Gender, Sexuality, & Fem Studies

brASS: Brown RadicalAss Burlesque is a multi-disciplinary performance troupe from NYC that uses our unique perspectives as women of color as a lens to the myriad of issues we are faced with in society. Through celebrations of our politicized bodies, we are making politics sexy and empowering audiences to value their own stories and use their creativity towards collective action. We encourage a disruption of passive consumption of art and wish to focus our performance as an instrument to re-imagine our society.

Student talk by Rebecca Coates-Finke ’16.5 on directing and developing Eve Ensler’s play for the past four years.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, is a leading authority in the area of Civil Rights, Black feminist legal theory, racism and the law. Her groundbreaking work on “Intersectionality” has traveled globally and was influential in the drafting of the equality clause in the South African Constitution.

Fraker Prize Awards Established in 1990 by Drue Cortell Gensler ’57, Middlebury College trustee, this award honors the memory of Alison Gwen Fraker ’89, a much-beloved, vocally feminist student, on International Women’s Day. The prize is awarded to a student whose essay on a topic specifically related to gender, sexuality, and feminist studies is judged the best.

A section of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display from April 11 through April 29. The Quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and is today the largest community art project in the world. Today it consists of more than 48,000 panels with the names of more than 94,000 individuals who died of AIDS. The display will be open during the Davis Family Library regular open hours. Sponsored by: Center for Teaching, Learning and Research; American Studies Program; Davis Family Library; Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life; Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies

On Saturday, Jerry Koch will lecture about political prisoners in the US, connecting the story of his political imprisonment to recent activism trying to end political imprisonment and all imprisonment. He will then facilitate a workshop on organizing prison support campaigns. This workshop will include the option for attendees to write letters to political prisoners. On Sunday, he will lecture about the history of US anarchist activism, highlighting general assemblies and social movements, consensus-based organizational models, and participatory direct democracy processes.

Andrea Barrica is a Filipina-American queer serial entrepreneur and activist. She co-founded inDinero, generating the company’s first $1M, a venture partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at 500 Startups. She is a powerful force in the tech start up world and is the founder of O.School, a shame-free platform for female and gender diverse pleasure education.

“Life of the Mind” talk by Mez Baker-Medard, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Program

Holly Allen, Assistant Professor of American Studies, gives a “Life of the Mind” talk sponsored by Chellis House and the Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. Lunch will be served.