The theme of this one-day conference sponsored by the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS) program is “Gender and the Body.” The conference will include panels throughout the day where undergraduate students from Pitt and around the region will showcase their work. At the closing of the conference, leading gender theorist Kate Bornstein will be the keynote speaker. The call for papers is available here.

This topic of “Gender and the Body” incorporates urgent issues of universal significance that develop differently based on the lived realities of diverse bodies. Globally and locally, communities —including nation states— define themselves in part by the types of bodies that are included and excluded. For example, women’s bodies having historically been disproportionately referenced, surveilled, and controlled in many contexts. The topic includes subjects of ongoing scholarly and popular dialogue and debate, such as security and violence, migration, gender and sexual expression, race and ethnicity, reproductive justice, transgender rights, media, and performativity. The internationally-recognized keynote speaker, Kate Bornstein, has expanded and improved the ways in which we theorize gender as part of our humanity.

This event is also sponsored by the Humanities Center, the Dietrich School Dean's Office, the University Honors College, the Charles Crow Fund, and the Department of Sociology. For more information, click here or contact Marie Skoczylas at mbs@pitt.edu.