DalOUT has invited guest speaker Julia Serano to speak at Dalhousie University. With the support of amazing queer and feminist organizations throughout Halifax, we are excited to announce that she will be visiting Dal on Wednesday October 22nd. The presentation will be based on Julia Serano's recently published book, "Excluded" titled, "Making Queer and Feminist Movements More Inclusive."
Julia Serano is a writer, performer, trans activist, and biologist. She is best known for her book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, a collection of essays that reveal how misogyny frames popular assumptions about femininity, and shapes many of the myths and misconceptions people have about transgender women. Julia's second full-length book, Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive came out in October 2013.
Presentation description:
"Exclusivity is a daunting problem within feminism and queer (i.e., LGBTQIA+) activism. There is a long history of lesbian and gay activists who outright dismiss bisexuals, trans people, and other gender and sexual minorities. These and other instances of exclusion arise when we prioritize certain forms of sexism and marginalization over all others, thus resulting in far smaller movements with far more narrow and distorted agendas .In this talk, Julia discusses numerous strategies that she forwards in her recent book Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive that empower us to challenge all forms of sexism and marginalization, even those that we may be unfamiliar with.These strategies include recognizing natural variation in gender and sexuality, and that people are fundamentally heterogeneous; moving beyond fixed views of sexism and marginalization that deny many individual’s unique situations, experiences, and perspectives; and learning to more generally recognize double standards, double-binds, and methods of invalidation that are routinely used to undermine minorities and marginalized groups."
Q&A and discussion to follow. Introductions and thank yous will be made by Jessica Dempsey, and our opening guest speaker is Jessica Durling.
The presentation will be held in the CIBC Auditorium in the Computer Science Building at Dalhousie. This space is physically accessible and there are gender neutral washrooms nearby in the building.
Julia Serano's books will be available to read on loan in the DalOUT office, and on sale at the night of the event.
This event would have been made impossible without the financial support of so many queer and feminist organizations within Halifax. A huge thank you goes to the following (growing!) list of supporters:
DalOUT
Venus Envy - Halifax
South House
SMU Women's Centre
Dal Allies
Dalhousie Gender and Women's Studies Department
SMU Women and Gender Studies Department
SMU Sociology and Criminology Department
OUTlaw Society
Dalhousie Feminist Legal Association
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