Women’s History Association of Ireland
Conference 2011
Gender and Sexual Politics in Ireland
Call for Papers
The 2011 conference of the Women’s History Association of Ireland will take place in University College Cork
on the evening of Friday 27th May and on Saturday 28th May. It will be hosted by Women's Studies, in
association with the School of History, University College Cork.
On Friday 27th May, Professors Maria Luddy (Warwick) and Mary O’Dowd (QUB) will conduct a
symposium on their AHRC-funded project, Marriage in Ireland, 1660-1925.
The keynote speaker on Saturday 28th will be Dr Leeann Lane, whose biography of Rosamond Jacob
was published in 2010. (Rosamond Jacob :Third Person Singular, Dublin: UCD Press, 2010)
The conference theme will be Gender and Sexual Politics in Ireland. This might include, but is not
limited to, such topics as:
Histories of repression /transgression / emancipation / liberation / revolution; body politics; sexual
cultures; the sexual politics of personal relationships; deconstructing public discourse/religious
discourse; LGBT histories; sex education; reproductive rights; medicalisation; sexology; rape and
sexual crime; age of consent; prostitution; double standards; institutions and abuse; censorship.
Proposals for papers by early career scholars will be welcomed. While research is ongoing on the
nineteenth and twentieth century histories of some of these topics, suggestions for papers relating to
earlier periods would also be welcomed.
There will be a conference fee of €25 to cover lunch and coffees/teas. Registration information
will be issued shortly.
Abstracts (200-300 words) for 20 minute papers, with proposed title, brief
biographical information and contact details, should be submitted by email to Dr
Sandra McAvoy, Women’s Studies University College Cork, by Friday 15th April
at : sandra.mcavoy@ucc.ie