On March 3 and 4 I attended the 10th Annual Gender and Sexuality Conference in Everyday Life Conference at Idaho State University, hosted by the Janet C. Anderson Gender Resource Center and the College of Arts and Letters, partnered with the Center for Positive Sexuality. This conference was very unique to the previous 9 in that this was the first year “sexuality” had been added to the title and topics of the conference.
The conference featured more than 20 presentations on a broad range of topics, including the invisibility of bisexuality, a more humanistic approach to pornography, queering education, the classroom, and research, prostitution, gender norms, love and sexuality, and many more. Presenters were mostly faculty and students from ISU, but there were also presenters from Harvard Medical School, California State University Northridge, Westminster College, University of Utah, and Drew University. This was the most diverse group of speakers and presentation topics the conference has hosted to date.
Lisa M. Diamond, PhD, University of Utah, was the keynote speaker, discussing her work on sexual fluidity and it’s current and future impact on civil rights related to sexual identity and orientation. Dr. Diamond’s presentation was dynamic and continued the flow of discussions around sex positivity, self-actualization, and real-world implications to accepting diversity.