Coburn talk topic: Gaga Feminism, Sex, Gender, End of Normal

"Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal" is the title of this year's Karen L. Coburn Lecture, to be given by Professor Judith Halberstam of the University of Southern California. Free and open to the public, the talk will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1, in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall.

Halberstam is a professor of English, gender studies, and American studies and ethnicity at USC who researches and writes on popular culture, subcultures, and queer theory. 

Halberstam's first book, Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters (1995), was a study of popular gothic cultures of the 19th and 20th centuries and it stretched from Frankenstein to contemporary horror film. Next up was Female Masculinity (1998), which made a ground breaking argument about non-male masculinity and tracked the impact of female masculinity upon hegemonic genders.

Halberstam's last book, In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives (2005), described and theorized queer reconfigurations of time and space in re lation to subcultural scenes and the emergence of transgender visibility.

Halberstam was also co-author with Del LaGrace Volcano of a photo/essay book, The Drag King Book (1999), and with Ira Livingston of an anthology, Posthuman Bodies (1995). Halberstam just published The Queer Art of Failure in August 2011 from Duke University Press. Halberstam's next book, Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender and the End of Normal, will be published by Beacon Press.

Skidmore's Coburn Lecture honors Karen Levin Coburn '63, co-author of the well-known book Letting Go: A Parent's Guide to Understanding the College Years. Established in 2005, the lecture series is designed to enrich and raise the level of conversations about gender studies on campus.