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Kenya King
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Perimeter College
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DUNWOODY, Ga.—"Questioning Gender: Everything You Want to Know but Are Afraid to Ask" is the title for the Sarah Larson Lecture Series talk scheduled for Wednesday, March 22, from 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College in Dunwoody.
Featured lecturer Dr. Dana Wiggins, an associate professor of history at Perimeter, said her presentation will address contemporary questions about gender, which sometimes spark lively debate.
"In this age of #metoo, toxic masculinity, powerful women in politics, the pronoun ‘they,’ LGBT civil rights, violence/discrimination towards the transgender community and the rise of gender studies as an academic discipline, we need a basic understanding of gender and its history,” she said.
Wiggins teaches Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Perimeter College and has a graduate certificate in gender studies, with a doctoral focus on women’s history.
She acknowledges that the topic of gender is especially weighty nowadays, but said her talk will encourage dialogue in a fun and engaging manner.
“I would like the audience to leave with an understanding of new directions in gender studies,” Wiggins said.
“I want them to feel comfortable having conversations about gender—and, with open minds toward women, non-binary and gender-nonconforming individuals.”
The Sarah Larson Lecture Series honors retired Perimeter College English professor and department chair, Sarah Larson. Professor Larson helped to create “The Polishing Cloth,” a collection of the best student writers at what was then Dekalb College and later Georgia Perimeter College. She brought in Pulitzer Prize, Emmy, and Oscar winning writers to speak to students through the National Playwrights Video Conference and worked diligently to bring dramatic and musical programs to the Dunwoody campus, enriching the college and its surrounding communities. The Sarah Larson Lecture Series honors her dedication by inviting presenters to speak on timely topics within the arts and humanities.
"Questioning Gender: Everything You Want to Know but Are Afraid to Ask" is free and open to the public in Perimeter’s Dunwoody Campus auditorium at 2101 Womack Rd., NC-1100. Contact Jennifer Meeks at [email protected] or (770) 274-5476 for more information.
Photo by Bill Roa