Queer and Performance

The last seminar of the academic year will be focusing on Queer and Performance and will feature the following three papers:

Kate Pelling (Birkbeck College, University of London)
'In Pursuit of Elvis: Performativity and Authenticity in Elvis Impersonation.'

Katherine Watson (Roehampton, University of London)
'Feminism has at last tinged the ballet' (Shackleton, 1925)
The Feminist and Queer Potentialities of Bronislava Nijinska (1891-1972)

Alison Bancroft (Queen Mary, University of London)
Title to be announced but the paper will contain Lacan

Tuesday 22nd July
7pm - 9pm
Room B29, Birkbeck College Main Building
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HX

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Any queries just e-mail me on bigs.postgrads@gmail.com

Reading Group 10th June

Where? B29 Birkbeck College main building, Malet Street
When? 10th June 7-9pm

I thought this week we could discuss ideas surrounding young women, who voluntarily choose to become sex workers. Some questions and articles to look at on this topic include:

- http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2008/05/the_oxbridge_se --> 'The Oxbridge Sex Workers'
- http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/30/thesexlivesofothers--> This article is by an ex-New York prostitute who is shocked by the latest 'Sex and the City' film and their antics towards dating.

- Why do you think young women are voluntarily choosing to go into this arena?
- What are the effects of media representations of relationships, sexuality, power and dating ideals on young women?

I am aware that these are very broad areas but then I thought that someone ought to be able to contribute some of their own opinions and ideas surrounding these topics.

Enjoy the reading and thinking!

'Discourses of Sexuality' 13/5 BIGS Seminar Series

Birkbeck Institute for Gender and Sexuality (BIGS) is pleased to present the second in a series of seminars designed to provide a forum for postgraduate students working on issues relating to gender and sexuality to present their ideas to one another in a relaxed and supportive environment.

'Discourses of Sexuality'

Elisabetta Bertolino [Birkbeck College]:
The Ambivalence of Wounds

Shauna Guinn [Birkbeck College]:
Childhood Sexuality: A Queer Issue?

Leon Rocha [University of Cambridge]:
Xing is sex and human nature: The Discourse of Sex in China in 1920s

Tuesday, 13th May 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Room 204,
Clore Management Centre,
Birkbeck College,
Torrington Square

BIGS will hold a postgraduate seminar every two months and we are currently seeking contributions from presenters for the next session. If you are interested in presenting please submit the title of your paper along with a brief abstract (100 words max) to bigs.postgrads@googlemail.com. Submissions relating to issues of gender and sexuality from a broad range of disciplines are welcomed, as are works in progress and 'alternative' style presentations.

Transgender Narratives: Reading Group 29/4

This week's reading group will be about the issue of transgender narratives (please bring any extra material that you find interesting). Please note there is a change of venue to the previous meeting - we will now meet in Room 303, 43 Gordon Square. 7-9pm on Tuesday 29th April.

The discussion will start from Richard Beard's article in The Guardian about how his friend's sex change tested their friendship. http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/relationships/story/0,,2275803,00.html

Some areas to think about:
- What is the relationship between gender and sexuality?
- What is the meaning of transgender?
- Are male to female and female to male transgender debates distinct?
- Is transgender different from queer? If so, how?

Some other interesting material to look at includes:

- http://www.lorencameron.com
- http://www.dellagracevolcano.com/index.html
- http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/ga_test.html --> This is Kate Bornstein's Gender Aptitude test, which is taken from her book 'My Gender Workbook'
- Halberstam's In a Queer Time and Place
- Second Skins by Jay Prosser

Where? Room 303, Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon Square
When? Tuesday 29th April, 7-9pm

Apologies for the late notice of this week's reading group.

Call for Papers for Postgrad seminar series

After the success of our 1st seminar in March, we are hosting a 2nd one on Tuesday May 13th. 6:30pm - 9pm. We are currently seeking contributions from presenters for this date.

If you are interested in presenting a 15-20 minute paper (please allow for a similar length of time in questions) please submit the title of your paper along with a brief abstract (c.100 words) to bigs.postgrads@googlemail.com by 21st April.

Submissions relating to issues of gender and sexuality from a broad range of disciplines are welcomed, as are works in progress and 'alternative' style presentations.

When? Tuesday May 13th 6:30-9pm
Where? Room 204, Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square

Please forward this information to anyone else you know who might be interested.

1st April BIGS Reading Group

Considering it's the Easter holidays, which for many of us is synonymous with essay writing time, we're going to read a short newspaper article from the BBC.

How 'gay' became children's insult of choice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7289390.stm

Below are some questions to help trigger some thoughts but please bring in any other related articles, examples etc.
- Is this surprising?
- What does this suggest about the power of language?
- How could this be read in the light of Queer Theory?

When? Tuesday 1st April 7pm - 9pm
Where? Room 624, Birkbeck College Main Building, Malet Street

Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday. Please pass this on to anyone else you think might be interested.

All welcome!

Easter Break

Ok, we're going to take a short break from the reading group for Easter. A little holiday and work catch-up time are in order.

The next dates and locations are (all on Tuesdays - topics tba):

- 1st April: Room 624, Birkbeck College, Malet St
- 15th April: Room 624, Birkbeck College, Malet St
- 29th April: Room 303, Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon Square

BIGS PG Seminar on Tuesday 13th May from 6.00 – 9.00pm – room 204, Clore Management

Look forward to seeing you there.

If anyone has any suggestions of articles that you'd like us to read or topics to be discussed, please contact me at bigs.postgrads@gmail.com Thanks!

