Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The Out to Lunch Gender, Sexuality, and Community is a weekly academic lecture and discussion series with guest scholars and community activists from various disciplines examining a variety of topics related to gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality. Each semester offers a broad sampling of the areas.

The Spring 2019 semester is co-sponsored by the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department (http://wgss.uconn.edu).

Today's lecture is entitled, "Identifying Beliefs, Behaviors, and Experiences of APRNs with Lesbian and Gay Patients: A Mixed Methods Perspective" and will be presented by Mimi Snyder (she/her/hers).

Synopsis: This presentation will present findings of a mixed methods study about the beliefs, behaviors, and experiences of advanced practice nurses (APRNs) caring for lesbian and gay patients. APRNs provide care to persons of diverse sexual identities who often encounter barriers when seeking health care. Nursing education programs seldom include content to educate nurses to provide affirming care for these patient populations. This study included a sample of 678 APRNs’ who completed a Gay Affirmative Practice Scale about their beliefs and behaviors including a narrative statement describing their experiences caring for lesbian and gay patients. Eight themes about APRN experiences emerged: affirming, more education needed, witnessed discrimination, limited experience with lesbian/gay patients, sexual orientation only asked if relevant, treat all the same, non-affirming, and sexual orientation not focus of practice.

Biography: Dr. Marianne (Mimi) Snyder, She/her/hers is a full-time faculty and Director of the pre-licensure nursing program at UCONN School of Nursing since 2017. She had been a registered nurse for over 35 years and more than 20 year experience teaching nursing students in traditional, accelerated and RN – BSN nursing programs. She earned her BS in Nursing from the University of Central Florida, MS in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner from West Virginia University and her PhD in nursing from UCONN. Her research focuses on healthcare experiences of LGBT persons, the education and experiences of health care providers caring for this population and culturally affirming care practices to help meet the health care needs of this population.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunches

The Out to Lunch Gender, Sexuality, and Community is a weekly academic lecture and discussion series with guest scholars and community activists from various disciplines examining a variety of topics related to gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality. Each semester offers a broad sampling of the areas.

The Spring 2019 semester is co-sponsored by the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department (http://wgss.uconn.edu).

Today's lecture is entitled, "By Us, For Us: Creating Media Within the LGBTQ+ Community" and will be presented by five recipients of the UConn IDEA Grant, https://ugradresearch.uconn.edu/idea/.

Synopsis: This presentation will feature five UConn undergraduates who are working on creative projects in various mediums which broadly address issues of representation, often specifically as this problem relates to the LGBTQ+ community. The students will share examples of their work in such mediums as young adult novels, puppets, and children’s literature, all while highlighting the importance of creating diverse media which reflects authentic experiences.

Biographies: The five presenters are all current UConn undergraduates who have received UConn IDEA Grants to support independent creative projects.

Amelia Bowman (she/her/hers) – Cohort 10 of the UConn IDEA Grant – is a junior individualized major focused on young adult fiction, identity and diversity. She is completing a young adult post-apocalyptic novel that defies the standard narrative and explores issues such as social paranoia.

Kat Folker (she/her/hers) – Cohort 10 of the UConn IDEA Grant – is a senior puppet arts major completing a short film that explores the genre of horror and how it reflects social topics, specifically issues of identity and prejudice.

Kenny Glazer (he/him/his) – Cohort 11 of the UConn IDEA Grant – is a senior studio art major with a concentration in illustration and animation. Kenny is writing and illustrating an LGBT children’s book that contributes to the dialog on families within the LGBT community.

Taylore Grunert (he/him/his) – Cohort 10 of the UConn IDEA Grant – is a senior double majoring in English and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Taylore is writing and illustrating a series of vignettes that explore the experience of LGBT adolescence.

Blue Wallick (they/them/theirs)- Cohort 11 of the UConn IDEA Grant – is a senior studio art major with a concentration in printmaking. Blue is creating a series of paintings that draw from the experiences and lives of transgender people to shed light on the misconceptions of transness.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunches

Join us as we discuss artistic responses to gender and sexual violence alongside the powerful, contemporary movement which brings light to sexual harassment and sexual assault. Participants will join in a dialogue exploring the #MeToo movement and the paintings of MATRIX artist Emily Mae Smith, on exhibit at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Additional texts under discussion will be posted in advance. The event is free, but please RSVP faculty@wadsworthatheneum.org to reserve a seat and lunch.

For more information on the Encounters Series, see: https://humilityandconviction.uconn.edu/encounter-series/#

The Start Smart workshop is specifically designed to empower women college students about to enter the job market with the skills and confidence to successfully negotiate their salary and benefits packages. By learning strategies and practicing effective language, participants gain valuable skills they can use throughout their lives — well beyond their next negotiation.

This is a free workshop, but registration is required at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/tartSmartMarch19

The Out to Lunch Gender, Sexuality, and Community is a weekly academic lecture and discussion series with guest scholars and community activists from various disciplines examining a variety of topics related to gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality. Each semester offers a broad sampling of the areas.

The Spring 2019 semester is co-sponsored by the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department (http://wgss.uconn.edu).

Today's lecture is entitled, "LGBTQ Youth Today: (Why) Aren’t Things Better?" and will be presented by Stephen Russell (he/him/his).

This lecture presentation is sponsored by InCHIP and will be held in the Konover Auditorium of the Dodd Center.

Synopsis: Few societal attitudes and opinions have changed as quickly as those regarding sexual minority people and rights. In the context of dramatic social change in the space of a single generation, there have been multiple policy changes toward social inclusion and rights for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. As a result, there is a common belief that the sociocultural context for LGB people – perhaps particularly for youth – has improved. That is: Aren’t things better? Yet recent evidence from the developmental sciences points to paradoxical findings: in many cases, health disparities are getting worse. But why? In light of swift sociocultural changes, combined with emergent findings regarding the health and wellbeing of sexual minority youth, we suggest that there is a developmental collision between normative adolescent developmental processes and sexual minority youth identities and visibility. The result is a new reality for sexual minority youth, health, and disparities.

Biography: Stephen Russell is Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor in Child Development and Chair of the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an expert in adolescent and young adult health, with a focus on sexual orientation and gender identity. He is on the Board of Directors of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), a fellow and former Board member of the National Council on Family Relations, an elected member of the International Academy of Sexuality Research, and was President of the Society for Research on Adolescence.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunches