Transgender author, playwright, performer is keynote speaker
OXFORD,
Miss. – Kate Bornstein, transgender author, playwright and performance
artist, delivers the keynote address and conducts two workshops during
the ninth annual Isom Student Gender Conference Feb. 26-28 at the
University of Mississippi.
Sponsored by the Sarah Isom Center
for Women and Gender Studies, the conference promotes feminist
scholarship at UM and neighboring schools by showcasing student papers
on gender studies.
Bornstein’s keynote address, “Sex, Bullies, and You: How America’s Bully Culture is Messing with your Desire,” is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 26 in Bryant Hall, Room 209. It is free and open to the public.
Her free, public workshops are scheduled at noon Feb. 27 in Isom Center, Room 203, and noon Feb. 28 in Bryant Hall, Room 209. The workshops address gender theory, America’s bully culture and social activism.
Refreshments will be served at all three of Bornstein’s presentations.
Bornstein’s hourlong keynote presentation is a performance version of a chapter in her book “Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws.” It focuses on the notion of bullies, the origination of bullying and how someone of any age can be tormented for gender, age, race, sexuality, family status, abilities, appearance, social class, religion and citizenship.
“For the people being bullied, I want them to know there is comfort and that they can be an active part of creating their own comfort,” Bornstein said. “For people standing on the sidelines of the bully issue, I want them to know that their help would be greatly appreciated and valued.”
The Sarah Isom Center contributes to UM’s mission to encourage interdisciplinary learning and diverse perspectives, said Mary Carruth, the center’s director.
“Our conference for undergraduate and graduate students – now in its ninth year – is a dynamic realization of these goals,” she said.
Conference chair Mary Hayes, assistant professor of English, said the conference gives students from UM and other participating schools an opportunity to present and share their work with a broader audience.
“I hope to see a big turnout for Bornstein’s events, because she is an exciting, transgressive person who has been published widely on gender and transgender studies,” Hayes said. “It’s a topic that many people in the community and university are curious about but have no other venues where they can inquire about it.”
Bornstein’s workshop on Friday, titled “Your Gender: Now You See It, Now You Don’t,” is a multimedia event that is sure to amuse audience members, she said.
“This workshop is one my favorites, because it is interactive and people will experience gender ‘weightlessness,'” Bornstein said. “People will experience what it feels like to strip oneself down to a point where there is some man and some woman.”
Her Saturday workshop, titled “Seeing Beyond Red or Blue: Coalition Building from the Margins,” centers on building coalitions across social differences.
As a young boy in junior high school, Bornstein said she was picked on for being Jewish, fat and a nerd. After her gender change, Bornstein said she was picked on for her gender by bullies using the same techniques that were used when she was in junior high school.
“That is when I discovered the theory that we have established a social norm saying it is OK to form groups of exclusivity and it is OK to exclude people because we grow up with this notion,” Bornstein said. “So I would like people to work on that, if anything at all, and I hope to see many representatives from different activist groups on campus and in the community attend.
“I also want the audience to walk away with more questions about gender, sexuality and social activism,” Bornstein said.
For more information or for assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-5916. To learn more about Isom Center events, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/sarah?isom?center/upcomingevents.htm .