Spring 2013                          Skip to:      March            April

Gender Researchers Social for UW-L Faculty and Staff

Please join us for an opportunity to casually socialize with faculty/staff across campus and explore collaboration possibilities with others, working on gender.

Tuesday, February 12, 4pm
Hall of Nations, Centennial Hall


Sponsored by the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department

Gender and the De-Americanization of American Muslims

with Dr. Saher Selod, Simmons College

Wed, February 20th, 4pm
1309 Centennial Hall

American Muslims come from many distinct racial and ethnic groups. However, due to their shared religious identity, they have been lumped into a single racialized category, which has been stigmatized in political discourse and the press, and thus denied the privileges associated with social citizenship in the United States. This anti-Muslim discrimination varies by gender: Muslim women are regarded as a threat to American cultural values, while Muslim men are regarded as a threat to national security. Similarly, American Muslims' resistance to this discrimination also varies by gender, with American Muslim women more likely to resist and men more likely to feel silenced. This presentation, based on qualitative research with Arab and South Asian Muslim Americans in Chicago and Texas, examines the unique ways gender influences anti-Muslim discrimination as well as resistance to these experiences, and reveals a growing need to examine the intersectionalities of Muslim experiences along lines of gender, race, citizenship and religion.

Bio:  Dr. Saher Selod is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Simmons College. Her research interests are in race and ethnicity, gender, religion, and citizenship. She recently completed her dissertation, “Collateral Damage—De-Americanization of Muslim Americans after 9/11.” Her research examines how Muslim Americans experience racialization in the United States through their de-Americanization or cultural exclusion from social citizenship. Earlier this year, she earned the Teaching Innovations & Professional Development Award from SAGE and the American Sociological Association. Professor Selod has published widely and is currently co-editing a special issue of Critical Sociology, examining the public attitudes towards Muslims in the United States based on a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

Sponsored by the Provost Office’s Visiting Scholar of Color grant and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department

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International Women’s Day Celebration: Four Cultural Perspectives

Thursday, March 7th, 5:30pm
Hall of Nations, Centennial Hall

This event will feature women from various non-western cultures around the world. They will discuss their personal journeys as women, their educational and work experiences, and their reflections on the challenges that women face in their respective countries.

Sponsored by the American Association of University Women-La Crosse Chapter, Departments of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, History, and YWCA-La Crosse

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Jennifer Baumgardner, Feminist Activist-in-Residence

Mon, April 1, 7pm
Film Screening of "I Had an Abortion" followed by Q&A
1400 Centennial Hall 

More on the film: http://www.jenniferbaumgardner.net/i-had-an-abortion/

Tues, April 2, 4pm
Feminist Activism Workshop

2305 Centennial Hall

Tues, April 2, 7.30pm
Film screening of "It Was Rape" followed by Q&A 

1400 Centennial Hall

More on the film: http://www.jenniferbaumgardner.net/it-was-rape/

Wed, April 3, 4pm
Lecture: Current Issues in the Gay Rights Movement(s)
1400 Centennial Hall

Bio:

Jennifer Baumgardner is a filmmaker, activist, writer, and lecturer whose work explores abortion, sex, bisexuality, rape, single parenthood, and women’s power. Jennifer is the author of five books: Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics (FSG, 2007, which was nominated for a Lambda Award), Abortion and Life (Akashic, 2008), and the essay collection F ‘em! Goo Goo, Gaga, and Some Thoughts on Balls (Seal, 2011), as well as the best-selling books about feminism written with Amy Richards—Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (FSG, 2000) and Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism (FSG, 2005).  In 2003, the Commonwealth Club of California honored her as a “Visionary for the 21st Century.”

For more on Baumgardner: http://www.jenniferbaumgardner.net/about/

Sponsored by the College of Liberal Studies Inclusive Excellence grant, Violence Prevention Office, Women’s Studies Student Association, Campus Climate and Diversity Office, American Association of University Women- La Crosse Chapter, and the Departments of English; Health Education and Health Promotion; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Psychology; and Communication Studies

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$mart $tart: A Salary Negotiation Skills workshop

(for genderqueer/woman-identified persons)                  

Sat., April 6, 10am-1pm

3212 Centennial Hall  

NOTE: This is for genderqueer/woman-identified juniors, seniors, and graduate students. RegistrationSalry negotiation workshop flyer is REQUIRED;  limited to the first 40 participants. To reserve your seat, please email: aauwlacrosse@hotmail.com.

In conjunction with the WAGE Project (www.wageproject.org),  this workshop seeks to raise awareness about resources for benchmarking reasonable salaries and benefits, including salary ranges, the impact of market realities on salaries, and how to compare skills and accomplishments to target a realistic salary range. Negotiation skills, including role playing, that teach participants how to aim high and be realistic will also be addressed.

Sponsored by the AAUW-La Crosse Branch, YWCA-La Crosse, UW-L’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, Women’s Studies Student Association, Career Services, and Asian, Latino, African, Native American Women (ALANA).

