Greetings, we are seeking a panelist, commentator, and chair for the upcoming Women’s and Gender Historians of the Midwest Conference for June 10-12, 2004 held at Loyola University Chicago. The focus of the panel is the process of gender construction through cultural or social controls broadly defined. We hope to address the multiple ways that gender identity existed (and exists) as contested terrain, through which fear, control, and containment play prominent roles.

My paper focuses on the embattled terrain of femininity and the redefinition of masculinity through violations of school dress codes in the early to mid 1960s America. My co-presenter will examine anti-masturbatory writings and physician’s views on gender (manhood and womanhood) as a biological trait that can be gained or lost through behavior or sickness.

If you are interested in participating please feel free to contact us off the list. The deadline for proposals is September 1, 2003.