March 04, 2010

Multimedia: Symposium explores intersection of science, gender, and sex

The 29th Annual Gender Studies Symposium will offer three days of lectures, roundtable discussions, workshops, and performances. The theme is “The Science of Gender and Sex.”

Student organizers of the 2010 Gender Studies Symposium are posing questions that are eternal and yet relevant in the contemporary world. The three-day symposium, “The Science of Gender and Sex,” will delve into topics like the biology of sex differences and evolutionary perspectives on parenting patterns. Experts from across the country and from within the local community will offer lectures, roundtable discussions, workshops, and performances exploring the intersections of science, gender, and sex.

In the following video, students and faculty members discuss the symposium theme and offer their own perspectives on how biology influences identity.

2010 Gender Studies Symposium: “The Science of Gender and Sex”

March 10-12, Templeton Campus Center

All events are free and open to the public. Several of this year’s sessions are co-sponsored by United Sexualities and are part of the College’s AIDS Summit. View the complete schedule online.

Some highlights of the symposium include:
  • “Pink Brain, Blue Brain: Hormones, Learning, and the Biology of Sex Differences,” featuring Lise Eliot, associate professor of neuroscience at Chicago Medical School, on March 10 at 3:30 p.m.
  • “Is Sex More Like Dancing or Digestion?  Unpacking the Medicalization of Sexuality,” featuring Leonore Tiefer, a researcher, sex therapist, activist, and educator, on March 10, 7:30 p.m.
  • “Affection is Our Best Protection: Early AIDS Activism and the Legacy of Gay Liberation,” featuring Jennifer Brier, associate professor of gender and women’s studies and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, on March 11, 3:30 p.m
  • “The New Science of Darwinian Feminism: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Mating and Parenting Patterns,” featuring Amy Parish, lecturer in anthropology, arts, and letters, and gender studies at the University of Southern California, on March 11, 7:30 p.m.

For more information, contact gender@lclark.edu or visit the symposium website.