Gender, Sexuality, & Fem Studies

This workshop covers the basics of healthy, fun, safer sex for all bodies and all genders. Starting from a place of pleasure - rather than fear or shame - we’ll talk about basic human anatomy; safer sex practices; pregnancy prevention; and the risks of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and how to prevent them. Rooted in sex positivity, this workshop celebrates all bodies and orientations - queer or trans, cis or straight.

Our desires can be a source of great healing and liberation. They can also hold a great deal of shame. We live in a society where sex negativity, racism, transphobia, homophobia, fatphobia, and ableism all interact to police our bodies and desires, and many of us grow up feeling some level of shame or uncertainty around our sexualities. This workshop is a place to delve into the healing potential of our sexualities, while unpacking the beliefs and messages that no longer work for us.

Please join us for final thesis and senior essay presentations by Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies majors, minors, as well as other majors with feminist content projects. There will be a total of 13 presenters throughout the day. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. All are welcome to attend.

European University professor Anna Temkina, one of Russia’s leading gender theorists and sociologists, will discuss her research on childbirth practices in contemporary Russia and their relationship to producing women as both citizens and consumers.

Come on down to M-Gallery from 7-8:30 on the evening of Wednesday, December 6th to see the final projects of students from GSFS0329, Politics of Reproduction! Who is a “good” mother, and how are these standards tied to what it means to be a “good” woman? What happens when “my body, my choice” becomes complicated by the contexts in which these choices are made? This event hopes to create an intentional shared space to expand awareness of the ways in which race, class, history, gender, sexuality, geography, and ability inform and shape issues of reproductive justice.

Katha Pollitt is a leading feminist voice in the U.S.  She writes the award-winning column “Subject to Debate” for The Nation magazine. Her latest book is Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights; she is also the author of two books of poetry and several collections of essays.  Her book Learning to Drive (2007) is now a motion picture.

Poet Gary Margolis is dedicating a reading “To Daughters and Granddaughters.” He is the author of four poetry books: Raking the Winter Leaves: New and Selected Poems (Bauhan Publishing, 2013); Fire in the Orchard (Autumn House Press, 2002), which was nominated for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for poetry; Falling Awake (University of Georgia Press, 1986); and The Day We Still Stand Here (University of Georgia Press, 1983).

Join female students, faculty/staff, townspeople, and alumnae in a College-wide discussion on the role of women in 2018. Modeled after a “Lean In Circle,” we will discuss whether women need to lean in to the workplace or if opting out is a better solution for today’s feminists. We invite women from all generations and backgrounds to join this conversation so that we may have a range of perspectives – networking encouraged too! Light refreshments will be provided.  

Sponsored by Middlebury Women Leaders  and the MCAB Speakers Committee

Wednesday, April 18, 12:15 p.m., Chellis House
Poetry reading by Karin Gottshall, Assistant Professor in English and American Literatures
Lunch will be served!

For the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Violence, students, staff, and faculty will read and discuss passages from Juana Gamero de Coca’s monograph Sexualidad, Violencia y Cultura (Desdeabajo, 2013) and from Julia Alvarez’s novel In The Time of the Butterflies (Algonquin, 1994). The 16 Days of Activism start on November 25, the UN-declared Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in honor of Minou, Patria, and Maria Teresa Mirabal, the three sisters whose life and work to bring down Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship were the subject of Julia Alvarez’s book.