The 9th annual Women’s Center Symposium on Gender and Culture will take place on February 21, 2020, and we plan to explore how we access sexuality and information about sex. Given the many barriers to access, from geography to ability to class and race, who is allowed to explore or express their sexuality and who is limited? And how do we break down these barriers?

How do people who live in rural, conservative, or low-income environments learn about sex, and how does that impact their access to accurate information on sex, reproduction, and wellness? How have our laws, social norms, and religious landscapes shaped our access to sex? How do those across different cultures and their diasporas experience socalization surrounding sex and expression?

When we rarely get representation of disabled people engaging in sex acts or being openly sexual, where and how does this community learn how to access sex, and what effect does that lack have on the lived experiences of those people? How do race and class impact who gets access to information about sex and reproductive health? How does LGBTQ+ identity frame access to sex and sexual expression? How has the aggressive sexualization and separation of the masculine and feminine alienated those who reject the gender binary? How do mainstream culture and media depict the sexuality of marginalized people? Where does sexual agency come from? How does experiencing desire or being desired situate us in our world?

We encourage a broad interpretation of the theme and welcome academic papers, personal narratives, and presentations across all disciplines on a variety of topics and in a variety of forms. Videos, art, performance, zines, and more are welcome. We welcome submissions from any interested undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and staff members, from within and outside of Tufts. Please submit an abstract of approximately 300 words (no more than 1 page) describing your paper, presentation, performance, or other proposals to Savannah Weinstock (savannah.weinstock@tufts.edu) by December 15, 2019.