Gender Studies Symposium
41st Annual Gender Studies Symposium
March 9–11, 2022
Fantasy
- 41st Annual Gender Studies Symposium: Fantasy
- Conversation with keynote speaker Kai Cheng Thom, via zoom
- Keynote panel: Fantasy and Sex Work
- Keynote speaker, Sami Schalk, with symposium co-chairs Hazel McGraw '22, Carley LaPlaca '22 and Iyanah Fuller '22, and faculty director Kim Brodkin
- Panel: Bodily InterpretationsChris McIntosh
- Poetry reading by sage braziel '24 in Gregg Pavilion
- Haley Wildhirt '22 presents "Rejecting the 'Just Kiss' Narrative: Creating a Foundation for Intimacy on the Collegiate Stage"
- Workshop in Fir Acres Black Box Theatre
- Co-chairs Carley LaPlaca and Iyanah Fuller introduce the keynote panel on Fantasy and Sex Work
- Panel: Intimacy and Isolation
- L&C students present Musical Undoings: Breaking the Role
- Keynote speaker Sami Schalk
- Ben Warner '22 presents work from his history thesis as part of the Patriarchy, Security, and the State panelChris McIntosh
- Panel in Smith Hall
- Sami Schalk presents "Reimagining Bodyminds and Liberation in Pandemic Times"
- Panel: Media and Culture
Thank you to everyone who participated in and attended this year’s Gender Studies Symposium.
Only the keynote events were recorded. To view those recordings, please consult the event listings on the schedule.
The 41st Annual Gender Studies Symposium will examine how gender and sexuality affect dynamics of fantasy, exploring transformative questions of intimacy, pleasure, and politics.
This year’s symposium asks why we fantasize and how fantasies affect our feelings of closeness to ourselves and others. How might fantasy foster intimacy in the absence of touch? Whose fantasies are attended to and whose are neglected? Where does fantasy move into fetish? How do fairy tales and other fantastic representations influence how we understand ourselves, our relationships, and our communities? What can we gain from fantasizing about desire, love, and healing? What kinds of intimacies are present within the speculative worlds we create?
We hope this year’s symposium inspires critical examination of the dichotomy between fantasy and reality. Where do the two overlap or blur into each other? In what ways does fantasy allow us to produce material change and pursue “impossible” futures?
We invite symposium participants to consider how fantasy is not only an act of personal imagination but also a powerful form of political resistance.
2021-22 student co-chairs:
Iyanah Fuller ’22, Carley LaPlaca ’22, and Hazel McGraw ’22
Learn more about this year’s schedule, keynote speakers, art show, and other details!

Five
L&C’s five academic student-led symposia reflect our commitment to inquiry, innovation, collaboration, and global engagement.
email gendsymp@lclark.edu
voice 503-768-7678
fax 503-768-7379
Director: Kimberly Brodkin
Gender Studies Symposium
Lewis & Clark
615 S. Palatine Hill Road MSC 63
Portland OR 97219