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Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

‘Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race and Rights in the Age of Abolition’
Left side of image shows a book cover reading "Undoing Slavery" and the right side of the image shows the author, Kathleen Brown.

Kathleen Brown's new book sheds new light on the abolitionist movement.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Press/Kathleen Brown)

‘Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race and Rights in the Age of Abolition’

Historian Kathleen M. Brown’s new book reexamines the antislavery struggle and is the focus of the first episode of a new podcast series from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.

Kristen de Groot

What TikTok reveals about Gen Z dating
A young woman lies sideways on a bed, gazing at her phone

In her thesis, Talia Fiester looked at contemporary Gen Z dating against the backdrop of neoliberalism and what she calls “the rejection of the couple form.” She did so by analyzing one of Gen Z’s pervasive mediums—TikTok.

(Image: Beton Studio)

What TikTok reveals about Gen Z dating

In an honors thesis for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, 2023 grad Talia Fiester examines “Neoliberal Love and the Pathology of Gen Z’s Singledom.”

Kristina Linnea García

‘Politics Unequal: The State of Women in Elected Office’
Campaign signs dot a lawn outside a Tennessee polling location.

Campaign signs are posted outside a polling location on the first day of early voting July 15, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee.

(Image: AP Photo/Jonathan Mattise)

‘Politics Unequal: The State of Women in Elected Office’

A panel of experts and activists from across the ideological spectrum sat down in a virtual event last week to unpack how far women in politics have come, and the obstacles that remain.

Kristen de Groot

Fashioning gender through the art and history of clothing
Fashion sketches of models in sunglasses

“It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live; everybody wears clothing or some sort of embellishment,” says Jacqui Sadashige. “For most of us, what we wear is our way of announcing to the world who we are.” (Image: Charlota Blunarova on Unsplash)

Fashioning gender through the art and history of clothing

Students learn about the history of clothing, embellishment as self-expression, and sustainable fashion innovation in a graduate course taught through the College of Liberal and Professional Studies.

Kristina Linnea García

Soviet Union’s centenary
One person holds a framed image of Vladimir Lenin and another holds one of Josef Stalin as others wave red flags behind them in Moscow's Revolution Square.

Communist party supporters hold portraits of Josef Stalin and Vladimir Lenin as they gather during the national celebration of the “Defender of the Fatherland Day” near the Kremlin in Moscow's Revolution Square on Feb. 23, 2022. (Image: AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Soviet Union’s centenary

Experts from across Penn share their thoughts on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Soviet Union.

Kristen de Groot

‘My body belongs to me???’: Students question media messaging in an Annenberg course
A pile of zines read things like, "uneven skin...," "lose weight fast," and "I'm not going to change my mind."

A sampling of zines, one of the assignments for Sarah Banet-Weiser’s Gender and Media class.

‘My body belongs to me???’: Students question media messaging in an Annenberg course

Students in Sarah Banet-Weiser’s Annenberg course on Gender and the Media make zines responding to messaging and consumer products.

Kristina Linnea García

Going beyond the binary in historical explorations of sex and gender
Faculty member Beans Velocci

Beans Velocci, a faculty member in the Department of History and Sociology of Science, studies the complex and conflicting ways gender and sex have been investigated and represented by scientists and medical professionals.

Going beyond the binary in historical explorations of sex and gender

Beans Velocci of the School of Arts & Sciences explores how sex and gender have been shaped and categorized through history—and the consequences of those constructions taking on the guise of scientific and medical fact.

Katherine Unger Baillie