Tree in wilderness with sunrise

Tavistock Trauma Service: external lectures on trauma autumn 2024 lecture 3 (CPD45A)

Gender Without Identity: A Psychoanalysis for Trans Flourishing

Bookings for this lecture have now closed.

This lecture is part of an innovative series organised by the Tavistock Trauma Service and is designed to reflect the clinical approach of the work whilst emphasising an adapted psychoanalytic approach with multi-modality and trauma-informed care.

We also use neurobiological and attachment theory to understand the impact of trauma. Our series will present a range of external speakers, each experts in the field, who will bring their own understanding of trauma via a presentation, followed by an audience question and answer session.

Who is this lecture for?

It is for you if you are a professional working within the mental health field who have an interest in trauma. You may be a psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, mental health nurse, support worker, counsellor or therapist.

Our talks will cover neurobiology, attachment theory and different psychoanalytic perspectives on trauma, including historical child sexual abuse.

Lecture details

Bookings for this lecture have now closed.

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:

DateStart timeEnd timeWill lecture be recorded* and available after the live event?
Thursday 5 December 20247pm8.30pmYes

*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.

Testimonials

“These lectures are so stimulating, covering a diverse range of topics, with expert and engaging speakers, all very inclusively led by Jo Stubley – thank you for putting these series together.”
Attendee
“An excellent event that offered not only ideas and understanding, but a sense of solidarity and hope in this difficult work (and in difficult times). I wasn’t sure about attending at the end of a long workday, but by the end of the event I felt enlivened and and reconnected to curiosity and collegiality – so glad I went. Thank you!”
Attendee
“I found this online event to be very well organised and money very well spent. The content was fascinating and the delivery first class. There wre extremely interesting interactions and I certainly came away with much to think about. Above all, the humanity displayed by the participants was both inspiring and humbling.”
Attendee
“This has been an excellent series of lectures so far. So very relevant to the field of mental health and trauma. All the speakers are very different, but all show the same high levels of compassion and knowledge for the very difficult field of human trauma. Thank you.”
Attendee
“These sessions help me gain insights into other ways of working . They support me in my hesitancy in my ability to work with some of my clients, when I find it difficult because I feel ill equipped to meet their distress. For some of them trauma seems to have destroyed them and while I want to help them, I doubt myself. These talks help me learn how other therapists are meeting the same demands.”
Attendee

Speaker

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