[PSYC BC3152] Psychological Aspects of Human Sexuality

Wendy McKenna is a mediocre professor who teaches an inevitably interesting subject. One suspects she's been teaching the same exact class for the past 25 years (the length of time she'll inform you of with a smug smile). Her lecture oftentimes begins with a list of "shocking" statistics (she doesn't always give a credible source). Then she'll attempt to incite a debate amongst the class about some sex-related topic, which can go on for needlessly long considering the yappy, uninformed nature of your typical Barnard psych student, aided only by her occasional clarifications. At one point, taking this class, you think to yourself "it can't be that bad-- the class is about sex and that will always be interesting." But then you take the test and realize just how vague, biased and subjective McKenna can be with test writing and grading.
Two bits of advice: Don't question her logic during a lecture. In my experience, even if she seems to be saying the most stupid thing in the world, she'd rather have you spit it back to her on the exam than give her any reason to think she's wrong. Second, everything she teachers relates back to the Double Standard-- even if you don't think it does.

She's a decent lecturer, except for her nasal and irritating voice. In addition, as a human being, she's obnoxius. You may not enter or exit if she's talking, and there is no way to pre-register. She'll force all the sophomores exit the room on the first day, and automatically kicks them out. The papers she assigns are mostly anonymous and ungraded, so you work your tail off for really nothing (you still have to do them and sign in that you handed it in). She refuses to discuss the exam until it's over. She conducts in-class experiments with surveys that many feel are unethically handled and have questionable ethics. Workload: a slew of anonymous, ungraded papers, an ungraded paper that is not anonymous, a midterm, and a final project for which you must go to some unusual place, such as a strip joint, an abortion clinic, or a meeting of a support group for those who participate in S&M/B&D...and a final.