About the GSSI

The Gender and Sexualities Studies Institute is the new central intellectual home for people working in the field of gender, sexualities, and LGBTQI+ studies, providing a hub for rich and diverse forms of scholarship, creative practice, and public programming.

Co-founded by Chiara Bottici, Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Lisa Rubin, Associate Professor of Psychology, the Institute brings together faculty and students from across the university involved with the Gender and Sexuality Studies graduate certificate and the Gender Studies undergraduate minor, as well as those teaching or taking courses in the history of feminist thought and action; masculinity studies; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender studies; and queer theory.

The New School has been a pioneer in the field of Gender Studies, and the Institute honors that history while supporting new initiatives. Plans for the 2021-22 year include hosting talks and other open events; hosting the spring annual Gender Matters symposium; and connecting students with relevant scholarships, job opportunities, and research mentorship. 

Upcoming Events:

September 30th – December 9th, 2021. Thursdays, 9:00-10:30 am EST. Feminist Research Methodologies and Digital Feminist Research, a free 10-week online seminar, co-led by Dr. Asli Kotaman and Dr. Pelin Yalçinoğlu Kaplan. This seminar is designed for students who want to start research with a feminist theoretical framework. While this course focuses on technique, it also hones in on the theoretical background of feminist research including, epistemology critiques and feminist standpoints. Course discussions will revolve around feminist theories, epistemologies and research methods within feminist frameworks. This seminar also provides an opportunity to present a research project that will allow for the students to express themselves and their research in different ways. Register here.

Past Events: Inaugural Gender Matters Symposium (Spring 2021)

February 9th, 6:00-8:00 pm EST. Scaling-Up: A Marxist Feminist Archive with Kathi Weeks.

February 18th, 2:00-4:00 pm EST. Feminist/Female Legacies at TNS. Roundtable discussion with Gina Walker (Women’s Studies, SPE), Cecilia Rubino (Theater, Lang), Savanna Washington (Media Studies, SPE), Stefania de Kenessey (Music, Lang), Julia Foulkes (History, SPE), and Ellen Freeberg (Associate Dean, NSSR). View here.

February 25th, 12:00-2:00 pm EST. Activism: Thought and Praxis in a Context of Hostility. Speakers: Fania Noel, Marianna Poyares, Mayra Cotta, and Elif Genc. View here.

March 4th, 12:00-2:00 pm EST. Feminism and the Neoliberal Academy. Speakers: Simten Cosar, Jaskiran Dhillon, and Kimberly Tallbear-Dauphine. View here.

March 8th, 6:00-7:30 pm EST. Black, Feminist and Queer Anarchy. Speakers: Jack Halberstam, Marquis Bey, and Chiara Bottici. View here.

March 15, 6:00-7:30 pm EST. Welcome to Your Fantasy: Chippendales and the Female Gaze. Speakers: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Neil J. Young, and Nicole Hemmer. View here.

March 22nd, 6:00-8:00 pm EST. Finding Ceremony: Honoring Black Feminist Elders. Speakers: Tao Leigh Goffe, Courtney Desiree Morris, and Romy Opperman. Moderator: Deva Woodly. View here.

March 26th, 10:00-11:30 am EST. Book Launch: Gender, Pleasure, and Violence, With Author Agnieszka Koscianska. Speakers: Agnieszka Koscianska, Maria Bucur, and Shireen Hassim.

March 29th, 6:00-8:00 pm EST. Sex Work in Pandemic: Legislation and Technology. Speakers: Cecilia Gentili, Mickey Mod, Melissa Gira Grant, and Pani Farvid. Moderator: McKenzie Wark. View here.

March 31st, 6:00-7:00 pm EST. Andrea Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel—We Want it All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics.

April 5th, 6:00-8:00 pm EST. Sexual Justice Symposium. Performers: Ayana Evans and IV Castellanos. Artists: Lauren Gregory and Spandita Malik. Speakers: Masha Tupitsyn and Jasmine Wahi. Moderator: Christen Clifford. View here.

April 8th, 6:00-7:30 pm EST. The Feminist Imagination: On María Pía Lara’s Beyond the Public Sphere: Films and the Feminist Imaginary (co-sponsored with Philosophy Department). Speakers: Nancy Fraser, Linda Alcoff, Amy Allen, and María Pía Lara. View here.

April 12th, 6:00-8:00 pm EST. LASTESIS y el Arte de la Protesta – LASTESIS and the Art of Protest (Spanish event with live English translation). Speakers: Las Tesis Collective (Lea Cáceres, Paula Cometa, Sibila Sotomayor, and Daffne Valdés). Moderator: Astrid Valenzuela. View here.

April 15th, 12:00-2:00 pm EST. Ambivalence 1: Psychoanalyzing Ambivalence with Carole Owens and Stephanie Swales. Respondents: Patricia Gherovici and David Lichtenstein. View here.

April 19th, 6:00-8:00 pm EST. Gender, Performance and the Body. Speakers: Margot Bouman, Tavia Nyong’o, and Marisa Jahn. View here.

April 22nd, 12:00-2:00 pm EST. Transnational Feminisms. Speakers: Veronica Gago, Nadje Al-Ali, and Eva von Redecker. View here.

[Postponed to Fall 2021]. Ambivalence 2: Reading Seminar on Ambivalence with Judith Butler, Marcus Coelen, and Jamieson Webster.

April 29th, 12:00-2:00 pm EST. The Art of Feminism. Speakers: Stefania De Kenessay, Vanessa Place, Mary Kelly, and Andrea Geyer. Moderated by Chiara Bottici. View here.

Archived GSSI-Sponsored Events

October 22nd. Judith R. Walkowitz, Rachel Schreiber, Eurydice Aroney, Julia Laite, and Carol Leigh “Troubling Terms and the Sex Trades”. View here.

November 12th. Judith Butler “The Human in Human Rights” (co-sponsored with the University in Exile). View here.

November 24th. Trans | fem | aesthetics. A Conversation with Jules Gill-Peterson, Eva Hayward and Bishakh Som, moderated by McKenzie Wark (co-presented with Culture & Media at Eugene Lang College and eflux journal). View here.