actively involved and learn from activists, professionals, and researchers. Practicum and volunteer opportunities help focus student learning and analytical skills when working with a local organization.

Specialized archives and research centers
The Netherlands hosts a number of specialized archives and research centers related to the program’s themes. Students visit and make use of the International Gay and Lesbian Archive and Information Center housed at the Amsterdam Public Library, the Aletta Institute for Women’s History, and the Rutgers/World Population Foundation social-sexology library. Students also attend lectures and events at the Amsterdam Research Center for Gender and Sexuality at the University of Amsterdam. Scholars from the center occasionally lecture for SIT and advise students on their Independent Study Projects.

Local Excursions
In addition to the program’s major excursion to Morocco, students experience local excursions that include a a trip to The Hague where students visit the International Criminal Court to discuss gender in international humanitarian law and to view a trial in progress. In The Hague, students also visit the HIVOS International Development organization, which supports women’s and LGBT groups around the world. During the visit to the Rutgers/World Population Foundation in Utrecht, students meet with professionals involved in developing sex education curriculum and programs used in the Netherlands and internationally. Students are also able to make use of the foundation’s library and archive.

Independent Study Project
Students spend much of the semester developing and refining their Independent Study Project (ISP) proposal. Students then devote four weeks near the end of the semester working on the ISP in which they pursue original research on a selected topic of interest to them. The ISP is conducted in Amsterdam or another approved location appropriate to the project.

Sample topic areas include:

Multicultural approaches to sex education
Oral histories of female Surinamese migrants to the Netherlands
HIV risk factors among Moroccan and Turkish same-sex attracted youth in Amsterdam
Religion and homosexuality
Life stories of female farmers in the Netherlands
Gay men and HIV testing
Same-sex marriage
Sex work in Amsterdam’s Red Light District

Credits: 16

Duration: 15 weeks

Program Base: The Netherlands, Amsterdam

Language Study: Dutch

Prerequisites: Previous college-level coursework or other preparation in sexuality and/or gender studies, as assessed by SIT. Read more...