Annual Lectures
Distinguished Alumnae/i Lectures
Each Spring, the CSGS welcomes a UChicago alumnae/i working in the field of gender and sexuality back to present their work.
Iris Marion Young Distinguished Faculty Lecture
Each year, CSGS hosts the Iris Marion Young Distinguished Faculty Lecture featuring University of Chicago faculty doing innovative interdisciplinary work. As part of its tenth anniversary celebration in 2006, the Center renamed this annual lecture to honor Iris Marion Young. Young was a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and was affiliated with the Center and the Human Rights program. She was a widely known and well-respected contemporary political and feminist social theorist, concerned with normative analysis of public policy. Learn more about Iris Marion Young.
Lauren Berlant Memorial Lecture
To honor Prof. Lauren Berlant’s intellectual legacy, the Department of English and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality propose a joint annual lecture series to start in Spring 2023. This annual lecture takes its form and inspiration from the Worlding, Writing project that Lauren ran for several years through 3CT and CSGS. The purpose of this project was, in Lauren’s words, “to explore new modes of writing and reading - not in an effort to affirm expertise but to imagine productive idioms for critical engagement and to assemble novel ways of attending to socio-political phenomena.” The invited speaker will be someone whose work draws on Lauren’s intellectual legacy, and/or who is pushing the boundaries of writing and reading in ways that resonate with the Worlding, Writing project. The speaker can be an academic, an artist, or an activist.
- Kathleen Stewart, “The Sensation of Singular Life” (October 24, 2024)
Paul Lisicky, “Later And Sooner: The Long Legacy Of HIV” (April 13, 2023)
The OUTstanding Speaker Series
The OUTstanding Speakers Series is an annual distinguished lecture series and student recognition ceremony, established and endowed by UChicago Pride Alumni (formerly the UChicago LGBT Alumni Network) in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (CSGS). The series brings to campus scholars, professionals, and public figures who have made significant contributions to the LGBTQ community. Each year, the distinguished guest will deliver a public lecture and a seminar with UChicago students. Additionally, a student will be selected each year to receive the UChicago LGBTQ+ Community Engagement Award, to honor exceptional contributions that advance and support the interests of the LGBTQ+ community. At the public lecture, the awardee will speak about the significance of their work and introduce the invited distinguished speaker. The inaugural event was held in Fall 2022.
- Imani Rupert-Gordon, “The State of the LGBTQ Movement: What is at Stake and How We are Going to Win” (October 10, 2024)
- Jules Gill-Peterson, “Great Society Transsexualism: On the Political Economy of Transition” (November 2, 2023)
- Victor Madrigal-Borloz, “From Wars Against Diversity To Inclusive Peace: Violence And Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity In Armed Conflict”
Other Speaker Series
20th Anniversary
- The Founding and Development of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UChicago with Linda Zerilli, Jane Dailey, Elizabeth Helsinger, Norma M. Field, Michael Dawson, John W. Boyer, Leora Auslander, Rebecca Zorach, and George Chauncey (May 19, 2016)
- The Impact of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UChicago with Deborah Nelson, Erin Moore, Quinn Miller, Cindy Nguyen, Melissa Oglesby, and Naomi Sobel (May 20, 2016)
- Transformational Texts with Linda Zerilli, Lauren Berlant, George Chauncey, Susan Gal, Rochona Majumdar, Martha Nussbaum, and Geoffrey Stone (May 20, 2016)
- New Directions in Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Research with Kristen Schilt, Jasmine Benjamin, Michael Dango, Annie Heffernan, Jenn Jackson, and Chase Joynt (May 20, 2016)
Changing Women in a Changing Society @ 50
- Surveilling Gender and Sexuality in the Age of AI with Kendra Albert, Michele Gilman, Aiha Nguyen, and Ari Waldman (May 15, 2023)
- Gender, Policing, and the State with Susila Gurusami, Shannon Malone Gonzalez, and Saher Selod (April 24, 2023)
- Reproductive Justice and Abortion Access After Dobbs with Carole Joffe, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, and Tamika Odum (February 20, 2023)
- The Sociology of Work: An Intersectional Lens with Margaret Chin, Christine Williams, and Adia Harvey Wingfield (February 6, 2023)
- The Sociology of the Family: Taking Stock of the Field and Imagining the Future with Marbella Eboni Hill, Allison Pugh, and Rin Reczek (December 7, 2022)
Classics in Feminist Theory
- Angela Y. Davis, "Feminism and Abolition: Theories and Practices for the 21st Century" (May 4, 2013)
- Trafficking, Prostitution and Inequality: A Public Lecture by Catharine MacKinnon (November 14, 2011)
Closeted/Out in the Quadrangles
- A "Desire for History": Building Queer Archives at UChicago (October 19, 2013)
Contexts of Coalition
LGBTQ Speaker Series
- Ramzi Fawaz, “Queer Love On Barbary Lane: The Serial Experience Of Coming Out Of The Closet With Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City” (October 26, 2022)
- Kadji Amin, "We Are All Non-Binary: A Brief History of Accidents" (May 2, 2022)
- Colby Gordon, "A Pound of Flesh: Transphobia and Antisemitism from Shakespeare to the Present" (March 1, 2022)
- Julietta Singh, "No Archive Will Restore You" (February 25, 2019)
- Regina Kunzel, “In Treatment: Psychiatry and the Archives of Modern Sexuality” (April 25, 2018)
- C. Riley Snorton, "Fleshy Encounters: Black Feminisms and the Mutability of Gender" (February 19, 2018)
Other Talks and Events
- After Dobbs: Reproductive Freedom, Justice, and the Power of the State A Conversation featuring Michele Goodwin, Dorothy Roberts, Mary Ziegler, and Geoffrey Stone (October 10, 2023)
- Geoffrey R. Stone (Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago), “The Constitutional Right to Abortion: Past, Present, and Future” (October 13, 2022)
- The Porn Star After OnlyFans and SESTA/FOSTA panel with Heather Berg, Hoang Tan Nguyen, & Ty Mitchell (November 17, 2021)
- Manning up for the Nation: State, Media, and China’s Regulation against "Sissy" Men with Yan Long, Yige Dong, and Yuchen Yang (October 20, 2021)