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Film Screening of "Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People" with discussion to follow

Fler for Reel Bad ArabsTuesday, April 30, 4 pm
1400 Centennial

Film synopsis:

Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores the history of a long line of degrading images of Arabs in Hollywood cinema and how their persistence over time has naturalized prejudice toward Arabs. The film underscores the need for counter-narratives that reflect the diversity and richness of Arab people, history, and culture. 

Here's a trailer.

Sponsored by Office of International Education, Campus Climate and Diversity, School of Arts and Communication, Depts. of Ethnic and Racial Studies, History, Sociology/Archaeology, International Studies, Communication Studies, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Affirmative Action Office.



For more information, please contact: Mahruq Khan, mkhan@uwlax.edu

Fall 2012                                           Skip to    October    November

In addition to our programs, there are many other events related to women, gender, sexuality and social justice issues on campus.  Other places to look are the Pride Center, Office of Multicultural Student Services and Campus Activities Board.

SeptemberTalk by Provost Macpherson

A Lecture by Provost Heidi Macpherson

Monday, September 17, 2012
4 pm
Centennial Hall Auditorium, Room 1309

Political Landscapes, Private Hauntings: Violence in Contemporary American Women’s WritingRanging across a wide range of contemporary American women’s writing, this talk will focus on how contemporary anxieties are played out in the pages of women’s fiction, as well as the ways in which women’s writing increasingly stages legal conflict, or engages in representations of the aftermath of violence. A primary focus will be on Lionel Shriver’s award-winning novel We Need to Talk About Kevin (recently made into a film with Tilda Swinton) as well as other novels in which mothers come into conflict with the law and negotiate their ‘innocence’ or ‘guilt’ in the face of both real and imagined courts of law.

Print a copy of the flyer here

October

Dr. Michael Kimmel, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York-Stony Brook

Wednesday, October 10, 2012
7:30 pm
Graff Main Hall Auditorium, Room 260

Here's the link to Kimmel's UW-L presentation!  http://mediastream.uwlax.edu/UWLMediasite6/Play/4eabcc4fd90d44fb99ebeaa6788f5e911d

Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men
Guyland is based on more than 400 interviews over a four-year span with young men, ages 16–26. Kimmel’s study shows that the guys who live in “Guyland” are mostly white, middle-class, totally confused and cannot commit to their relationships, work or lives. Although they seem baffled by the riddles of manhood and responsibility, they submit to the “Guy Code,” where locker-room behaviors, sexual conquests, bullying, violence and assuming a cocky jock pose can rule over the sacrifice and conformity of marriage and family. Obsessed with never wanting to grow up, this demographic, which is 22 million strong, craves video games, sports and depersonalized sexual relationships.

Sponsored by: UW-L College of Liberal Studies, Departments of Psychology, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Communication Studies, Sociology/Archaeology, History, the Wellness Center and the Violence Prevention Office

Here's a printable copy of our flyer:  Guyland poster

Join us for three events with:

Kulsum Ameji, Attorney for Legal Assistance Foundation and Advocate for Survivors of Domestic Violence     (Click here for the poster!)

Wednesday, October 17th, 6pm
Centennial Hall Auditorium, Room 1309

Lecture: Of Margins and Intersections: Learned Lessons and Unanswered Questions from a Decade of Working With Immigrant Survivors of Violence

In this campus-wide lecture, Kulsum Ameji will discuss: the barriers immigrant survivors face, some of the resources immigrants have available, examples of intersectionality impacting survivors' lives, the challenges of doing this work, the shortcomings of a prosecutorial approach, the need for nuanced complex family empowerment strategies, the importance of academic-community partnerships, and the paucity of research around legal aid and anti-violence work in immigrant communities.
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Thursday, October 18th, 12:30pm
Cartwright Center, Port O’Call

Workshop: The Face Behind The Veil: The Illusion of Judicial Neutrality and the Intersections of Race, Gender, Culture, and Immigration Status in Immigrant Survivor's Legal Cases

This interactive workshop will discuss the history and current status of US immigration laws, laws related to race, and family laws; engender conversation about the law in theory v. the law in practice; encourage students to think critically about the ways in which the law is or isn't neutral; share anecdotes and experiences about how these issues manifest in some low income immigrant survivors real lives; encourage students to expand their understanding and familiarity with the theoretical frameworks on which our laws are based, the law as a tool for social change, and their role as future attorneys in complicating and questioning the legal paradigm; and provide a reading list for further research on critical race legal theory, the history of immigration law, the history of family law, and current movements for legal change.
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Thursday, October 18, 4pm
Viterbo University
Brophy Center, Room 122 (entrance on 10th St.)

