Screening and discussion of NO!

Tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 9, there will be a screening and discussion of NO! The Rape Documentary by Aishah Shahidah Simmons. The event is open to all and will take place in Turlington Hall, Room 1207, beginning at 8:00 p.m. Here’s the trailer for the documentary:

Tonight’s screening will also include a discussion of two related readings: “Neoliberal Policy as Structural Violence: It’s Links to Domestic Violence in Black Communities in the United States,” by William L. Conwill, and “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” by Kimberle Williams Crenshaw. For more information, or to get copies of the readings, please contact J. Hale-Gallardo.

‘Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm’

From November 14–20, the film Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm will be playing at the Hippodrome State Theatre.

This is the story of one simple invention, the vibrator, and its relationship to one complex human behavior, the female orgasm. The history of the vibrator and its medical use had virtually vanished until historian, Rachel Maines, researching needlework patterns in early 20th century women’s magazines, ran across ads for electric vibrators.

Piquing her curiosity, she traced the origins of this early electrified appliance and made an astonishing discovery. Under the guise of a medical treatment, Victorian doctors had used vibrators to relieve women of symptoms of hysteria. Symptoms of hysteria were vague – being cranky, reading French novels while wearing tight corsets, etc. It was a disease manufactured by doctors creating a lucrative clientele and a mutually camouflaged procedure that satisfied both. This film looks at the evolution of women’s sexual satisfaction from its use by Victorian doctors to its resurgence during the sexual revolution of the 1970s and on to its status today, when in some states laws still exist that restrict the number of vibrators one may own. 2008/ 74 mins/ USA/ NR

For viewing times and ticket prices visit the Hippodrome website.

See film XXY at the Hipp until today only

xxy poster
XXY, an award winning film about an intersex child, is playing downtown at the Hippodrome now through Thursday, October 30th.

“For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15-year-old Alex who was born an intersex child. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Ãlvaro. Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity. This sharp directorial debut by Lucia Puenzo treats the challenging subject of intersexuality with intelligence and sensitivity. 91mins/ 2007/ Spanish/ subtitles”

Special performance in class on Monday

In class on Monday, we will be treated to a special performance of Birth, a critically acclaimed play based on interviews playwright Karen Brody conducted with mothers across America who gave birth between 2000 and 2004. Birth tells the true stories of eight women, painting a portrait of how low-risk, educated women are giving birth in America today. The performance will be followed by a talkback session, which will facilitate an interactive discussion on birthing issues, the subject of this week’s readings. Read more

Special lecture Monday: Sex and violence

On Monday, October 27, Professor Neil Whitehead of the University of Wisconsin will deliver the 2008 of the Marvin Harris Lecture. The title of the presentation is “Blood Jewel: A Performative Ethnography of Sex and Violence.”

This special event will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Weil 270. Here’s the abstract:

This talk will discuss recent performative ethnographic work in the Goth/Industrial music scene as the band “Blood Jewel” and how through the medium of cyber space this has led to different kinds of engagements with ethnographic “subjects”. The cultural meanings of sexual and violent representation, challenges to normative sexualities, and the emergence of digital subjectivities and ontologies are then examined in relation to the emergence of a post-human anthropology.

Event: Gainesville’s Stomping Out AIDS

A colleague from the Alachua County Health Department shared a note with me from the organizer of an upcoming community event, “Gainesville’s Stomping Out AIDS.” The event will take place on December 6, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. Organizers are seeking individual volunteers and groups to participate. See the full note below for details.

Read more

Valentine’s Day at the Museum

Are you looking for something to do on Valentine’s Day? Here’s a free alternative to consider: The Harn Museum of Art and the Florida Museum of Natural History will offer Valentine’s-themed activities from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Thursday. They’re even serving dessert. Here’s the official blurb:

Visitors to the Harn Museum of Art will be entertained by a live string quartet and a poetry reading by students in the University of Florida graduate poetry program. At 7 p.m. the Harn MUSEs (Museum University Student Educators) will engage participants in activities that explore the numerous ways humans express love. Visitors can also enjoy the monumental Harn exhibition Paradigms and the Unexpected: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Shey Collection, which opens Feb. 10 with 100 works by 75 artists.

At the Florida Museum of Natural History at 7 p.m. Shauna Springer will offer a talk entitled the “The Science of Love: What Science Teaches Us About How to Choose a Mate and Maintain a Strong Relationship” detailing the psychology behind how couples express and experience love. Celebrations Catering will provide various desserts for visitors to enjoy as they explore the museum all evening.

If you’re looking to stimulate your brain in addition to your heart on Valentine’s Day, then these events are for you.

Special screening: Business of Being Born

This Thursday, January 10, there will be a special benefit screening of The Business of Being Born, a new documentary about the way American women give birth. Here’s the trailer:

The trailer touches on several key themes of this course. First, it points out that the American experience of birth is unique in the world. Second, it suggests that birth, like other aspects of sexuality, is a cultural event as much as it is a biological one. Indeed, cross-cultural variation in the expectations for pregnancy and birth may have important biological consequences for how we get our start in the world.

The local screening of this new documentary is being hosted by the Birth Center of Gainesville and the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). It will take place at the Gateway Grand Hotel at 6:30 p.m. For details and information about tickets, see the ICAN website.