Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

Possessed: The Salem witch trials

This spring marks the 330th anniversary of the Salem witch trials, during which a total of 20 “afflicted girls” accused around 150 people, 19 of whom were executed. Historian Kathleen M. Brown discusses why this episode is still fascinating today.

Kristina García

The ‘music’ of one poet’s words, translated

With help from her daughter, scholar Huda Fakhreddine published an English version of 30 poems for children written by her father in Arabic, paying tribute to their endearing and enduring subject matter and to the musicality and richness of their sound.

Michele W. Berger

Gender and identity: A lecture on diversity

In the first in a series of diversity lectures offered through the Office of Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity Programs, Melissa E. Sanchez of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke on “Addressing a More Complex and Encompassing Understanding of Identity.”

Kristina García



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In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

A Taylor Swift-themed addiction recovery group started in Philly and became ‘a community with the vibe of a Taylor concert’

Jessa Lingel of the Annenberg School for Communication says that online music fandoms have always been places where people make sense of stigmas.

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Associated Press

Women’s Day events highlight major gaps in gender equality

Kristen Ghodsee of the School of Arts & Sciences says that International Women’s Day has a history of promoting progressive, socialist causes within the entire working class.

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Technical.ly Philly

An LGBTQ health initiative at Penn just launched a 5-year partnership with investing group Gaingels

The School of Nursing’s Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative has partnered with Gaingels to leverage academic, intellectual, and research resources across Penn and promote health within queer populations.

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Chicago Tribune

Review: ‘The First Homosexuals’ at Wrightwood 659 captures the emergence of a ‘new identity’

A review examines “The First Homosexuals,” an exhibition curated by Jonathan D. Katz of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues including Pavel Golubev, a visiting scholar taking refuge at Penn.

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Times Higher Education

Europe is ahead of the U.S. on gender equity. So why is abuse in HE rife?

In an opinion piece, Susan B. Sorenson of the School of Social Policy & Practice contrasts Europe’s pronounced efforts to reduce gender inequality with recent studies which find alarming rates of gender-based violence in European universities.

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The Washington Post

What Iran’s protest slogans tell us about the uprising

Fatemeh Shams of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Iranian protest chants have shifted emphasis from male political figures and systemic reform to teenaged female martyrs and rejection of any form of autocratic rule.

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