FARMINGTON — In response to the complex issues behind today’s headlines on marriage equality, health care access and reproductive laws, the University of Maine at Farmington is holding a series of free, public events on sexual and reproductive justice.
This series hopes to help define the principles of reproductive and sexual justice and to discuss how they can be achieved through education, care, activism and public policy.
The series will begin with Judy Norsigian and her talk, “Our Bodies, Ourselves: Advancing Reproductive and Sexual Justice,” at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, in room C23, Roberts Learning Center.
Norsigian is the founder and executive director of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. She will speak about the organization’s past and its new global health initiative.
Based in Cambridge, Mass., the organization is “devoted to accurate, evidence-based information on girls’ and women’s reproductive health and sexuality, and addresses the social, economic and political conditions that affect health care access and quality of care.”
Jim Hubbard’s documentary, “United in Anger: A History of ACT-UP,” will be screened at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, in Thomas Auditorium, UMF Preble/Ricker Hall.
Hubbard will follow with a discussion about the history of HIV health care and activism, and about the role of art in social change. Hubbard is a documentary photographer, the author of “American Refugees” (1992) and the co-founder of the USC Institute for Photographic Empowerment.
“The Education of Shelby Knox: Sex, Lies and Education” will be screened at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, in Thomas Auditorium, Preble/Ricker Hall.
Lisa Sockabasin, director of the Office of Minority Health, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, will give a talk on racial disparities in health outcomes with a focus on reproductive and sexual health at 11:45 a.m. Oct. 30, room 101, Roberts Learning Center.
“Mass Appeal,” a two-character play by Bill C. Davis, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Nov. 7 and 8, in the Emery Community Arts Center.
Directed by UMF faculty member Jayne Decker, the play tells the story of a priest who avoids controversial issues while a passionate young seminarian is determined to make them part of his preaching.
Lynn Paltrow will speak on “40 years After Roe v Wade: Reproductive Justice in the Age of Mass Incarceration” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, in Thomas Auditorium, Preble/Ricker Hall. She will talk about the current legal status of women’s reproductive rights, focusing in particular on low-income women’s access to reproductive and sexual health care.
Paltrow is the founder and director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women. The organization’s work focuses on the health care needs and rights of pregnant and parenting women, particularly low-income women and women of color.
This series is sponsored by the UMF University Culture Committee, Women’s and Gender Studies Program and student club Student Activists for Gender Equality. Additional events will be added to the schedule in the future. For the latest details, visit the UMF Women’s and Gender Studies Facebook page.
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