5th Reading Group - Tuesday 11th March

It was great to see such a healthy turn-out to our first seminar series on Tuesday. I hope that the ones in future will continue to prosper. If you do have any thoughts for a paper or would like to present a Work in Progress on anything relating to Gender and/or Sexuality at the next seminar in May. Please send a short abstract (c.100-300 words).

This fortnight's reading group is on Tuesday 11th March, 7pm - 9pm at room 317, 43 Gordon Square. After this one there will be a short break with the series resuming on the 1st April.

Topic: Women and the Military

Reading: Keenan, Jimmie. 'The DoD Combat Exclusion Policy: Time for change?' p21-26. Available for download (free): http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=830 If anyone struggles with downloading this, I do have a Pdf of the document available but it is c.4Mb, so I thought to save people inboxes I'd send the link instead.

Questions to think about:

- Is a woman's life more valuable than a man's?

- Are there practical issues of allowing women to serve in combat that need to be acknowledged/addressed?

- If exclusion policies remain, should women be able to gain higher posts without having the currently necessary battle experience?

- Is the current divide, which maintains male dominance in the higher ranks as it should be?

- Should women have full equality in the armed forces?

26th February - 4th Reading Group Meeting

7pm Tuesday 26th February, 317, 43 Gordon Square

Reading:

Niva Piran. 'Reinhabiting the Body.' Feminism and Psychology. 2001. 11 (2): 172-176.

Email me (bigs.postgrads@googlemail.com) if you would like a Pdf of the article.

Here are some questions to help guide your reading:

1) How significant is location in these teenage girl's experiences of their bodies?
2) Is Piran's description of the female body as 'a silent and oppressed domain' accurate?
3) How might Piran's position as a middle-aged, white immigrant to North America' feminist researcher impact on the participants telling of their experiences?
4) How can the body be 'reinhabited' by women?

BIGS Seminar Series - Normativities Tuesday 4th March

Birkbeck Institute for Gender and Sexuality (BIGS) is pleased to present the first in a series of seminars designed to provide a forum for postgraduate students working on issues relating to gender and sexuality to present their ideas to one another in a relaxed and supportive environment. The first of these seminars takes place on Tuesday, March 4th from 6:30pm - 8:30pm in 354 Malet Street.


'Normativities'

Caroline Walters
'Safe, Sane, Consensual': A discourse that attempts to normalise BDSM?

Carly Guest
'Heterosexual Bodies: Women's Discussion and Construction of Their Heterosexualities'

Eleanor Wilkinson and Katherine Ludwin
The Annual Festival of Homosexual Misery: Taking Pride in Gay Shame


BIGS will hold a postgraduate seminar every two months and we are currently seeking contributions from presenters for the next session to be held on the evening of Thursday, May 8th. If you are interested in presenting please submit the title of your paper along with a brief abstract (100 words max) to bigs.postgrads@googlemail.com. Submissions relating to issues of gender and sexuality from a broad range of disciplines are welcomed, as are works in progress and 'alternative' style presentations.

Please forward this to anyone that you think would be interested.

3rd Reading Group 12/2

3rd Reading Group Meeting: 7pm Tuesday 12th February, 317, 43 Gordon Square

Reading: Alexandra Bogren, 'Women's intoxication as 'dual licentiousness': An exploration of gendered images of drinking and intoxication in Sweden'. Addiction Research and Theory, 16.1: 95-106.

Email me (bigs.postgrads@googlemail.com) if you would like a Pdf of the article.

Some things to think about:
- Does everyone desire to transcend reality? Is this a need?
- Some examples of different gendered responses to alcohol/drug consumption. Why and where do these occur?
- What is meant by 'dual licentiousness'? Does Bogren's concept provide us with a useful critical tool to approach this problem?
- Is it possible to apply Bogren's analysis beyond Sweden?

2nd BIGS reading group 29/1

The second BIGS reading group examines Simone de Beauvoir in light of her recent centenary. There are 2 short pieces to read for this week's meeting.

The first is a 1976 interview with SdB, where she discusses her personal views on feminism 25 years after the publication of The Second Sex.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/1976/interview.htm

The second is a recent article from the Guardian that explores the potential difficulty of SdB's private life over-shadowing her work.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gender/story/0,,2235170,00.html

Tuesday 29th January
7-9pm
317, 43 George Square

Last night's Launch

I'm pleased to say this was a triumphant success. It was so over subscribed that people were having to stand through the speeches. There was a meeting of well-established academics and those just emerging in the field. Feminist activists conversed with those entrenched in Queer Theory. I think in this time of Government cuts happening every which way in the arts, including the proposed-removal of funding from both the Drill Hall and queerupnorth, the BIGS institute is needed more than ever. The main website cites this aim, as follows:

"BIGS seeks to encourage new ideas and forms of understanding in gender studies. It provides a forum for scholarly exchange and collaboration within the college and beyond, bringing together scholars working in the arts and humanities, and the social sciences. BIGS fosters postgraduate teaching and research in gender studies."

BIGS Launch!

Bedrocks and Beyond: The Launch of the Birkbeck Institute of Gender and Sexuality.

A drinks reception and dialogue on issues of gender and sexuality in critical, personal and political perspectives.
Participants include Lisa Baraitser, Heike Bauer, Matt Cook, Rosie Cox, Sue Jackson, Daniel Monk, Sasha Roseneil and Lynne Segal

Monday 21 January 2008. 5:30-8:30pm.
Drill Hall,
16 Chenies Street,
London WC1E 7EX

To reserve a place please email c.seagrave@bbk.ac.uk, or call 020 7631 6661.