Workshop: Mental Health in the Global Context: Issues Impacting Immigrant Survivors of Violence

Ameji will facilitate an interactive workshop with social work students based on case models. It will address issues of cultural competency, diversity, cross-cultural communication, cultural stigmas against mental health services, multiple layers of trauma in immigrant women’s lives (e.g., war, the lifetime spiral of gender violence, the trauma of the immigration process, etc.,) and the paucity of culturally- and linguistically-competent mental health services for immigrant survivors. The workshop will emphasize the critical role that social workers can and should play in immigrant survivor's lives and provide strategies for social work students to employ as practitioners someday and further resources relevant to their field.

Sponsored by: UW-L Provost’s Office Visiting Scholar of Color Grant, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, Violence Prevention Office, and Viterbo University

Bio:
Kulsum Ameji is an attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago, an advocate and educator, dedicated to community empowerment, access to justice, immigrant rights, gender equity, and the eradication of poverty. The American-born daughter of Kenyan-Indian immigrants, Kulsum lives and works at the intersections of gender, culture, immigration, poverty, and anti-violence efforts. For eight years, she has coordinated the Legal Assistance Foundation’s Project SOS (Safety Through Outreach and Services), a project dedicated to empowering immigrant women through education, outreach, holistic services, and legal representation. She has trained thousands of advocates on cultural competency, immigration remedies, and family law issues for immigrant women. Most importantly, she worked closely with women and children from over 60 countries on their religious, legal, and cultural rights.
In 2009, she received the Community Renewal Society’s 35 Under 35 Award for her work empowering communities of color and working towards social justice. In 2010, she was selected as a Lead the Way Fellow through NYU Wagner’s Women of Color Policy Network for women of color who are emerging leaders in the non-profit sector. In April 2012, Kulsum was honored with the Chicago Foundation for Women’s 2012 Impact Award for “Defending Women’s Rights in the Courtroom, the Capitol, and Beyond.” In August, she will participate in the LEAP Emerging Leaders program for leaders in the Asian Pacific Islander community. In October, Kulsum will travel to Armenia as part of the U.S. State Department’s Legislative Fellows exchange program. There, she will research and report on women’s rights and legal aid in the Caucasus.

Prof. Ray Block, Political Science and Public Administration

Monday, October 22, 2012                  Ray Block poster here!
4 pm
Centennial Hall, Room 1303

The Women of Contemporary Presidential Politics: A Panorama of Survey Reports from the iPoll Databank
This research talk combines numerous surveys over a fifty-year period to explore public perceptions of several First Ladies of the United States (or, "FLOTUSes") and how pollsters "talk about" these important women. We find that the "type" and "intensity" of these FLOTUS dialogues vary considerably from person to person, but we also discovered some interesting commonalities across women (i.e. discussion of the First Lady's likability, fashion choices, and the challenges of balancing work and family). This ongoing project teaches us a great deal about the American Presidency, and it highlights the ability of surveys to reflect--as well as influence--public perceptions of women in politics.

Sponsored by the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

For more information, please contact:
Mahruq Khan | mkhan@uwlax.edu | 785-8351

November     (Click here for the Transgender Identities series poster)

Fatima Arain and Owen Daniel-McCarter

Tuesday, November 6, 2012
5 pm
339 Cartwright

Transgender Youth, Homelessness, and the Law
The speakers will discuss how a) how the non profit industrial complex limits services for LGBT and queer homeless youth, b) the unique needs of queer youth who are experiencing homelessness, c) interpersonal, community and state perpetrated violence in the lives of LGBT homeless youth, d) how the prison industrial complex targets queer homeless youth.

Bios:
Fatima Arain received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago, worked for Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS), focusing on (LGBTQ) homeless youth in Seattle, and has significant experience in non-profit advocacy.

Owen Daniel-McCarter, Esq. is one of the founding collective members of the Transformative Justice Law Project ( TJLP ) of Illinois, which provides free, zealous, life-affirming and gender-affirming holistic legal services to poor transgender and gender non-conforming people targeted by the criminal legal system in Chicago, as well as folks in prisons throughout Illinois. TJLP provides legal services with a commitment to three core values: the right to gender self-determination, vision towards a long-term goal of prison abolition, and dedication to resisting state-sponsored systems of control through transformative justice and community empowerment models. Owen—who has advised LGBTQ organizations such as Chicago Dyke March—is also an adjunct professor at DePaul University.

Sponsored by: College of Liberal Studies, the Pride Center, Rainbow Unity, Campus Climate, School of Arts and Communication, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Prof. Stephen L. Mann, English Department

Tuesday, November 27, 2012
4pm
Centennial Hall, Room 1303

'We Are Family': Language Attitudes and Usage in Gay Men's Created Kinship Networks
Sociolinguistic studies of kinship networks consistently highlight the positive effect of strong kinship ties on attitudes toward and adherence to community language norms. These studies, however, fail to account for non-family of origin (i.e., created) kinship relationships common in many LGBTQ communities of practice. In this presentation, I address this gap in the literature by considering the effect of different types of kinship ties on gay men's attitudes toward/use of gay male varieties of American English.


Sponsored by the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies