Representing Gender and Sexuality

 

This week's presenters are Dr. Helis Sikk and Dr. Lindsay Garcia.

Dr. Lindsay Garcia is a visiting instructor of literature and media studies at Ringling College of Art and Design. She is also a socially engaged artist who works in video, performance, social practice, poetry, and scholarly intervention. Her scholarhsip and artwork engages with anti-racist, interspecies, queer, and feminist materialisms. www.lindsaygarcia.com

Dr. Helis Sikk is a visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at University of South Florida Tampa. 

Before coming to class they are asking you to do the following:

Read: Judith Lorber, “Night to His Day”

Link to article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LBK6CxUXTwqpk_KmksYwIB67DtUxQ53Q/view?usp=sharing (please use this link instead of one found online)

Read: Adri T., “Myths About Asexuality”

Link to comic: https://adriofthedead.tumblr.com/post/65540442968/okay-i-realize-this-hilariously-late-for

Watch: “5 Non-Binary People Explain What “Non-Binary” Means To Them” 

Bring a gendered object to class and be prepared to describe the ways in which it is gendered (see immediately below for instructions)

Choose an object or group of objects that you see as “gendered” and bring it to our Zoom meeting. This could be an object that is personal to you or something you have picked up from the material environment that you inhabit and experience in your everyday life. Reflect on how this object is used and suggest possibilities for creative uses that may trouble cultural assumptions about what it represents.  

Here are some questions to help you guide your thinking:

What do you see in the object? Write down everything you can about it - color, texture, shape, and style. Who created the object? When? What was the purpose? What does the purpose tell us about the object? How do you use it? Who was the object intended for? What does the intended use tell us about the object? 

In this week's Zoom class we will do the following: 

• Definitions: Gender & Sexuality, in various forms using the attraction dragon & genderbread person
• Breakout Room Activity: Gendered Objects
• Translating this activity into world building
• Best Practice Tips: for considering identities that you do not embody, when it comes to sexuality & gender - plus other intersections (race, ethnicity, disability, species).

This week's questions have been added to the Worldbuilding Questionnaire.  Please begin answering this week's questions to add to your inventory. 

This week's questions are also on the Activity Page for this week along with additional resources.  We look forward to discussing these questions with you on Tuesday morning.