Roles: A Gender and Sexuality Forum

Roles: A Gender and Sexuality Forum

Third Annual Gender and Sexuality Conference
University of Birmingham,
10th May 2013

Key Note Speaker: Dr. Nadine Muller

This one-day interdisciplinary conference offers postgraduates the opportunity to present their research in a friendly and supportive environment. We invite applications for twenty-minute papers from researchers working within the fields of gender and sexuality studies.

Suggestions for presentations may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

- social policy, government legislation, and matters of the law
- cultural products: film / music / art / TV / literature
- media, representation, and social images
- sexuality, otherness, erotic practice
- the body: subject, object, identity
- theory, methodology, practice
- feminism and postfeminism: representation and invisibility
- queer and trans*: changing images of femininity and masculinity

Please send an abstract, including a short bio, of no more than 300 words to g.roles@hotmail.com by 10th March 2013.

Roles is an interdisciplinary research forum hosted by researchers at the University of Birmingham for the purpose of fostering discussion and debate. We hold regular seminars as well as our annual conference, and can be followed online: T: @groles, F:
/roles-a-gender-and-sexuality-forum, W: groles.wordpress.com, E:
g.roles@hotmail.com.

Nude Norms: The Curious Case of the Castro

One aspect to my role at the University is to lead research for the law team.  It's often the case that beyond teaching, students rarely see what we do.  I've been keen to change that by introducing student research internships, in which students apply to work with academics on small discrete research activities, and in the course of which students get to see how we spend their not insignificant fees.

Anyway, I worked on a little project with a student intern last year, kicking around some ideas for a potential project, which ultimately led to this little piece which appeared on the Freedom in a Puritan Age webzine earlier this week.

It examines the controversial nudity ban in San Francisco.  Take a look at what I hope will be the first of many publications for my wonderful student intern, Sara Mohammadzadeh.

Gender, Sex and Power: Seminar Series

The wonderful Rob Clucas at the University of Hull has organised what looks like a really interesting seminar series.  it's called Gender, Sex and Power and the details can be seen below:

MAP - Male Action Project: Initial Results

The Cyrenians - a Newcastle based homelessness charity (with from what I can work out, Catholic roots) recently published some interesting research on male sex work.

 From May to November 2011 The Cyrenians carried out a scoping exercise and some exploratory work to consider the nature and extent of male sex work in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In April 2012 funds were secured to support a 12 month project 'MAP' (Male Action Project) to further develop the evidence-base regarding the needs of 'survival' male sex workers; and to undertake a programme of campaigning activities to stimulate and facilitate policy change at local, regional and national levels.

The initial needs analysis can be downloaded here.

A Career in Academia

Apologies for going a little off topic but I know a good number of you are either looking to explore academic careers, or are in the early stages of building such a career.  Tufts University in the United Stated has a rather wonderful Graduate School of Arts and Sciences which seems to be doing some excellent work in reaching out to the international academic community and providing useful advice and resources.  Check out one of their recent posts here.

Right, back to the law and sexuality malarky...

Homosexual Offenses and Human Rights in Guernsey

The wonderful Paul Johnson has produced a really interesting piece on Homosexual Offenses and Human Rights in Guernsey on the Jurist site.  Check it out here.

The Centre for Sex, Gender and Sexualities Speaker Series, Durham University

Readers may be interested in these forthcoming events:

Workshop: Problematising ‘Problematic’ Pregnancies Presenters: Dr Sally Brown, Dr Rachel Colls and Abi McNiven, Durham University Discussant: Professor Robyn Longhurst, University of Waikato 22/11/2012, 09:30 to 12:00, Room W215, Department of Geography

A Phenomenology of Cultural Racism: Veiling, Embodiment, and the Nature of Culture, Prof Alia Al-Saji, The Institute of Advanced Studies, Durham University Wor 05/12/2012, 16:45 to 18:00, Shincliffe Room, St Aidan's

Feminist Punk Rock Academia? Punk praxis, grassroots activism and the future of feminisms, Dr Julia Downes, Durham University 12/12/2012, 16:45 to 18:00, Shincliffe Room, St Aidan's

Child Sexual Exploitation, Vulnerability and Justice, Prof Jo Phoenix, Durham University 24/01/2013, 16:45 to 18:00, Shincliffe Room, St Aidan’s

Seminar topic to be announced, Mr Neil Cobb, University of Manchester 20/02/2013, 16:45 to 18:00, Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan's

Bodies and Struggles in Syria: an Anthropological Approach, Dr Maria Kastrinou, Durham University 06/03/2013, 16:45 to 18:00, Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan's

Seminar topic to be announced, Prof Elizabeth Bernstein, Barnard College, Columbia University 02/04/2013, 16:45 to 18:00, Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan’s

Edith Thompson and Traumatic Collective Memories of Capital Punishment, Dr Lizzie Seal, University of Sussex 07/05/2013, 18:00 to 19:15, Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan's

Seminar topic to be announced, Prof Wendy Chapkis, University of Southern Maine w/b 03/06/2013, 16:45 to 18:00, Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan's

Gender, Heterosexuality and Youth Violence, Prof James Messerschmidt, University of Southern Maine 05/06/2013, 18:00 to 19:15, Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan's

More information can be viewed here.

Queer Homes, Queer Families: a history and policy debate at the British Library Conference Centre

Readers may be interested in this forthcoming event:

With Peter Tatchell; Professor Jeffrey Weeks, OBE; Dr Kath Holden; Professor Sasha Roseneil; Professor Alison Oram; and Dr Matt Cook.

Monday 17th December 2012, 6.30 – 8.00pm

Places still available but numbers are limited so book soon!

The last decade has seen incredible changes in attitudes towards lesbians and gay men and their relationship to home and family. From legislation on adoption, civil partnerships and access to fertility treatments to representations on sitcoms like ‘Modern Family’ and home make-over shows, there has been a marked domestication of queer men and women. If Clause 28 famously saw all this as a pretence, these home lives are now, arguably, being taken seriously. In this panel discussion we ask what precedents there are for apparently unconventional home and family formations; how far recent shifts reflect broader changes in expectations and experiences of home and family; what they might portend in terms of assimilation, radicalism and difference; and why history might matter in all this. 

Please come and join the discussion. The debate is free and open to all, but booking is essential. To reserve your place please contact Katy Pettit k.pettit@uel.ac.uk The event is convened by the Raphael Samuel History Centre, hosted by the British Library and supported by the AHRC.