Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 26, 2001

Volume 30, Number 8

'Practical Logic' series opens with
talk on challenge of intersexuality

"The Challenge of Intersexuality" is the topic of the first talk in a series of campus lectures this year that will explore theories of sexuality and gender in the social sciences.

The "Practical Logic Series: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Theory in the Social Sciences" is sponsored by Women's and Gender Studies and the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies.

"As the name suggests, the research showcased in the 'Practical Logic' series draws on the innovative logic of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered theory (LGBT) while dealing with the practical issues raised in the social sciences," says Peter Hegarty, a visiting professor at Yale under the auspices of the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies. "Cross-disciplinary scholarship has long been a hallmark of innovative LGBT work. The 'Practical Logic' series continues to reinvent this tradition and to involve the Yale community in ongoing dialogues about the ways that LGBT theories are being used, applied and reworked in contemporary psychology, political science, sociology and beyond."

Suzanne Kessler, professor of psychology at State University of New York (SUNY)-Purchase, is the first speaker in the series. Her talk on "The Challenge of Intersexuality," which is free and open to the public, will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 4 p.m. in Rm. 309 of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St.

Kessler, who as a doctoral student worked with former lYale psychologist Stanley Milgram at City University of New York, has studied the psychology of gender and sociological themes of gender since the 1970s. Her research has dealt with such issues as the social construction of gender, with particular emphasis on cultural assumptions as they relate to transexuality and intersexuality. She has studied, for example, how doctors make determinations of sex at the birth of intersexed infants. Kessler is the author of "Lessons from the Intersexed" and is coauthor with Wendy McKenna of "Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach." At SUNY, she has won several awards for outstanding teaching.

Also speaking during the fall semester will be Joe Rollins, assistant professor of political science at Queen's College, City University of New York, who is the author of "Sex on the Bench: Politic and Rhetoric in the Legal Language of AIDS." Rollins, who will visit the campus Dec. 4, uses queer theory to explore how AIDS shapes judges' decision-making.

Among the spring semester lecturers will be Jennifer Terry, a member of the English department at the University of California-Berkeley, who will address how international organizations grapple with the rights of sexual minorities in the context of human rights. Further information on her talk and other lectures in the series will appear in future issues of this newspaper.

For more information, contact the Larry Kramer Initiative at (203) 432-8796.

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Alumni to ponder intersection of law and technology

Legal scholar John Langbein is named Sterling Professor

Historian Cynthia Russett is appointed Larned Professor

Conference honors economist William Brainard

Environmental Science Center opening Oct. 26

Event to celebrate 'Cultures of Native America'

Drama school stages Chekhov's 'compassionate meditation'

Yale Opera students to perform scenes from famous operas

'Practical Logic' series opens with talk on challenge of intersexuality

Talks about Sept. 11 aftermath to focus on questions of gender

Symposium to explore 'material culture' of Colonial New York

Project teaches Head Start parents about computers, cancer

Conservation of biodiversity in China is subject of talk

Stephen Bright to speak at tea

Getting the low-down on downtown

Honoring an 'unsung hero'

Campus Notes