A statistically improbable polymath's views on politics and culture.

 
UNIVERSITY COLLOQUIUM ASKS: "WHAT IS SEXY?"

Prompted by the Victoria's Secret commercials asking the aforementioned question, scholars from a multitude of disciplines will be convening on the University of Chicago Center for Gender Studies to showcase different approaches to the question and explore the meaning of "sexiness" in a post-gender world.

The conference will begin with a roundtable discussion featuring George Chauncey, Professor of History and the College and author of Gay New York, Martha Nussbaum, Professor of Law, Philosophy, Social Thought, and the College, David Perrett, of the University of St Andrews and a foremost researcher on the biological basis for beauty, and Martha McCormick, Professor of Biology whose work established the existence of pheremones. The discussion shall focus on biology's role in sexual attraction and philosophical/historical responses to non-heterosexual sexualities.

Later in the weekend will be a discussion on how the relative sexiness of a professor affects pedagogy, featuring Daniel Drezner, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Danielle Allen, Dean of the Division of the Humanities, and Paul Sally Jr, Professor of Mathematics and head of the undergraduate program in mathematics. Additionally, Maria Spiropulu of the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, Lynn Margulis of the University of Massachusetts, and Brian Greene of Cornell University will hold a seminar on the media's interest in physically attractive physicists.

The conference is scheduled for the weekend of April 16-18. Registration is free; please contact inyourdreams@uchicago.edu.

(Inspired by a comment to this post. Scroll down for "Tim" and a regurgitation of gender studies buzzwords.)
posted by Maureen at 11:23 PM