Sexuality & Gender

Season 3, Episode 11

Socially constructed gender roles and stereotypes are embedded into everyday facets of our lives. So how do you provide support to students who fit outside these rigid expectations? Dr. Spencer A. Rathus of the College of New Jersey discusses modern views of sexuality and gender, plus ideas for helping LGBTQ students.

Guest Biography

Dr. Spencer A. Rathus enjoyed his first professional position as a high-school English teacher. Because he enjoyed helping students with their personal issues, he went to graduate school for guidance counseling. Dr. Rathus’ professors guided him into a doctoral program in Psychology at the University at Albany, and he then engaged in clinical practice for a number of years while teaching.

Dr. Rathus’ love of English and writing merged with his new love of Psychology, and he wrote college textbooks in the field. He chose to write them in a way that would be of interest to everyone, not just students from affluent families—all while maintaining scientific integrity.      

Dr. Rathus has said, “Psychology is splendid because it reveals the human condition as it is. It shows us at our height, helping others and reaching for stars and for those things that are invisible and yet to be invented. Psychology is troublesome because it also shows us at our most tribal and suggestible, hurting and condemning others, including people we have never met. For those reasons, if my readers come away from my books with nothing else, I want them to know what science is and how crucial evidence is. I don’t want them to believe anything anyone says without evidence. Not even me.”