The Faculty of Arts & Humanities is delighted to welcome guest speaker Leah DeVun (Rutgers University) to talk on “The Shape of Sex: A History of Nonbinary Gender Before Modernity” at Avenue Campus and online on Thursday 27 February, 18:00. You can find out more and book tickets via .
This lecture focuses on ideas and individuals who allegedly crossed sex or gender categories in Europe from 200鈥�1400 C.E. Ranging widely across premodern European thought and culture, the lecture will explore how and why efforts to define 鈥渢he human鈥� so often hinged on ideas about nonbinary sex and gender. In a moment when questions about sex, gender, and identity have become incredibly urgent, the lecture will cast new light on a complex and often contradictory past. It shows how premodern thinkers created a system of sex and embodiment that both anticipates and challenges modern beliefs about what it means to be male, female鈥攁nd human.
Leah DeVun is Professor of History and Women鈥檚, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Rutgers University in the United States. She is the author, most recently, of The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to the Renaissance, and co-editor (with Zeb Tortorici) of Trans*historicities, a special issue of TSQ devoted to transgender history. DeVun is also the author of articles in GLQ, WSQ, Osiris, postmedieval, and Radical History Review, among other publications.
Stonewall Lecture
Since 2012 the annual Southampton Stonewall Lecture has explored the rich heritage that is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) history. A key purpose is to educate contemporary audiences about the past while also promoting the University of Southampton鈥檚 commitment to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion.