by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Student Edward Breslin said she probably would have come to a lecture on technologies of gender Monday, even if it were not required for a class.
Gender issues impact her personally.
"I'm a transsexual, so this is my life," Breslin said. "There's no avoiding it."
About 40 people attended Lee Quinby's keynote lecture that kicked off the Technologies of Gender Symposium on Monday. Quinby researches the relationships between sexuality, technology and literature at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
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In her lecture, she advocated using what she called the less popular definition of technology as the art of using knowledge to develop tools and methods to deal with practical problems.
Quinby said this definition could be socially beneficial, because it allows people to change their perceptions of themselves and others.
"I'm arguing for the view of technology as a useful art," she said. "Such a view will help erase the race bias and the gender bias."
Quinby briefly discussed Harvard president Lawrence Summers and his struggle with gender roles. At an economic conference in January, Summers suggested innate biological differences between men and women are why relatively few women are in scientific fields.
Quinby said Summers' controversial remarks will ultimately be beneficial because they have brought the issue of gender into the spotlight.
Quinby said people don't have to follow stereotypical gender roles.
"Subjects born into already existing social institutions that frame and constrain our existence largely but not exclusively by gender were born into them but don't have to stay in them," she said.
People have the option of rejecting gender divisions, she said.
"We are selves for whom ethical behavior entails reflection on and rejection of moral structures that define us by leading binaries of gender and sexual difference," she said.
Breslin, a UNM student, said he appreciated Quinby's "perspective on the evolution of our culture's manner of viewing gender," but her lecture, contained "a whole lot more verbiage than was necessary."
Graduate student Alison Fields said she brought the introduction to gender studies class she teaches because it was an opportunity for her students to get a perspective on topics discussed in class. She said her favorite part of the lecture was the discussion of Summers.
Graduate student Melanie Armstrong said the symposium was important to facilitate discussion of gender issues.
"I feel that it's necessary, because issues of gender and technology can really only be discussed in detail by getting people of many different disciplines together," she said.
Other events in the symposium include panel discussions on topics such as gender and the visual arts and gender in technology and science.
There was also a screening of the film "American Cowboy," about the gay rodeo circuit, followed by a discussion led by director Kyle Henry on Monday.
The symposium concludes today with a performance of "I Am My Own Wife," a solo play about a German transvestite in Theatre X.
Breslin said he appreciates the two-day symposium and will probably attend more of the events.
"I'm looking forward to seeing more of this symposium," he said. "It's a real step in the right direction to be talking about gender and not just feminism."
