CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS OF PRESENTER - 20 NOVEMBER 2006

A Seminar by Baden Offord

Sexual citizenship remains a borderland in which sexuality is continually tested for its truth and nature. As Michael Leunig has put it: "Sexuality is where people are very human and vulnerable. This is precisely where truths emerge - and sensitivities and fears." I argue that the sexual citizen in Australia - as seen through recent debates on same-sex marriage - is denied participatory belonging as a full citizen. The present landscape of same-sex love, however, challenges those borders that are theologically, politically and culturally made. My view is towards a recognition that same-sex love and its celebration are crucial for a deepening humanity in Australia.

About the presenter:

Dr Baden Offord is Associate Professor in Cultural Studies in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University. He is also the Co-Director of the Centre for Peace and Social Justice and Chair of the Human Research Ethics Committee at SCU. Baden's book, Homosexual Rights as Human Rights won the George Duncan Memorial Award in 2005. He has also co-edited (with Elisabeth Porter) the recently published Activating Human Rights, to be launched by Justice Michael Kirby at Gleebooks on 3 November 2006.

The 'Against Paranoid Sexuality' seminar is hosted by the Departments of Media & Communications + Gender & Cultural Studies
The University of Sydney

http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/media/

http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/gender/

For enquiries or further information contact Dr Gerard Goggin
(Click to email.).

Archive