Gender and Sexuality in the Midwest

Gender and Sexuality in the Midwest Conference

The two-day conference delved into the complex and often overlooked histories of gender and sexuality in the Midwest, examining how these themes have shaped the region's cultural and social fabric.

About the Conference

Agenda

The conference is held in the Baker Center Theater.

Friday, Sept. 6

9-9:15 a.m. | Baker Center Theater

Land Acknowledgment and Opening Remarks

Katherine Jellison (51��)
Matthew Ando (51��)

9:15-10:30 a.m.

Friday Keynote

Introduction: Katherine Jellison (51��)

“Monuments to Midwestern Pioneer Mothers and Native Women”

Cynthia C. Prescott (University of North Dakota)

10:30-11 a.m.

Break

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Gender, Sexuality, and Religion in the Early Midwest

Chair: Brian Schoen (51��)

“Beyond Maria Monk: Clericalism, Gender, and Power on the Catholic Frontier”

Kara French (Salisbury University)

“A Comfortable Place to Have Sects: The Midwest’s Role in Institutionalizing Shaker Celibacy and Mormon Plural Marriage”

Stewart Davenport (Pepperdine University)

12:30-2 p.m.

Lunch Break

2-4 p.m.

Gendered Bodies at Risk

Chair: Uzoma Miller (51��)

“From Breeding and Sterilization to the Maternal and Infant Health Crisis: The Manipulation and Control of Black Women’s Bodies”

Amanda Flowers (RTI International)

“Lynching in Ohio and Concepts of Masculinity and Femininity”

Jordan Zdinak (51��)

“Taking a Victim-Centered Approach to the History of Sexual Violence and Exploitation: A Case Study in Early North Dakota”

Nikki Berg Burin (University of North Dakota)

4-4:30 p.m.

Break

4:30-6 p.m.

Gender, Religion, and Entrepreneurship in the Midwest

Chair: Kimberly Little (51��)

“God First, Family Second, Career Third: Mary Kay and the Creation of a Female Values-Based Company”

Cassandra L. Yacovazzi (University of South Florida)

“Anabaptist Women and Multi-Level Marketing/Direct Sales: Performing Gender and Faith in Culturally Acceptable Business Ventures”

Jewel Yoder Kuhns (John Carroll University)

6-7:30 p.m.

Dinner

7:30-9 p.m.

Book Talk

Introduction: Micah McCarey (51��)

Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land

Taylor Brorby (University of Alabama)

Saturday, September 7

9:00-9:15 a.m. | Baker Center Theater

Saturday Welcome

Katherine Jellison (51��)

9:15-10:30 a.m.

Saturday Keynote

Introduction: Paul Jones (51��)

“Memorializing Willa Cather in Cold War Nebraska: How the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Navigated Questions of Gender and Sexuality”

Melissa Homestead (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

10:30-11:00 a.m.

Break

11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

LGBTQ+ Midwesterners in Urban, Rural, and Small-Town Settings

Chair: Risa Whitson (51��)

“Only ‘In the Big City’: Isolation, Rurality, and Leisure in Lesbian Chicago, 1971-1996”

Hannah Fuller (Loyola University Chicago)

“Sustaining Bonds, Creating Bonds: Debates about Sexuality and the Reshaping of Midwestern Religious Communities”

David Mislin (Temple University)

12:30-2 p.m.

Lunch

2-3 p.m.

Exhibit Talk

Introduction: Mariana Dantas (51��)

“Out of the Closet”

Ron Scott, Jr. (Wheeling, WV, YWCA)

3-3:30 p.m.

Break

3:30-5:30 p.m.

Gender and Sexuality in the Hoosier State

Chair: Jack Marchbanks (Ohio Department of Transportation)

“Gender Rubble: Attempting Equality in Robert Owen’s New Harmony Experiment”

Ashley Rattner (Jacksonville State University)

“Black Women’s Philanthropy in Early Twentieth-Century Indianapolis”

Tyrone McKinley Freeman (Indiana University Indianapolis)

“’A Real He-Man’? Masculinity, Effeminacy, and Sexuality in the Political Career of Indiana Governor Paul V. McNutt”

Dean J. Kotlowski (Salisbury University)

5:30-5:45 p.m.

Closing Comments

Katherine Jellison (51��)

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