Thursday, October 5, 2023
5:30 PM

“I Was a Queer Child and So Were You”: Toward Social and Cultural Transformation with Kathryn Bond Stockton
Annual Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold Endowed Lecture in Peace, Social Justice and Human Rights
Presented in partnership with the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at UT-Austin School of Law
Location: UT-Austin School of Law
Free, registration encouraged

Contemporary organized backlash against queer children demands our canniest replies.  Entire systems sit upon apparently naturalized categories  (“gay,” “straight,” “trans,” “cis,” “girl,” “boy”). Even when unacknowledged, gender is strange for each and every one of us—though in tellingly distinctive ways .

Weaving memoir through new ideas, this talk engages gender’s strangeness, stretching what we think we know about matters surrounding genitals, clothing, and kissing—even reading—as they relate to children. It also considers how race and religion undermine the notion of “two sexes.” What kinds of issues for everyone’s childhood—and adulthood—turn around dynamics for gay and trans kids? Prepare to enter a story that is yours. It holds key questions for social justice and human flourishing.

Named in honor of Sissy Farenthold (1926-2021), who dedicated her life to exposing and responding to injustices as a lawyer, legislator, and global leader in human rights, this lecture series inspires audiences to think and act creatively in response to the greatest human rights challenges of the 21st century. Read more on the lecture series here.

About the presenters

The ninth annual lecture will feature Kathryn Bond Stockton, Distinguished Professor of English at The University of Utah, where she previously served as Associate Vice President for Equity and Diversity and as founding Dean of the School for Cultural & Social Transformation. A renowned scholar and educator, Stockton’s research explores intersections of gender, race, and class in contemporary life. She teaches queer theory, theories of race and racialized gender, and twentieth-century literature and film.

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