This is the third and final lecture in the autumn 2024 series.

Lecture 3: Gender Without Identity: A Psychoanalysis for Trans Flourishing

5 December 2024, 7 – 8.30pm

This lecture will be recorded.

Lecturer: Dr. Avgi Saketopoulou and Dr. Ann Pellegrini

In this presentation, Saketopoulou and Pellegrini offer an unexpected and psychoanalytical argument for queer and trans life and flourishing. Challenging a claim frequently embraced by rights activists and many members of the LGBTQ+ community that gender identity is innate and immutable, Saketopoulou and Pellegrini instead posit that gender is something all subjects acquire. Trauma, they provocatively propose, sometimes has a share in that acquisition. In their way of thinking, lived trauma as well as structural and intergenerationally transmitted traumatic debris may become a resource for transness and queerness. Such a suggestion importantly counters analytic accounts that see trauma as disrupting or “warping” some putatively “normal” gender. Rooted in the work of French psychoanalyst Jean Laplanche, in queer and trans of colour critique, and in the authors’ extensive clinical experience with queer and trans people, this talk presents a radical theory of gender formation and its ongoing mutations.

Drs. Saketopoulou and Pellegrini are the co-recipients of the first Tiresias Award (2021), given by the Sexual and Gender Diversity Studies Committee of the International Psychoanalytical Association, for their essay, “A feminine boy: normative investments and reparative fantasy at the intersections of gender, race, and religion.” That essay became the basis for their 2023 book Gender Without Identity (UIT Press).

This lecture will take place on:

*To enable access to the widest possible audience these lectures are planned to be delivered live, but remotely, as webinars. Where we are able, a recording will be made available to all booked delegates although we encourage live attendance wherever possible. Please see the details above to see if this lecture will be recorded and available after the live event.

These lectures will be delivered remotely using Zoom. You will need a device with a suitably fast internet connection. Although mobile devices and tablets can be used, we recommend the use of laptop or desktop PC for the best experience. Some devices provided by employers may have restrictions in place. Please use this test link (https://zoom.us/test) to check your set up before booking.

You will be sent the necessary login link about a week before the course start date. Should you have any concerns about the accessibility of remote delivery please contact us at CPDEvents@tavi-port.ac.uk to discuss how we can best help you.