Gender can be more than just a two-way street, and UT students can learn about it from a slam poet.
The Lambda Student Union will be hosting a Gender Theory Workshop with Andrea Gibson today from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Hodges Library, Room 251.
Gender theory is the study of how gender plays out in a variety of topics, such history, race, political science and anthropology, just to name a few.
A major concept in gender theory is that gender is not divided into two simple subsets of male and female. Caitlin Miller, president of Lambda and senior in philosophy, said that the workshop will focus on that aspect of gender theory.
“Society perceives gender roles to be one way,” Miller said. “Females are supposed to be this. Males are supposed to be this. And (Gibson’s) point is that gender is more fluid. … You’re not stuck in any expectations based on your anatomy.”
Miller said that she doesn’t know exactly how Gibson will present the workshop and that it will be a surprise to both Lambda and the audience.
“She should bring poems and prompts for discussion,” Miller said. “She talks a lot about gender norms in poems, gender roles and gender binary, so I’m imagining it will involve some of those things.”
The ultimate goal of the event is for students to have a better understanding of how gender norms play into people’s lives and how gender is not necessarily tied to a person’s sex. Miller said that even people who know little-to-nothing about gender theory could still benefit from Gibson’s workshop.
“Lambda is hoping that (students) come away with a new appreciation for gender,” Miller said. “A lot of people don’t know the difference between gender and sex, so if they come in not knowing even that, we’ll feel accomplished.”
Gibson is an award-winning poet, whose work focuses primarily on LGBTQ subject matter and gender norms. She is also an activist who has performed at many events for LGBTQ, anti-war and Take Back the Night.
Gibson performed at the Black Culture Center on Tuesday, at an event also organized by Lambda. The workshop will be a continuation of her visit to UT.
Planning for Gibson’s visit started as far back as last January. Once the early back-and-forth scheduling was done, Miller said that Gibson presented options to Lambda on the topic she would cover at the workshop. While a more poetry-focused presentation was also available, Miller said that the gender theory workshop won out in the end because Lambda felt that it would be more beneficial to the campus.
“We decided gender theory was a good match for Lambda,” Miller explained. “We liked the topic she talks about, a lot of queer issues. We just thought it would be a really good event for Knoxville to have.
“I’m very excited for the workshop,” Miller added. “I think it will be a great event for UT. We don’t have a lot of well-known LGBTQ activists that come to UT, so I think it will be exciting.”
Jennifer Dobbins, Lambda vice-president and senior in political science, shares Miller’s excitement.
“She has a lot of interesting ideas about gender,” Dobbins said. “And she does a really good job expressing that gender is more than just a binary in her poetry. … I think that it will be a really interesting experience for the UT student body at large.”
And like Miller, Dobbins hopes that those attending Gibson’s workshop will come away with greater wisdom on gender and how it plays out in a person’s life.
“Gender is more than just biological specs,” Dobbins said. “It’s more of the way that a person presents and expresses themselves, and they have far more than just two options: male and female.”
The workshop is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend. For those interested in Gibson and her work, visit her website at http://andreagibson.org/.
To learn more about Lambda, visit http://web.utk.edu/~lambda/.
