Feminism and the body: an interdisciplinary conference. (360G-Wellcome-082548_Z_07_Z)

Feminism and the Body, an interdisciplinary conference 'Feminism and the Body, an interdisciplinary conference' will address issues that are at stake in the gendered politics of health and well being. Unique to this conference will be the range of research fields and disciplinary training that will converge on these issues. It will bring together scholars from the humanities, social sciences and medical sciences to share their expertise and disciplinary perspectives. In particular the event will promote critical discussions of the ways in which feminist theory has informed the research being presented, the ways that feminist engagements have shaped practices that relate to the body both historically and in the present, and the ways in which feminist thinking can best be developed as an analytic tool and an influence in the politics and practices of conceptualizing and engaging with bodies. Topics that will be covered by the conference include: ethical issues in antenatal screening technologies; the history of abortion; the impact of South Asian feminisms on women's health and well being; women's alcohol consumption in public space; experiences of domestic violence in pregnancy; the reproductive body and migration; representations of women's bodies in film, theatre and ballet; literary constructions of femininity and sexuality; child sexuality; the legacies of sexual difference feminism; feminist contributions to discussions of the ageing process; race and the different meanings of rape in Peru; issues of medico-legal ethics that arise where patients choose disability with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis; contemporary breastfeeding practices in Slovenia; cosmetic surgery; chemical treatments for vaginal secretions and skin whitening; decision making in relation to vasectomy; the historiography of rape and lynching in twentieth century America and eugenics in early twentieth-century Australia.