Gender, the Body and Objectification

The Gender, the Body and Objectification Conference (21-22 May 2005) examined three interconnected topics that have been central to much feminist thought: gender, objectification and the body. Issues considered include the sex/gender distinction; the relationship of both sex and gender to the body; the importance of the concepts of sex and gender; the role of objectification in gender and of gender in objectification; and the relationship between the body and objectification. 

Papers at the conference related these topics to race, pornography, prostitution, and surrogate motherhood. The keynote speakers were Sally Haslanger and Rae Langton.

The conference took place in the Tapestry Room of Firth Court, Western Bank, at the University of Sheffield.

Conference poster (PDF, 412KB)

Speakers

View all speakers' abstracts

Sally Haslanger, Massacheusetts Institute of Technology
Embodied Meanings: Gender Identity, Racial Identity, Mixed Identities

Rae Langton, Massacheusetts Insitute of Technology
Speaker's Freedom and Maker's Knowledge

Nancy Bauer, Tufts University
Pornography and Philosophical Authority

Susan Berkhout, University of British Columbia
Buns in the Oven: Objectification, Surrogacy and Women's Autonomy

Christine Overall, Queen's University
A Plea for 'Sex'

Laurie Shrage, California State Polytechnic University
Is Female to Male as Black is to White?: Sex and Miscibility

Rebecca Whisnant, University of Dayton
Prostitution as Unwanted Sex

Contact

If you have a general enquiry about the conference, please email Jules Holroyd or Mari Mikkola.