Sexual and Reproductive Health Symposium: Intersectional Perspectives

I propose a one-day symposium on the University of Kentucky campus to showcase interdisciplinary and intersectional perspectives on sexual and reproductive health as a way to announce and launch our new Sexuality Studies Certificate. The overarching goal of the symposium is synonymous with that of the certificate: to provide leadership in promoting sexuality education with an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach on the college level that profoundly enhances abstinence-only education offered in public high schools. The symposium will bring together scholars, professional advocates, and local activists to address the social, medical, legal, and historical aspects of sexual and reproductive health, identities, and subcultures. The intersectional approach encourages analyses of how particular identities emerge at the intersection of numerous factors: gender, sexuality, religion, race, class, age, ability, nationality, citizenry, and ethnicity, for example. The symposium will begin with voices from students/youth and proceed with panels that mix university, local, and national advocates on topics such as: Religious Freedom, Reproductive Health, and Sexuality; Birthing Rights & The New Eugenics; and Criminalizing Reproductive and Sexual Health. This design has worked previously at other universities where I organized similar projects.