Gender, Sexuality, & Fem Studies

Join us at Kenyon Arena for the grand opening of the feminist mini golf course! Throughout Spring 2023, two Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies classes at Middlebury College collaborated to build a reproductive justice mini golf course. Enjoy mini golf and live trivia, as well as snacks and prizes! 

Poverty infringes on personal autonomy in a myriad of ways. Having grown up homeless and largely dependent on the resources of social equity NGO’s, Treasure Brooks took issue with the limited menstrual products offered to people in need. In her talk “Blood Bound,” Brooks will reflect on her early work as a menstruation activist and creator of “Operation T.O.M.,” a grassroots organization designed to disseminate high quality menstruation products to houseless gender marginalized people.

Mayday! Mayday! All students, staff, and faculty are invited to celebrate the nominees for Feminist of the Year with fancy food and music by Midd alum Aida O’Brien. We will also celebrate the LABOR of all the Chellis House workers and host an official launch party for the brand-new CLOSET magazine.

Join us to make hope flowers for It Happens Here 2023. Hope flowers are mementos for survivors of sexual violence as a symbol of power and perseverance. We strive to foster solidarity and healing for survivors and allies.

Departments of Sociology; Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies; Independent Scholar; and Black Studies joint reception for graduating seniors and their guests in Axinn Center Winter Garden.

 

Queer Relationality: Thinking with Breath and Bread

As part of the backlash against trans rights, conservative lawmakers in eight states have passed more than a dozen bills attempting to criminalize or restrict drag performances. Despite this marked increase in hateful rhetoric in the public sphere, drag performers across the country continue to make art, celebrate community, and find joy in the spaces they occupy. This joint talk and drag performance will consider what it looks like to counter hate with art, perform in the face of fear, and infuse unrestrained joy into activist projects.

Daleelah Saleh ’23 will read from the edited volume “Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays on Being in the World”, to which she contributed.

Treasure Brooks will discuss how her work creating the feminist media company “The Meteor” was a pursuit of creative resistance. Drawing upon the scholarship of activists such as adrienne maree brown (Pleasure Activism) and Tricia Hearsay (Rest as Resistance), Brooks will also discuss her theory of communal play as a viable strategy for feminist coalition building. Her talk will examine the adverse effects of premature adulthood in communities of color and offer historical examples of playful resistance within Black diasporic and indigenous traditions.