Gender and the Culture Wars - Interdisciplinary Exchange, October 26

Published: April 15, 2021

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Tivoli Baerenson Ballroom B&C and Live Streamed via Facebook

Evelyn Becker - Graduate Student in Master of Humanties, focused on Women and Gender Staudies, and Attorney and Former Deputy Communications Director of NARAL Pro-Choice America - "Texas & Its Mess with Reproductive Justice" 

Becker will describe the consequences of the Texas abortion ban, especially for low-income women and women of color; explain what the law means for the rest of the United States; and provide an overview of what happens next. 

Mia Fischer - Associate Communication Professor - "Protecting Women's Sports? Anti-Trans Youth Sports Bills and the Workings of White Supremacy"

Since 2020, an unprecedented number of anti-transgender youth sports bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country, totaling well over 100 bills in more than thirty states. These bills seek to bar trans youth, specifically trans girls, from playing and competing in organized scholastic sports that align with their gender identity. In this brief talk, Dr. Fischer scrutinizes how a coalition of anti-LGBTQ Christian conservative forces, trans-exclusionary radical feminists, and women’s sports advocates is strategically deploying the seemingly liberal, feminist rhetoric of protecting girls’ and women’s sports to obscure the transphobic and white supremacist underpinnings of these bills.

Sponsored by the CLAS Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Interdisciplinary Exchange offers presentations, discussions, and working groups highlighting the research and creative work of CLAS faculty, staff, and students. All are welcome!