Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage in Pennsylvania

Please make note of an important upcoming GWS event! On Wednesday, March 12th at 4:30 p.m. in Driscoll Auditorium, GWS will host a panel discussion on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania.

Since the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in June 2013, many gay couples have been challenging analogous state laws, claiming that they too are unconstitutional. This panel will explore same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania through a variety of perspectives, including John Culhane, Associate Director of Pastoral Care Education, Campus Ministry; as well as several local Philadelphians who have a stake in same-sex marriage laws in the Commonwealth: Isabella Barker, a litigant who filed a law suit against Pennsylvania; Jessica Streeter, visiting professor of Sociology at Villanova; and, Ken Oakes, a disability rights activist member of the vestry at Christ Church.

 The panel co-sponsored by GSC (Villanova's Gay Straight Coalition).

Welcome Back Lunch and Faculty Talk

GWS invites you to help us kick off the new spring semester with a "Welcome Back" lunch and faculty talk. The event will be held on Wednesday, January 29th at 12:00 p.m. in the Radnor St. David's Room. Travis Foster will be giving his presentation, "Darwin, Jewett, Freud, and the Ecology of Queer Life."

Travis Foster is Assistant Professor of English at Villanova University, where he specializes in pre-1900 American Literature. He is finishing a manuscript on literary culture and affective belonging in the wake of the Civil War, a piece of which is forthcoming in American Literary History. His articles have also appeared in American Literature, ESQ, and the Edith Wharton Review, and his chapter on nineteenth-century queer texts is forthcoming in The Cambridge Companion to Gay and Lesbian American Literature.

His talk for GWS comes from a new project on literature, botany, and the conceptualization of sexuality before sexology.

 

Richard McCann: "Transitions: The Girlhood of a Bio Male"

On Wednesday, November 20th at 4:00 p.m. in the Radnor St. David's Room, Richard McCann will be presenting, "Transitions: The Girlhood of a Bio-Male."

Richard McCann is the author of Mother of My Sorrows, a work of fiction, and Ghost Letters, a collection of poems. He is also the editor of Things Shaped in Passing: More 'Poets for Life' Writing from the AIDS Pandemic. His fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in magazines such as The Atlantic, Ms., Esquire, Ploughshares, Tin House, and The Washington Post Magazine. He is also published in numerous anthologies, including The O. Henry Prize Stories 2007 and Best American Essays 2000. He is currently working on a memoir, The Resurrectionist, which explores the experience and meanings of illness and mortality through a narrative exploration of his experience as a liver transplant recipient.

This event is co-sponsored by the Gay Straight Coalition and the English department. It is free and open to the public.

Visiting Scholar: Heidi Hartmann

Please make note of an important upcoming GWS event! On Monday, November 11th at 6:00 p.m. in Bartley 1011, Heidi Hartmann will be giving her talk, "Women and Men: The Recession and Recovery."

Hartmann is a feminist economist and the founder of The Institute for Women's Policy Research, a scientific research organization formed to meet the need for women centered public policy research. She is also the organization's president and a Research professor at The George Washington University in D.C. Her areas of expertise include women and the economy, workforce participation, equity, and Social Security. She lectures internationally on women, economics, and public policy, and frequently testifies before U.S. Congress.

If you are interested in reading some of Hartmann's recent work, you can find a few of her articles posted on the GWS website: http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/gws.html.
Just be sure to click the event link.

Hartmann is currently the scholar in residence for the Greater Philadelphia Women's Studies Consortium. We are very excited that she will be visiting Villanova!

"Warrior Girls: The Benefits and Perils of Women's Sports"

This Wednesday, October 30th at 6:30 p.m., Michael Sokolove will be giving his presentation, "Warrior Girls: The Benefits and Perils of Women's Sports." Michael Sokolove is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, as we as the author of two previous books, The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw, and Hustle: The Myth, Life, and Lies of Pet Rose. He has appeared on numerous national television and radio news shows, including ABC's Good Morning America and ESPN's Outside The Lines. While Sokolove has written about a broad range of topics, his specialty has been the sociology and culture of sports. Sokolove's most recent work explores the 1979 Crenshaw High Cougars basketball team, and the myth that success in sports is a ticket out of the inner city.

Following the talk, there will be a discussion facilitated by Dr. Rick Eckstein (Department of Sociology) and Stacy Coburn-Carone (Assistant Coach at Villanova).

This event is co-sponsored by Honors, Peace and Justice Education, Sociology, and Communication.

"Plastic Boy: Transgender Identity Unpacked"

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On Wednesday, October 23rd at 7:00 p.m. Aiden Kosciesza will visit Villanova to give his presentation, "Plastic Boy: Transgender Identity Unpacked."

Aiden is a transgender writer, speaker, and activist who has given presentations about LGBT identity both in the US and abroad. He first spoke out about LGBT civil rights as a graduate student at Villanova's Freedom School, and later focused on transgender issues as he explored his own identity as a transsexual man. He began sharing his personal story of discovery aboard Peace Boat, a Japanese NGO that promotes peace and understanding through sustainable travel.

This event is co-sponsored by Villanova's Gay Straight Coalition and the English department. We hope that you will join us to hear Aiden's personal and thought-provoking story!

ACS Approved Event: "Fatal Promises"

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UN. Gift reports that an estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labor (including sexual exploitation) as a result of human trafficking. An estimated 1.2 million of those victims are children. In 2008, it was reported that for every 800 people trafficked, only one abuser was convicted.

On Monday, October 21st at 5:30 pm GWS will be showing the documentary Fatal Promises. Through personal stories of victims and interviews with politicians, NGO representatives and activists, Fatal Promises provides a comprehensive look at the  realities of human trafficking versus the rhetoric of politicians and pundits who claim to be making significant strides in combating this horrific crime against humanity. You can find out more at their website.

Following the film, there will be a Q&A session with the film's director, Kat Rohrer.

This is an ACS approved event. Please tell your colleagues, students, and friends about this important event. We hope that you will be able to join us!

"Deaf Jam"

The Gender and Women's Studies program would like to invite you to a film showing of Deaf Jam, held on Saturday, October 5th at 3:00 pm in Connelly Cinema.

Deaf Jam is a 2011 documentary film directed and produced by American filmmaker Judy Lieff. The film centers on the experience of Aneta Brodski, a deaf teenager living in New York, who becomes immersed in the dynamic and three-dimensional form of American Sign Language poetry. When Aneta, an Israel-born, ASL poet, eventually meets Tahani, a Palestinian, spoken word poet, the two begin to collaborate, creating a new form of poetry that gains recognition in Deaf and hearing communities alike. You can read more about the film here.

Following the film, there will be a Q&A session with participants from the film, as well as a slam poetry and ASL workshop.

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We hope to see you there!

$tart $mart Workshop

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Negotiating salaries is a challenge for women at all stages of their careers, since women are significantly less likely than men to ask for what they want and deserve. This week, there will be an interactive workshop that will help female students prepare themselves for the job market. The $tart $mart workshop will take place on Wednesday, September 25th, in Dougherty West Lounge. It is for students who want to increase their negotiating skills and learn more about the challenges facing women in the workforce. Food, drink, and lots of information will be provided!

There is still time to register. You can contact Joyce Harden (joyce.harden@villanova.edu) for more information, or register yourself at http://tinyurl.com/vustartsmart.

The program is sponsored by the Gender and Women's Studies program, along with Student Development, the Society of Women Engineers, Women’s Professional Network, the College of Engineering, and the College of Nursing. The $tart $mart workshop is a campus initiative and collaboration between AAUW and the WAGE Project.