West Coast Sexuality, Gender & the Law Conference seeks abstracts

First Annual West Coast Sexuality, Gender and the Law Conference

 

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California

March 22-23, 2024

 

Call for Papers

Abstract Submission Deadline: December 15, 2023

 

We are pleased to announce the first annual West Coast Sexuality, Gender and the Law Conference on March 22-23 in Los Angeles. Loyola Law School will serve as the conference host.

 

As political and legal attacks against LGBTQ people are once again on the rise, as are other legal and political efforts to  shape and reassert normative views of gender and the family, this Conference seeks to bring together scholars exploring issues of sexuality, gender, and the law. The goal of the Conference is to provide attendees with detailed, constructive feedback on their work in a supportive, collegial environment, and to build community among scholars working on these issues (especially those on the West Coast). Scholars at all levels of seniority are encouraged. We also encourage submissions at different stages of progress, from early drafts (incubators) to more developed forms (a work-in-progress session).

 

The Conference will consist of approximately 4-5 panels over the course of one and a half days. Participants will be expected to attend all panels and to read and be prepared to discuss all assigned papers.

 

There is no conference or registration fee. Participants will be responsible for the costs of their own flight, other transportation, and hotel arrangements (we are working on reserving a block of hotel rooms for the conference). Breakfast, lunch, and refreshments will be provided at the conference.

 

To preserve an intimate and supportive character, we can accommodate only 45 participants, Although we will try to fulfill all requests, if space is limited, some preference will be given to West Coast-based scholars.

 

To apply, please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words, as well as a CV, here by December 15, 2023. Submissions will be vetted by the organizing committee (listed below). Selection will be based on the originality of the abstract as well as its capacity to engage with the other papers in a collaborative dialogue. In addition, priority will be given to scholars based on the West Coast.

 

Participants will be notified of their selection by the beginning of January 2024. Drafts of papers will be due approximately two weeks prior to the Conference.

 

We look forward to your submissions and participation. Questions can be directed to the organizing committee members at [email protected].

 

Thank you!

 

Courtney Cahill, UC Irvine School of Law

Courtney Joslin, UC Davis School of Law

Yvonne (Yvette) Lindgren, UC College of Law San Francisco (visiting)

Kaipo Matsumura, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

Brian Soucek, UC Davis School of Law

Comments

[Hey nonny nonny]

Thank you for bringing the conference to everyone's attention. As my basic questions about it may prove valuable to other candidate participants, I hope you don't mind my asking them here (before submitting my abstract + CV) rather than emailing the organizing committee directly.

1. You note "other legal and political efforts to shape and reassert normative views of gender and the family." Does that include YOUR OWN efforts, or are those strictly to be characterized as neutral, objective, etc.?

2. Will the conference be open to TERFs and/or other scholars who, using academic rigor and evidence, deny gender spectral views and/or hold that biological sex is basically binary?

3. Will the conference be open to traditional Islamic views of sexuality and gender and/or to scholars from across the Global South who correctly see in these sorts of discourses Western cultural imperialism in the form of sex and gender ideologies, and so who wish to discuss potential legal measures they can enact to protect themselves as matters of cultural safety?

Thank you again. I look forward to one of your committee members posting answers to these questions here.